Category: Equipment
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What’s The Best Camping Stove For Cycle Touring Or Bikepacking?
Fact: every cycle tourer and bikepacker loves to eat. In fact, one of the pleasures of bicycle travel is being able to eat whatever you want, and as much as you like. Ride a bike for a living and your body becomes a calorie-burning machine – one that needs regular fuelling! While a camping stove and cookset isn’t an essential part of a cycle touring or bikepacking kit list, many adventurous cyclists find it convenient and morale-boosting to cook hot meals at camp at the end of a long day, or at least to boil water for hot drinks. That’s why… Continue reading →
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The Hennessy Deep Jungle Camping Hammock: Long-Term Review & Photos
I love hammock camping on bike trips. It’s convenient, comfortable, and a lot easier to find a pitch than people tend to think. Rather than hammock camping in general, which I’ve written about in the past along with other alternative sleeping systems, in this piece I will be taking a closer look at my own camping hammock of choice: the Hennessy Hammock Deep Jungle Zip. Since mid-2013 I’ve been using this hammock regularly on bike trips and hikes (as well as at basecamps and festivals), so it’s definitely due a thorough writeup. Shall we begin? The Hennessy Hammock Deep Jungle: In Brief The… Continue reading →
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Terra Nova Starlite 2 Bikepacking Tunnel Tent: Long-Term Review & Photos
Full disclosure: Terra Nova sent me this tent on long-term loan for review on my blog. I agreed on the basis that I would return it after the testing period was over. I’ve received no payments or other benefits for this. For 12 months I road-tested a relatively new tent from veteran British tent-maker Terra Nova. The Starlite range is aimed squarely at bikepackers and cycle tourists and comes in 1‑, 2- and 3‑berth options. I used the 2‑berth version – the Starlite 2 – on all my cycling, hiking and road trips between April 2018 and May 2019, and this… Continue reading →
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How Far Can You Go On A Scrapyard Touring Bike? (Short Answer: A Very Long Way)
A few years ago I was invited to be a guest on the 2nd episode of The Cycle Show, which aired on July 15th 2014 at 8pm BST on ITV4. (ITV billed me as ‘comedian Tom Allen’, which is actually another Tom Allen entirely. I’d just like to take this opportunity to confirm that I possess absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever.) Anyway. One of the other guests on the show was James Cracknell, former Olympian rower turned cyclist and endurance-athlete-adventurer extraordinaire. When my segment came up, I talked about the beauty and freedom of bicycle travel; about how it’s one… Continue reading →
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How To Custom Build The Ultimate Expedition Touring Bike (With Pictures)
Some of the most frequently-asked questions I get on this blog are about designing and building custom touring bikes, whether DIY or built to order by a professional bike builder. Especially now the world has opened up to bicycle travel again, these questions often come from people planning cycle tours or bikepacking trips of ambitious scale – across multiple continents, or even around the world. But why would you want to custom-build a touring bike in the first place, rather than buy a commercially-manufactured one? I’ve come across a few common reasons: And of course, there are always folk who just… Continue reading →
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What’s Really The Difference Between Bikepacking & Cycle Touring?
Over the last few years we have seen the rise of a new sub-discipline of bicycle travel. It’s called ‘bikepacking’, and it’s become such a hit that almost every mainstream bike manufacturer now produces at least one ‘adventure bike’ or ‘bikepacking rig’, or includes the word in their marketing spiel for bikes that might fit the bill. Specialised bikepacking luggage, too, has proliferated, from a few cottage industries turning out bespoke, hand-stitched frame bags to pannier giant Ortlieb launching a line. Someone I know who helps run a bikepacking website told me they get over one million hits per month. (For comparison,… Continue reading →
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What Does The Ideal Cycle Touring Clothing Collection Look Like?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel I’ve ever quite solved the cycle touring clothing quandry. Walk into a bike shop or outdoor store and it isn’t quite as simple as finding the ‘cycle touring’ department and taking your pick. I inevitably end up wearing garments – such as trekking trousers, merino or bamboo T‑shirts, hand-made linen slacks, tailored cotton shirts, etc – that were never designed for cycling at all. These are generally supplemented with only a few cycle-specific accessories such as padded shorts, riding mitts, Buffs, waterproofs, and perhaps socks and shoes. I get the impression that… Continue reading →
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How To Assemble A Fix-Anything Cycle Touring or Bikepacking Toolkit
What tools, spares and supplies would the perfect cycle touring or bikepacking toolkit contain? Is it even possible to curate such a kit? If it is, which products have earned the strongest reputation for reliability on worldwide bike trips? And finally – which of those items should make it into the portable toolkit you’ll be packing for your next bikepacking trip or cycle tour? These are the questions I want to explore in this detailed post on the subject of toolkit assembly for bike touring and bikepacking. Note that if you have a non-standard bicycle configuration, such as a Rohloff hub or Pinion gearbox, hydraulically-actuated… Continue reading →
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How To Go Ultralight Bikepacking (A Fully Loaded Cycle Tourist’s Perspective)
Ultralight cycle touring – a.k.a. bikepacking – is something I’ve been asked repeatedly to cover on this blog. As luck would have it, lightweight bikepacking is also something I’m getting more and more interested in, especially now I’m based in a place with endless potential for dirt road adventures in the mountains. Exciting plans are brewing for this style of adventure cycling. But a trial run is always a good idea… Luckily, a couple of weeks back, I found myself with the unexpected luxury of an empty week in my calendar, a touring bike in need of a workout, and an appointment to… Continue reading →
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Unconventional Sources Of Cheap Cycle Touring Equipment
Last year I sourced a touring bike, luggage, camping & cooking gear, spares, tools and clothes for £25.17 and then rode it the length of England on a budget of 25 pence. It was fantastic proof that money is no pre-requisite for adventure, and that you can get everything you need practically for free. However, finding the gear did require time, energy and luck in considerable amounts – not to mention the challenges of travelling without money (full story here). This article, therefore, is for those who do have a bit of cash to spend on getting up and running, but aren’t… Continue reading →