Mexico City and south on a bike
The bike
In the simplest terms it is a mountain bike with racks bolted on front and rear to which the panniers are attached and other bags strapped. It is not just any old mountain bike though ... oh no! All the components have been carefully selected to suit adventure cycle touring. They were bought separately at various times over the last 10 years - some of the parts have been fitted to many different bikes.
Technical spec:
Weight: about 56kg
This is the weight of the loaded bike not including water and food. The amount of water I carry is usually at most 4.5 liters (1 litre of water = 1kg), but in I have needed to carry as much as 21.5 litres of water in the past (deserts of south western Bolivia), which put the weight of the bike at more than 77kg (full size 125cc motocross motorbikes can weigh as little as 80kg).
Frame: Tange butted cro-moly steel
Only a half a pound heavier than an equivalent aluminium frame but more comfortable, easily repairable and far more durable.
Forks: Rigid Tange cro-moly steel
Less to go wrong with these than with suspension forks and they are repairable. No servicing needed
Front Wheel rim: Mavic D521 32 spokes
These were developed for downhill mountain bike racing, so are very strong. The front rim takes less abuse than the rear so I got away with having a cross country Mavic X717 rim for my last trip in South America, although by the end it was on its last legs: bent and with many cracks.
Rear Wheel rim: Mavic EX721 36 spokes
The current version of the above rim. I would not go touring without one of these rims (or equivalent) on the back. I find that cross-country rims like Mavic X717 are easily bent on the rear wheel even without luggage. The more spokes the better.
Front hub: Hope XC
Rear hub: modified Hope XC
I have swapped the standard aluminium axle for a cro-moly steel one for extra strength. This hub is stronger than a Shimano hub. I have broken a few Shimano axles (which are only 10mm diameter which is effectively further reduced to about 8.5mm because of the threads). This axle is 12mm diameter. This axle has survived a 4000 mile trip in South America and all the mountain biking up until now with rough roads and an unsympathetic rider. The freewheel mechanism is very strong in this hub and is easily serviceable.
Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon XR
Not many long distance cycle tourists donīt use these and with good reason. They are very strong - tyres have a very hard life on a loaded touring bike on rough roads. Cheap tyres may only last 1 day.
Rear rack: Tubus
Another quality German product: It is made of tubular cro-moly steel which is brazed together. I have had aluminium racks only last 2 weeks before breaking (on rough roads) - this one did the 4000 mile trip in South America and I have met a German who claimed to have done 90,000km with his.)
Front rack:John Bowen special
I adapted it from a crap rear steel rack which I used on my first touring trip. It attaches to the fork via the quick release clamp and a beam bolted to the bottom of the stearer tube. This is a veteran of South America as well.
seat post: U.S.E. XCR Sumo suspension
This is the first time I have used one of these and I really like it.
Stem: Soft Ride suspension stem
This is an old stem which I got from the U.S.A., it has about an inch of suspension via a parallelogram linkage. Very simple: It does not absorb big hits as well as a suspension fork but it works well on a touring bike, smoothing out smaller bumps which usually cause tiring vibrations at the handlebars.
Brake system: Shimano XT V-brakes
Spares are widely available for V-brakes and no special tools are needed for servicing (not the case with hydraulic brakes). I think the performance of V-brakes makes them more suitable for touring than disk brakes: Although they are not as powerful as disk brakes they donīt overheat and fade as even 8 inch downhill disks without luggage on a long steep road can do). The reason that rim brakes are not prone to overheating is that the rims are made of aluminium which dissipates heat more effectively than a steel disk and also the rim has a far greater surface area than a disk.