Braking Boundaries

Yesterday marked the first of 3 weeks of rabies vaccination shots. Katie Tom and I ventured into the international clinic in Itaewon Seoul early in the morning for a shot in the arm.

Not many months left until the leaving date now.

Panniers are they are bags that attach to the bike racks with the intent of holding enough equipment for self-sustained tours over days, weeks, or in our case months. The two main brands of panniers are Arkel and Ortlieb.

Finally after months of waiting our panniers arrived helping us get one big step closer to having all the necessary gear for our trip next year.

For our rear panniers we decided to go with a lesser known brand name from Poland called Crosso which had been recommended by Jakub who also set-up and shipped our custom built Surly bikes. We chose this option based on price, quality and importantly waterproofing. Our Crosso panniers were also made to order so we were able to ask for a specific design changes, one being a zip in the top and a small pocket on the inside of the back panniers for stashing cash or valuable documentation. But the biggest design change was the addition of the Ortlieb QL1 hooking system.

The QL1 hooking system allows the bags to be easily taken on and off the bike racks using a quick release system. In theory this should save time and hassle when loading and unloading the bikes. Arkel has a similar system which we have been using throughout the year with our front panniers and have found it very useful.

The only downside to using the QL1 mounting system was that it had to come from New Zealand meaning we had to assemble to the panniers ourselves. This made for an interesting Sunday night. After a few hours of frustration and fiddling around with small screws and parts Tom and I were able to figure out how to put it all together.

Pannier setup and specifations for each bike:

Tom’s Surly
Front : Crosso Expert (capacity 2 x 40 liters)
Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 2 x 60 liters)

Top Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 1 x 50 liters)

Jared’s Surly
Front : Arkel XM-28 (capacity 2 x 28 liters)
Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 2 x 60 liters)
Top Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 1 x 50 liters)

Katie’s Surly
Front : Arkel XM-28 (capacity 2 x 28 liters)
Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 2 x 60 liters)
Top Rear : Crosso Expert (capacity 1 x 50 liters)

Dave’s Grasshopper (recumbent)
Front : To be decided
Rear : Arkel RT-60 (capacity 2 x 60 liters)

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…

“How would you like a quick run over to the airport?.”

It was the call I’d been waiting for all weekend. After weeks of anticipation and delivery status updates, our 3 brand-new Surlys were finally at Incheon, awaiting collection. They could have been delivered direct to our doors, but we saved over $200 by picking them up ourselves, even after deducting gas and tolls, and it’s not like we had anything better to do on a Sunday.

The trip to the airport was a familiar one and mercifully traffic-free. We soon arrived at the offices of Korean Air Cargo. The building was pretty deserted, minus the clerks themselves, who seemed rather puzzled to see two foreigners at their desks on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Thus ensued two and a half hours of shuttling back and forth between shipping clerks, officials, and a kindly old customs offer who invited us to join his photography club and admonished us for not going to church often enough.

Here they come!

If you look closely you can see the (well-earned) smugness radiating from Jared’s face.

In our haste and excitement to see what the roughly assembled bits would look like, we put the front wheel on, forgetting that we’d have to take it off again to get the bike on the roof rack. Schoolboy error, as my mate English Thomas would say. Dumbassed-ness aside, it wasn’t long before there were two bikes on the rack; a third, still boxed, on the back seat; and two grinning cyclists-in-waiting in the front.

Time to return to sunny Bundang…

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

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…….

A couple of days ago the first of our custom panniers made by Crosso arrived. They are a lot bigger than I thought they would be, although I guess they need to be in order to fit all the camping gear, such as tents, sleeping mats and bags etc. I’m looking forward to trying it out this weekend when I go on my weeks ride around Korea.

Here is a pic of the bag with my camping gear that it will carry

I bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and spent a pretty penny on some bike clothes. I bought the following and will write about each top more after they have had some use.

Storm Trooper
Berglar
Rock Lobster

Dave arrived back a couple of weeks ago with his new recumbent that he plans to use on the trip.

Here is a video of David explaining the new HPVelotechnik Grasshopper and extra features

My Solio Classic with adapters

Cycling doesn’t necessarily mean giving up all the comforts of home, especially when it comes to tech. However using certain, lets call them toys, means having a power/charging source. So Tom and I decided to buy a solar chargers.

After a bit of research it came down to a foldable power charger called the PowerFilm F15-300 and the Solio Classic Charger. The main interest behind the foldable panels was the theory they could be easily laid out on the back panniers, however a battery pack would be needed to store the charge. This is where The Solio Classic has as advantage. It has an inbuilt rechargeable Lithium Ion 3.7V 1.65A cell that can power an Ipod for around 20 hours, with the added bonus that the integrated battery can be charged from any USB port or power socket for those cloudy days.

When comparing the weights the Solio Classic came in at a total of 156 grams. The PowerFilm F15-300 came in at 170 grams – but that did not include a battery to store the charge. The Solio Classic also came with just about all the adapters needed for our equipment.

The final decision came down to price. The Solio Classic cost just under $100 USD with the PowerFilm F15-300PowerFilm F15-300 coming in at around about $150 USD.

Decision made. We bought two Solio Classic Chargers.

My initial thoughts when it arrived was that it felt a little flimsy, but it is definitely light-weight. Using the Solio Classic is pretty much self explanatory and it only took about 40% of its charge to recharge my Ipod Nano.
The adapters that came with it will power my GPS unit, Samsung cellphone, Ipod Nano (as long as I have the Apple USB charging cord) and anything that can be charged by USB. I did have to buy a USB battery charger in order to charge AA and AAA batteries, but they only cost around $3 USD here in South Korea and are extremely light-weight.

Currently I’m missing a way to charge my Canon IXY 900IS – (working on it)

As for testing, I have yet to take mine out on the road and do have some reservations regarding the shape of the charger and how I might attach it to my bike or backpack to get optimal sunlight.

Currently I plan to use it to power the following:

Garmin eTrex Legend® Cx (2 x AA – need charged every 2 days if on all the time)
Headlamp (3x AAA)
Canon IXY 900IS (custom battery)
Ipod Nano
Front & Rear Bike Lights

Stay tuned…..