Category: News
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A Story About Giving
Last year Andy organised a donation of bicycles in India through the charity Wheels4Life. You can read about this story on his blog. If you haven’t heard of Wheels4Life, it’s a simple idea to provide bicycles to communities in extreme poverty whose members have no other form of transport — between homes, schools, markets, healthcare facilities, and other fundamentals of life today. The bikes are locally-sourced so that they can be kept on the road long after the point of donation. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41TyWy4SGRo Wheels4Life was started by all-round mountain-biking legend and complete nutter Hans “No Way” Rey. You’ll see what I mean about… Continue reading →
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Extrawheel Voyager Single-wheel Bike Trailer Review
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 →
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The Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook
One of the most valuable resources I had when preparing to make the leap and begin cycle touring was the Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook. In fact, I’d say that it’s responsible for my ideas becoming anything more than just ideas. It was summer 2006 and I was living in Edinburgh during the festival season, working as a technician for a variety of venues and productions. I had two days off during those 5 weeks of voluntary sleep-deprivation. On the first, I got up at 5am and went for an epic mountain-bike ride in the foggy Pentland hills. On the second, I wandered… Continue reading →
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Join Me On Sunday — Wherever You Are
This Sunday I’ll be dashing around the streets of Yerevan on my bike, furiously trying to film a bicycle demonstration that I’ve been organising for the last few weeks, together with a group of local cyclists, as part of the Ride Planet Earth project. Kim Ngyuen’s been cycling from Australia and is poised to arrive in Copenhagen for a couple of weeks of demonstrations during the COP15 UN climate summit, during which he’s planning to air footage from rides in cities all over the world. Copenhagen looks set to be packed out with pressure groups and activists from all over the… Continue reading →
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First-Impressions Review Of The Extrawheel Voyager
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 →
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Magura Louise Hydraulic Disc Brake Review
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 →
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Magura Odur 100mm Front Suspension Touring Fork Review
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 →
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MSR Dragonfly Multi-Fuel Stove — Owner Review
It was somewhere in rural France that I first put the MSR Dragonfly multi-fuel stove to the test. I soaked the wick with fuel and set a match to it — whereupon a huge fireball erupted into my face. I resolved to read the manual before trying a second time. Continue reading →
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Carradice Super C Rear Pannier Review
Full disclosure: I was given these panniers by Carradice in 2007 for my first expedition, in return for feedback and a review. I’ve used them ever since, and extensively rewrote and improved this piece in 2012. Ortlieb might be ubiquitous, but they’re not the only pannier brand worth looking at. I’ve been using Carradice Super C panniers on and off for five eleven years now. They’re not for everyone, but I love mine. Here’s why… Introduction Super C is a classic and renowned line of British-made pannier, the design changing little in decades. With an old-world feel, these unremarkable-looking bags are… Continue reading →
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Tubus Logo Rear Carrier Rack Review
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 →