Category: Gear Reviews

At the end of January 2011 I took myself and my bicycle to Oslo, Norway. My plan was to ride 1,600km north through Eastern Norway and Swedish Lapland before popping out of the mountains at Bødo in Arctic Norway. This is a review of how my Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro 26x2.1″ tyres performed during that journey. Continue reading →

Full disclosure: Lyon Equipment, Exped’s UK distributor, provided my original DownMat 7 under their Expedition Award scheme. As with all such arrangements, I’m not obliged to write favourably about products — just honestly. I’ve long used the DownMat 7 mattress by Swiss company Exped. DownMats are a serious alternative to the established Therm-a-Rest, and are designed with extreme comfort and all-weather use in mind: the name comes from the fact that the mats have a down filling in addition to the air padding. I’ve used two DownMats since 2007, most recently the DownMat 7 Pump during my Arctic bike trip. My… Continue reading →

Extrawheel’s original Classic model, with its cargo nets and canoeists’ drybags, is no longer in production. Why? Because Extrawheel, after a lot of prototype-testing and feedback by myself and other intrepid riders, have hit upon something that’s even simpler, lighter and more practical: the Voyager. The Voyager was launched last year and I’ve been able to put it through its paces in some of the toughest conditions I’ve ridden. Carrying a pair of big, waterproof panniers, the Voyager excels when taken off-road, and mine has now been through a couple of thousand miles of dirt roads, singletracks, jeep trails, river-beds… Continue reading →

During 2007 and 2008, Andy and I road-tested some prototype trailers for the Polish company Extrawheel who have been helping to support Ride Earth. Today we took the final production version of the Extrawheel Voyager for a spin to see how it compared to those early models. Continue reading →

Disc-brake technology for mountain-bikes has progressed at lightning speed in the last few years. Based on long-standing concepts originating from motorbike technology, disc-brakes have traditionally suffered from complex set-up and maintenance procedures, and reliability issues. It’s just not as simple as a piece of wire attached to a caliper. It’s messy and expensive. People get scared of touching them — it’s new and unfamiliar territory. Looking past all this neurosis, you do get an incomparable level of braking power from a properly-installed set of disc brakes. The difference cannot be understated. On my way down a mountain road, I can… Continue reading →

Choosing suspension forks for cycle touring usually involves a preliminary question — should I use forks at all? The answer, as usual, depends on where you want to go on your fully-loaded bike. A tour on good quality asphalt doesn’t call for the control, comfort and arm/hand protection offered by a good pair of suspension forks. But if you know you’ll be spending weeks on end following gravel roads, dirt tracks or crumbling tarmac, front suspension suddenly starts to sound rather attractive. Continue reading →

Full disclosure: I was given the Tubus Logo by Lyon Equipment (Tubus’ UK distributor) as part of their Expedition Grant in 2007. The German manufacturer Tubus’ range of racks might occupy the upper end of the pricing scale, but for good reason — the racks are immensely strong. The Logo is specifically designed for mountain-bike geometry, offering increased heel clearance for the panniers. Continue reading →