Nov 05, 2008
Tom and I have been doing a couple of day rides these past few weekends giving me a chance to try out some of the Ground Effect gear. I have to say I’m very impressed with it so far. One of the challenges we will face on the trip is keeping warm on those cold days while carrying as little clothing as possible, so layering will become very important and with the weather dipping to the cooler side here in South Korea it has become ideal for testing options out.
Last weekend it was a chilly 5 degrees (C) so I went with the Bergler as my under layer and used the Stormtrooper over the top. Perfect. Not cold, but not hot.
The Bergler did it’s job wicking the sweat away while keeping me warm, however when we finally took a break later in the day to take off some gear (now 15 degrees C) I found that the Bergler was quite damp making it a chilly next 5km till it dried. Having the under arm zips down on the Stormtrooper seemed to provide ample airflow under the jacket to keep me at a nice temperature but didn’t do much for drying the Bergler. To be expected I guess.
I will give it to the Stormtrooper jacket though. Just the previous weekend I wore just the Bergler and while going up hill on a semi-chilly day was fine, I was frozen by the bottom. Doing the same hill a week later with the jacket on and nothing. As a light weight windbreaker it is awesome. Only time will tell how it handles torrential rain. (still to be tested)
All in all I’d give them a combined rating of 9/10 as a lightweight option for layering up on those cool fall/spring mornings.
The biggest problem I had during the ride was keeping the feeling in my toes. I just received the zig-zag winter socks in the mail from Ground Effect so I’ll give them a try out this weekend when Dave, Tom, Kath and I head for the mountains of Seoraksan where it should be nice and cold. It will also give me a chance to try out the other gear that arrived yesterday - Half Pipes and a Baked Beanie.
As a final note I bought a White Bergler, at the time not really thinking about how dirty it would get. I’ve worn it for six 100+ km rides washing it every second ride which I will be a luxury if I can do that next year. The smellabilty factor is great (go merino) but it has definitely lost its white shine for a yellow/brownish tinge and in the future I would only go for dark colors.
Sep 23, 2008
Jared and I undertook the task of assembling the 3 Surlys last night; a fun, if time-consuming, job.
Our first surprise was learning that the third bike (which we’d neglected to remove from its box on Sunday) was not olive like its siblings but cherry red. A quick size comparison confirmed that this was indeed the smallest frame and therefore Katie’s by default. [Cue envious thoughts from yours truly.]
There’s something to be said for taking pride in your work, and we were certainly proud enough when we finished the first one. Here’s Jared giving it a final check:
Jared was kind enough to photograph the spare parts that were supplied with the bikes for easier recollection and cataloguing at a later time.
Nothing quite says “I enjoy my work” like a half-crazed grin.
Jared’s machine, the largest, sports a 21″ frame and humongous 700mm tires. He may get vertigo up there.
I’m sure the various adjustable parts - seat height, handlebar angle etc -will be tinkered with more than few times before the trip, but for now, we have three fully-functioning bikes. All that’s needed now is panniers and we’re pretty much ready to rock and roll. Scary biscuits, indeed.
The thought of a slow, frostbitten death on the Kazakh Steppes may be the only thing stopping us from going earlier than planned.
Footnote: I took my Surly out for a quick run this afternoon to see if everything was properly affixed. It took about 10 minutes before deciding that on the pedestrian-filled bike paths of Bundang, without a bell or lights, and with darkness approaching, I might as well just run the bike into a wall. A quick visit to the bike store has now made the bike street-legal (if Korea even has legal requirements for bike safety), but methinks I need to be less scared of a few little scratches…tomorrow…or maybe Thursday…
Sep 20, 2008
Here is a list of the parts that make up my Grasshopper HP Velotechnik Recumbent that I will be riding next year for the trip :
HP Velotechnik Specific Parts:
Grasshopper Frameset with bodyLink seat
Underseat Steering with Wide bars for Ergomesh
DT Swiss XM180 Rear Shock
Saso Carbon AC Suspension fork
Front Wheel
SON20 Disk Hub, silver, 32h
Velocity Aeroheat Rim, 32h
DT Swiss Champion spokes, laced 1x, brass nipples
Rear Wheel
Rohloff Speedhub, Silver, External Gear Box, OEM2 plate, grip shifter
Rohloff Speedbone (for use with disk brakes and OEM2 mounting plate)
Rohloff Chain Tensioner
Velocity Aeroheat Rim, 32h
DT Swiss Champion spokes, laced 1x, brass nipples
Drivetrain
Rotor Cranks, Steel version, length TBD, 39/53t chainrings
Shimano 105 5600 Front Derailleur, clamp on
SRAM PC850 Chain x3
Brakes
Avid BB7 mechanical disk brakes, front and rear
Avid SD7 Brake levers
Rohloff Specific Disk Brake Rotor
Lights – B&M D Lumotec Topal Oval Senso Plus
B&M DToplight XS Plus mounted on rack
Accessories
ErgoMesh Seat
Airflow Cushion
Grasshopper Kickstand
Fastback Double Century Pack
Arkel Rt-60 Pannier
Sep 11, 2008
Finally after more than a years talk and the last months preparations our (Katie, Tom & Jared) Surly long-haul trucker touring bikes and Crosso panniers are on their way.
The bikes left New Zealand today bound for us here in South Korea and should arrive in about a weeks time.
Stay tuned…….
