This post has been sitting in my “Drafts” folder for ages now being neglected like an unwanted stepchild. After repeated emails from readers wondering why they cannot seem to locate the link to this post, it’s finished (sorry, everyone).
First, a little background.
When I began my 2,400-mile (3,862 km) bicycle ride from Melbourne to Darwin across the Australian Outback, I had nothing except my backpacking gear. I had never been on a bicycle tour and I had never bought a bicycle. I walked into a bicycle shop and basically said, “I need everything.”
So here’s what I ended up with. I was (and still am) coming at all of this gear from a very naive perspective, but what I can say for sure is what I liked and what I did not like (detailed descriptions below). There were both excellent and awful purchases made.
BIKE TOURING GEAR LIST
- BICYCLE | Fuji Tour
- REAR PANNIERS | Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic (Pink)
- FRONT PANNIERS | Ortlieb Sport-Roller Classic (Black)
- FRONT RACK | Tubus Tara Lowrider
- HANDLEBAR BAG | Ortlieb Ultimate 6 Plus (Black)
- MOUNT | Ortlieb Ultimate 6 Mounting Set
- SADDLE | Brooks Cambium C17
- FRONT LIGHT | Moon X-Power 1300
- TAIL LIGHT | Moon Comet
- GPS | Garmin Edge 25
- MOUNT | Annex Quad Lock Universal Bike Mount Kit
- MULTITOOL | Lezyne RAP 20
- BOTTLE CAGE | Arundel Looney Bin Cage (x2)
- CAMERA MOUNT | GoPro Handlebar Seatpost Mount
- CAMERA INSERT | Ortlieb Camera Insert
- PEDALS | Shimano A530 SPD
- HELMET | Giro Trinity Helmet
- GLOVES | Giro Bravo Gloves
- SHOES | Shimano CT71L MTB
- TIRE (FRONT) | Clement X’Plor MSO Tire
- TIRE (BACK) | Bontrager H2 Hard-Case Ultimate Hybrid Tire
- PUMP | Lezyne Sport Drive Hand Pump
- LOCK | ENKEEO Self Coiling Cable Lock
DETAILED VIEW
I suppose the bicycle itself is arguably the most important piece of gear for a bicycle tour. When purchasing my bike I learned that in addition to road bikes and mountain bikes there are also touring bikes – who would have thought? The Fuji Tour has friction shifters (aka downtube or bar-end shifters) which I didn’t even know was a thing. Overall, I was very happy with the Fuji Tour’s performance and would definitely use it on a future bike tour.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
So as far as I can tell, Ortlieb makes high-class products. The only problem with the rear panniers I got is that I was sold an old model (I was not told this at the time). If I hadn’t insisted on pink ones, I probably would have gotten a new version, but sometimes we must make sacrifices to the steez gods. These bags kept my gear dry in the rain and proved to be quite durable. The attach/detach easily and they had plenty of room for my gear. I just wish there was a way to both lock them to my bicycle and to lock them closed.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Absolutely
These are the same bags as I had on the back of the bike except they are a bit smaller (I guess you’re supposed to carry more weight in the back?). Again, kept my stuff dry, each to attach/detach, and quite durable (never had to worry about putting holes in these or ripping them), but with no way to keep them locked to the bicycle or to lock them closed (I guess not everyone is as paranoid as I am about getting their tent stolen).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Absolutely
The Fuji Tour I bought didn’t come with a front rack for mounting panniers, so the Tubus Tara was my fix. It was installed by the shop I bought my bike from and basically felt like it was part of the original bike. I had no problem removing and changing my front wheel with the rack on and I never bent it, so 10/10?
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yep
I didn’t know if I wanted a handlebar bag, but I am happy I got one (and happy I got a larger one). This bag (in addition to keeping everything dry) held my camera, valuables, snacks, and whatever I used regularly during the day. It detached easily and served as my man bag when I was off the bike. The bag comes with a key so that you can lock the bag to your bike (which I don’t get because couldn’t someone just open the bag and take what’s inside?); the key and lock got rusty from all the rain and didn’t even work by the end of the trip.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
ORTLIEB ULTIMATE6 SUPPORT FOR MOUNTING SET
I had to buy this so that I could mount my light (since my handlebar bag would be blocking it otherwise). It looks pretty lame and I wish I just had my light mounted on the stem of my handlebars instead. It ended up snapping and breaking towards the end of the trip when I put my bike down and the mount clipped a wall.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
From what I was told, Brooks is the name in the realm of things that you sit on while riding a bicycle. Apparently, their leather seats (or saddles as the cool bicyclists call them) are the primo gear, but they need to be broken in. I was told that this seat did not need to be broken in, and I never had a lot of ass pain, so I guess I can say that I was happy with its performance.
WOULD USE AGAIN? I guess?
