Prior to the trip in Sicily.
After two long and loaded trips through Europe, the bike components were feeling gritty and the gear changes not as slick as they had been. So a big overhaul happened. I felt this was a good opportunity to up my bike maintenance skills so my birthday present was a set of Shimano tools.
I upgraded the components to Deore 9-speed (44,32,22 chain rings and 11-32 cassette). I replaced the BB and wheel bearings. What a difference - the Mme Dawes have a new lease on life and are rearing to go.
We had Ryder pedals with clips on on side and flats on the other. These are heavy metal pedals with sharp edges which kept hurting us, so I exchanged them for Shimano clip pedals with a larger base which allows one to ride short distances in normal shoes. These were far better.
I also added bike stands, the two-legged type that fits just behind the pedals. The worked well on the road but were a bugger to fit as I had to lift the front derailleur to tighten the bolt. Also they stick out sideways so are a nuisance for packing the bikes and damage the bike bags.
I now have a Garmin Edge Touring Plus GPS which the kids gave me before our last trip. Garmin and I have a love-hate relationship. It has been fantastic finding our accommodation in confusing towns, but in the countryside I do better with maps - the number of times it has sent us onto steep stony tracks is no longer a joke (and that's with the gravel avoidance setting on).
We have had two shade-cloth bags (90%) made with strap handles for transporting the bikes. They are far easier to manage in airports and on buses and trains than bike boxes. I cable tie the front wheel to the frame and the handlebar to the top bar and wrap it with bubblewrap - very easy.
Post prior to our 2014 Adriatic to Atlantic trip.
After two long and loaded trips through Europe, the bike components were feeling gritty and the gear changes not as slick as they had been. So a big overhaul happened. I felt this was a good opportunity to up my bike maintenance skills so my birthday present was a set of Shimano tools.
I upgraded the components to Deore 9-speed (44,32,22 chain rings and 11-32 cassette). I replaced the BB and wheel bearings. What a difference - the Mme Dawes have a new lease on life and are rearing to go.
We had Ryder pedals with clips on on side and flats on the other. These are heavy metal pedals with sharp edges which kept hurting us, so I exchanged them for Shimano clip pedals with a larger base which allows one to ride short distances in normal shoes. These were far better.
I also added bike stands, the two-legged type that fits just behind the pedals. The worked well on the road but were a bugger to fit as I had to lift the front derailleur to tighten the bolt. Also they stick out sideways so are a nuisance for packing the bikes and damage the bike bags.
I now have a Garmin Edge Touring Plus GPS which the kids gave me before our last trip. Garmin and I have a love-hate relationship. It has been fantastic finding our accommodation in confusing towns, but in the countryside I do better with maps - the number of times it has sent us onto steep stony tracks is no longer a joke (and that's with the gravel avoidance setting on).
We have had two shade-cloth bags (90%) made with strap handles for transporting the bikes. They are far easier to manage in airports and on buses and trains than bike boxes. I cable tie the front wheel to the frame and the handlebar to the top bar and wrap it with bubblewrap - very easy.
Post prior to our 2014 Adriatic to Atlantic trip.
In South
Africa there is a great interest in and availability of road (racing) and
mountain bikes, but touring bicycles are almost unheard of. So we had to order
bicycles from abroad. This required a lot of internet research and a leap of
faith into long-distance on-line sales.
To start
with, there is plenty of ongoing debate about almost every aspect of touring
bikes. Steel vs aluminum frame, straight vs drop vs butterfly handlebars,
26" vs 700c wheels, disc vs caliper vs v-brakes, leather or gel saddle,
types of racks and panniers, gear systems and cog sizes, thickness of tyres.
The list goes on. And then there is price which ranges from 500 to 5000+ Euros.
We wanted
two similar bikes so we could share component spares. Jenny wanted a standard
(not lady's) frame as they are stronger and carry more water bottles, but she
is small. Drop handlebars made no sense for our kind of touring - the European
bike geometry is more comfortable at our age. So that left us with few options.
Thorn and Koga looked perfect, but definitely beyond our price range.
So we
eventually settled on the Dawes Galaxy Cross: http://dawescycles.com/product/galaxy-cross/ . Chromoly frame, flat handlebar,
robust Shimano Acera 24-speed components with an 11-32 cassette and 48-38-28
crankset, mechanical disc brakes and Vittoria 700x32c tyres. They may be on the
heavy side, but we're not in a hurry. And the price was within the range of the
plummeting South African Rand.
We knew
we would need to make a few adjustments. We have changed the chainrings to
42-32-22 which has made a massive difference to carrying a load. I (Ian) needed
to change the stem to a longer and higher one and Jenny needed a saddle more
suited to a lady. We changed the pedals to accommodate clips on one side. Having done all this and after doing a few solid
fully-loaded weekend trips, we are very happy with the bikes. Touch wood.
As Fagan
sang in Oliver, we will be "reviewing the situation".
The
panniers are Ortlieb Classic Back-rollers, with Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Classic
handlebar bags which we sourced locally from Cycletouring.co.za. Their service
was good.
