Touring Gear – Successes and Failures

[ginacico]

Peter and I just rode the GAP-C&O Canal route, 337 miles over 6 days, and we tent camped the whole way. A few things performed remarkably well, and others failed miserably.

SUCCESS!

All hail the Nuu Muu! Seriously, I’ve heard women rave about these simple little workout dresses, so I finally got one (model: Ruu Muu with a pocket, color: “Hottt”). After one test, I decided it would be The Thing I Wear on this bike tour and had no regrets. It’s totally comfortable, fully functional, and magically interchangeable. I wore my favorite chamois shorts underneath to ride all day, took a refreshing dip in the Yough and dried off quickly, and still felt civilized walking into a coffee shop. I was still wearing it, with capris and a hoody, while we celebrated with dinner and beer in Georgetown. It stank a little by that time, but that might’ve been me more than the clothing! I’ve already ordered another. (Sorry guys, I don’t know what your equivalent would be.)

Goal Zero Venture 30 battery pack, paired with the Nomad 7 solar panel. The Venture 30 was able to charge ALL of my gadgets (Polar GPS watch, iPhone 6, camera batteries) daily, and still never drained less than half power. I recharged the Venture by laying the solar panel across my rear rack and panniers, held on with little carabiners. Or I’d top it off at a wall outlet if we stopped somewhere. No more leaving my valuables in the campground restrooms to charge, and since everything has USB interfaces I carried fewer adapters and cables.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]12015[/ATTACH]

FAIL!

GoPro mount. My POV camera was mounted to my handlebar, so I could press the shutter whenever something interesting appeared. A few miles outside of Harpers Ferry, I looked down and was aghast that the camera was GONE. We backtracked several miles, until eagle-eyed Peter spotted it lying where it had bounced into the grass. One of the mount sections had simply sheared off, likely due to vibration on the gravelly/muddy trail. I thought it was a goner, and I’m really lucky to have it back.

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Handlebar tape. My very new, metallic blue bar tape did a miserable job standing up to my merino wool Giro gloves with suede palms. My hands and gloves are fine. Although the bar tape was aesthetically cool, I’ll have to pick something tougher to ride gravel and mud. Next color choice will be….?

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Not sure?!?

Since I bought Vaya two years ago, I’ve been riding on the stock Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour 40mm “flatless” tires. I’ve ridden (unintentionally) over puddles of glass and typical urban debris as well as rocks and roots, and sailed along without a single flat. Fast forward past 330+ miles of loaded touring, I rolled home and locked her in the shed. The next day, when I dragged it out for a good bath and lube, the rear tire was FLAT. Pumped it up and heard air leaking around the valve. After a good cleaning, I will swap the tires out for new 28mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus road tires and fresh tubes, which I’d intended to do soon anyway. What kind of crazy luck or timing is that?!!

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[mstone]

@ginacico 142103 wrote:

All hail the Nuu Muu! Seriously, I’ve heard women rave about these simple little workout dresses, so I finally got one (model: Ruu Muu with a pocket, color: “Hottt”). After one test, I decided it would be The Thing I Wear on this bike tour and had no regrets. It’s totally comfortable, fully functional, and magically interchangeable. I wore my favorite chamois shorts underneath to ride all day, took a refreshing dip in the Yough and dried off quickly, and still felt civilized walking into a coffee shop. I will still wearing it, with capris and a hoody, while we celebrated with dinner and beer in Georgetown. It stank a little by that time, but that might’ve been me more than the clothing! I’ve already ordered another. (Sorry guys, I don’t know what your equivalent would be.)

https://www.utilikilts.com/

[consularrider]

@mstone 142104 wrote:

https://www.utilikilts.com/

Where’s the merino version?

[hozn]

@ginacico 142103 wrote:

Handlebar tape. My very new, metallic blue bar tape did a miserable job standing up to my merino wool Giro gloves with suede palms. My hands and gloves are fine. Although the bar tape was aesthetically cool, I’ll have to pick something tougher to ride gravel and mud. Next color choice will be….?

Check out the Fizik microtouch tape. They have a metallic blue in 3mm and that stuff lasts forever and does a great job staying clean. (Unlike Lizzard Skins or Arundel.) A little less grippy than Cinelli cork or Deda tape when wet, but it works fine.

(Thanks to Harry Meatmotor for putting me onto that; I see no reason to ever use anything else again.)