MOON X-POWER 1300
This light excited me at first because it was 1,300 lumens – so much power! This light also has an external battery pack which at first I thought was cool because it could be a secondary powerbank for my USB devices, but then I realized was lame because mounting and charging the battery was a pain in the ass. I would definitely get a light with an included/attached battery if I were to do this again. Also, I figured out that this light was discontinued which was why I got a supposed deal on it – part of me grew to dislike the dude who sold me all my bike stuff.
WOULD USE AGAIN? No
A light for the back of my bike that blink red at a bunch of different speeds. Three different brightness settings. USB-rechargeable. It’s a light. Cool.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Sure
I was very happy with the performance of the Garmin Edge over the course of my ride. It did an excellent job recording accurate GPS tracks, speed, altitude, etc. My only complaint is the battery life; during longer days I had to stop and restart my recording after plugging it into power (because for some reason if you start charging it, it will end your current recording).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Probably
ANNEX QUAD LOCK UNIVERSAL BIKE MOUNT KIT
This thing is very cool. It allows me to mount my phone directly to my handlebars (you could theoretically mount anything that you can stick the complementary mount attachment to). The only downside is that you have to stick the complementary locking bit onto your phone’s case (or even your phone). I just bought a cheap case to use with it and everything worked out fine.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
Honestly, I don’t know what half of the tools on this thing do, but I never found myself without a tool that I needed so I guess I can’t say anything bad about it (except that I had to carry the extra weight of all those unused tools).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Sure
I thought these water bottle holders (or cages as the cool kids call them) were neat because you could adjust the diameter to fit whatever bottle or container you happened to want to use. They were great for securing bottles of wine in town. However, after a while, the adjustment knob became more difficult to turn and now I don’t know that I would purchase these again.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Probably not
GOPRO HANDLEBAR SEATPOST MOUNT
It’s a cheap piece of plastic to attach a GoPro to handlebars (or any bar) that GoPro charges way too much for. That being said, it works; it attaches a GoPro to handlebars.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Meh
I felt like I was getting so scammed buying this thing, but since I was already spending a ton on all of this new bike gear it didn’t seem like too much more. This should have come with my handlebar bag, but it didn’t. It’s basically a foam insert with velcro dividers so that you can create compartments for your things (particularly your camera) inside of the bag (basically so your DLSR isn’t violently bouncing around while you’re riding).
WOULD USE AGAIN? I guess?
I was very happy with these pedals – one side is flat so that they can be used comfortably with any shoe (i.e. riding around town) and the other side lets me clip in my fancy bicycle shoes for MAXIMUM POWER. This means (theoretically) that I will never have to buy another pair of pedals (unless I get shoes with different clips).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
It’s a helmet. Fortunately, I never pushed this piece of safety gear to its limits, so I cannot attest to how hard of an impact it can take without shattering your skull. However, I can attest to it being comfortable and looking really awesome when walking around town (obviously the most important thing to look for in a helmet).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
I lost these gloves a couple of hundred miles into my ride and never replaced them – not because I didn’t like the gloves, but instead because I didn’t feel that I needed them (I looked cool enough in just my helmet). Fingerless gloves are definitely the way to go and I would buy these again in the future.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Maybe
Finding shoes for my ride was one of the most challenging parts of my gear assembly since I have incredibly fat feet. I wanted shoes that I could use for walking around town but that would also clip into my pedals (again, for MAXIMUM POWER). These shoes were great up until the end when the laces (which you simply pull to tighten) began to unravel.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Probably
I originally got these tires for both my back and front wheels since I thought I would need something with more grip since I would be “riding through the Outback”. Turns out that I avoided anything that wasn’t paved at all costs and that this tire went flat constantly on my back wheel (probably because of all the weight). My front tire only went flat a couple of times over the course of the trip and I ended up replacing the back tire (see below).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Maybe
Bontrager H2 Hard-Case Ultimate Hybrid Tire
I had a Clement X’Plor MSO Tire (that’s the tire I have on the front) on the back of the bike for the first couple hundred miles, but it went flat literally dozens of times and was driving me crazy. I went into a bike shop and told them to sell me a tire that would not go flat. I got this. Guess what? It never went flat. Very pleased.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Absolutely
If there’s one thing I became an expert at over the course of my trip, it was using this hand pump. It never failed me and I have no complaints. That being said, it’s the only hand pump I have ever used, so there might be something far more awesome out there that I simply have yet to discover. Bar this, I love this thing.
WOULD USE AGAIN? Yes
ENKEEO Self Coiling Cable Lock
I was paranoid someone would steal my bicycle (since it had literally my entire life on it), and I rarely left it locked up somewhere I could not see it (going into supermarkets for food was incredibly stressful). I figured I didn’t need one of the locks made from kryptonite or adamantium since I would never be leaving my bicycle alone for very long. I liked the flexible cable since I could lock my bike to just about anything with it (including my tent).
WOULD USE AGAIN? Probably
Am I doing anything right? Something wrong? Did I miss anything? Do you have any suggestions? I haven’t ruled out a future bike tour and so I will certainly be looking into more gear for the future.
Comment below and let me know what you think!
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