Gearbox systems are becoming more and more popular on touring bikes. The most common form of gearbox is the internally geared rear hub, which has actually been available since the late-1800s. The earlier ones were a two-speed design, but these days we have the 14-speed Rohloff hub as our benchmark.
More recently you will find internal...
Dynamo hubs are quite widely adopted in the bicycle touring, bikepacking and ultra racing scenes. With LED light technology allowing for 1300 lumen (or 100+ lux) light outputs, USB charging for gadgets and lithium ion battery storage – dynamo hubs feel like the right way to harvest energy.
But where does this energy come from, and...
Punctures are the bane of a cyclist's existence. Often unexpected, punctures seem to always stop you in your tracks in the least convenient of places. We can combat most punctures by using heavy/slow touring tyres. But is there an all-around touring tyre that is light, fast and puncture resistant?
The website Bicycle Rolling...
A few weeks ago I published a piece stating that hills are NOT harder to cycle than the flat. And it's all true. With the right gears, you can (mostly) overcome the effects of gravity.
I had a few people request how to calculate their 'gradient threshold', that is, the gradient at which they can keep up their cadence (pedalling...
People tell me all the time about how much they struggle in the hills. And that makes sense, right? You have to move your heavy touring bike and all your gear up a steep road, requiring LOTS of hard pedal pushing along the way.
Actually, that's simply not true.
If you struggle in the hills, you're doing it wrong. Let me...
Bicycle Rolling Resistance is a website that conducts lab testing of bike tyres. They focus mostly on rolling resistance but also test the puncture resistance of the tread and sidewalls. We are fortunate enough to have data available of 17 different touring tyre models to examine.
How Is The Tyre Rolling Resistance Tested?
Tyres...
A few months ago I spent a day testing different weights in my panniers to determine how those differences would affect my travelling speed. On one test run I decided to use front instead of rear panniers, and realised there was a speed difference. It worked out to be around five minutes on a hilly 100km ride, or the equivalent of...
Front loading has recently become a popular way of carrying panniers. The setup has been made trendy by manufacturers like Specialized with their AWOL x POLER touring bike, or any number of the touring bikes featured on bicycle lifestyle website, The Radavist.
But is front loading a better place to locate your gear on a touring...
In the last part of this series I discussed in depth, the effect of weight on cycling speed. I inputted my body weight, bike weight, gear weight and average power into BikeCalculator.com and found that every kilogram added was contributing between 10 to 90 seconds over a 100km ride - depending on the quantity of vertical metres...
People go to great lengths in order to reduce the weight of their bikes and gear, but is it justified?
It is my experience that bicycle travellers tend to split into two different camps: there are people who are perfectly happy carrying everything they need to be comfortable/independent on the road (your typical bicycle tourer), and...