[ginacico]

@hozn 142121 wrote:

Check out the Fizik microtouch tape.

Thanks, hozn! I found and ordered some in a few colors.

Turns out the leak in the rear tube was a miniscule puncture, not the valve at all. Who knows what got in there or how, but…… 187 miles of C&O Canal. A patched tube is better than none at all in an emergency, so I’ll hang onto it.

Despite the reputation of Schwalbe flatless tires for being tough to get over the rims, I easily changed out the 40s for new 28s. Thumbs only. Took off the fenders, now Vaya is down to her summer weight. I left the rear rack on, so I can use the trunk bag for commuting.

The result of de-mudding after a tour is so gratifying.

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[GovernorSilver]

@hozn 142121 wrote:

Check out the Fizik microtouch tape. They have a metallic blue in 3mm and that stuff lasts forever and does a great job staying clean. (Unlike Lizzard Skins or Arundel.) A little less grippy than Cinelli cork or Deda tape when wet, but it works fine.

(Thanks to Harry Meatmotor for putting me onto that; I see no reason to ever use anything else again.)

Another new convert to Fizik tape here. I had Lizard Skins on my Uptown 8, but they were disappointingly slippery when wet. Replaced them with Fizik Tacky Touch and still gave me a nice grip in the middle of last Tuesday’s heavy downpour.

I believe my Renegade came stock with some variant of Fizik’s Microtouch. That also proved itself in the downpour coming home from the forum happy hour.

[sethpo]

I’m in need of some new bar tape but can’t find the Fizik “microtouch” you guys are talking about. Is it sold under a different product name?

[ShawnoftheDread]

It’s microtex and microtex soft touch.

And the 3mm fizik performance is also nice.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@sethpo 142160 wrote:

I’m in need of some new bar tape but can’t find the Fizik “microtouch” you guys are talking about. Is it sold under a different product name?

It used to be “microtex soft touch”, but it looks like they’ve changed the nomenclature. Looks like the new name is “superlight soft touch”.

[GovernorSilver]

This is what I got for the Uptown 8 – “Performance Tacky” tape.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XKDS8OY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I guess Fizik was/is in the middle of a name change for several tape products at the time I ordered it. The name changes are causing some problems for the good folks at Proteus who are trying to order a replacement for the Fizik tape that I tore up on the Renegade when I wiped out.

[Steve O]

This discussion is a couple days late for me. I just ordered some new tape from the UK, but–as with women’s shoes–comfort came second. In this case because of color. I could only find a dark green in two places. This one that I ordered:
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And this Brooks leather tape, which was tempting, but I could not bring myself to spend $70 on bar tape, although I like this green even better.
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[ginacico]

The stuff I ordered is Fizik Performance Classic in 3mm. Microtex appears to be what they call the material they use.

[hozn]

@TwoWheelsDC 142163 wrote:

It used to be “microtex soft touch”, but it looks like they’ve changed the nomenclature. Looks like the new name is “superlight soft touch”.

Sorry, yes, I guess I was merging those terms together into “microtouch”. I’ve used both their 3mm and 2mm stuff — happy with both; obviously 3mm is squishier

[TwoWheelsDC]

I have the Fizik soft touch on my Cervelo and love it. I also have Cinelli cork tape on my…Cinelli….and it’s pretty awesome too. The Cinelli tape is definitely more plush, and I’d say more comfortable for use without gloves because it’s less grippy and doesn’t pull at your skin as much. Having different tapes on different bikes works well for me…I ride with my hands on my top bar more on my Cinelli because it’s a fixed gear, so the plusher tape is preferable there, while I use my drops more often on my road bike where the grippiness is better.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@ginacico 142103 wrote:

Goal Zero Venture 30 battery pack, paired with the Nomad 7 solar panel. The Venture 30 was able to charge ALL of my gadgets (Polar GPS watch, iPhone 6, camera batteries) daily, and still never drained less than half power. I recharged the Venture by laying the solar panel across my rear rack and panniers, held on with little carabiners. Or I’d top it off at a wall outlet if we stopped somewhere. No more leaving my valuables in the campground restrooms to charge, and since everything has USB interfaces I carried fewer adapters and cables.

Have you tried charging anything with the solar panel directly? Panel>battery pack>device seems like the smartest route, but would you be able to ditch the battery back if you were trying to minimize what you were going to carry?

[Author]

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