Pedalling Prescotts
Living the dream by bicycle
The following lists outline most of the gear that we are carrying, and can certainly be used as a starting point for planning cycling adventures.
We purchased most of the gear in the year leading up to our departure. Almost all of it was bought in the sales or using discount cards (joining the British Mountaineering Council for £15 for one year gives decent discounts at a number of outdoor shops).
After the winter months we will add kit reviews for what we believe are the most important items of kit that we carry, hopefully this will provide an unbiased opinion of what works and what does not. Happy reading…
Initial kit that we left Britain with. Some of it has been jettisoned, some of it has proved to be very useful!
bike
- bike: (VSF Fahrradmanufaktur)
- braking system: (Magura HS11, hydraulic rim brake) included with the bike
- pannier racks: (front: Tubus Tara Lowrider, rear: Tubus Cargo Classic) included with the bike
- panniers: (front: Ortlieb Front Roller Classic, rear: Ortlieb Back Roller Classic, rackpack: Ortlieb Medium Rackbag)
- basket: (Ortlieb Ultimate 6 Classic Handlebar Bag Large)
- power management: (tout terrain: The Plug II)
- tyres: (Schwalbe Marathon Mondial)
- winter tyres: (Schwalbe Marathon Winter Performance Rigid MTB Tyre)
- fuel bottle cage: (Topeak Modula™ Java Cage)
- odometer: (Cateye Micro Wireless CC-MC200W)
- lock: (Abus 1650 Combination Cable Bike Lock – 185cm)
- pump: (Topeak Turbo MorphG)
- saddles: (Brooks B17 (gents and ladies))
- pogies: (“Arctic” Hotpog Mountain Bike Pogies)
- drink bottles: (LifeVenture Stainless Steel Bottle)
clothes
- baselayers: (underwear: Kathmandu boxers, Kathmandu pants, thermal leggings: Icebreaker Everyday 200 series, thermal tops: Icebreaker Everyday 200 series)
- socks: (various, but all are predominantly made of merino)
- waterproof socks: (steven: Sealskinz Thick Mid Length, katie: Showers Pass Crosspoint Mid-Calf WP Socks) One pair of each. These should not really be necessary as our shoes and over shoes should keep us dry.
- t-shirts: (Icebreaker 150 series)
- hoodies: (steven: Icebreaker 260 series, katie: Icebreaker 320 series)
- cycling shorts: (steven:, Endura mountain bike shortskatie: old running shorts and leggings) We did not purchase anything special for the trip, just what we already had.
- trousers: (steven: MEN’S PARAMOUNT PEAK II CONVERTIBLE PANTS, katie: Women’s Ortler Pants)
- shoes: (steven: Merrel Goretex, katie: HAGLÖFS ROC ICON Q GT)
- rain jackets: (steven: Berghaus Men’s Velum III GORE-TEX® Active Jacket, katie: Mountain Equipment Saltoro Jacket)
- rain trousers: (Kathmandu GoreTex trousers)
- over shoes: (VAUDE GAITER rain overshoes)
- gloves: (steven: Sealskinz extreme cold, katie: Showers Pass hard shell) Aside from our warm gloves we have a random assortment of thinner gloves. We did not purchase these other gloves specifically for this journey, they were just lying around the house. It should be noted that they have all been very useful so far, like layering for your body it has been good to have various types of gloves for the various temperatures.
- beanies: we did not purchase any special beanies, just what we already had. We have one each.
- down jackets: (Rab Neutrino Endurance)
camping
- tent: (Exped Orion Extreme)
- ground sheet: (Exped Orion Footprint)
- mallet: (Coleman rubber mallet with hook)
- mattresses: (NeoAir™ XLite® and Women’s NeoAir™ XLite®)
- pillows: (LifeVenture SoftFibre Cushion)
- sleeping bags: (Rab Ascent 700)
- silk liners: (Rab)
- head torches: (Petzl Tikkina Headtorch)
cooking
- stove: (MSR Whisperlite International)
- fuel bottle: (MSR 30 fl. oz / .887 liters liquid fuel bottle)
- pots, cups, and plates: (MSR Quick™ 2 System)
- frying pan: (MSR Flex™ Skillet)
- utensil kit: (MSR Alpine™ Deluxe Kitchen Set)
tools and spares
- knife: (Leatherman) Don’t leave home without one!
- folding tyre: (Schwalbe)
- chains: We carry at least two spare at all times. Currently they are lasting around 4,000kms.
- inner tubes: (Schwalbe) We also have an assortment of patches. Our method of repairing a tyre is to replace with a new tube and then repair old tube at a later date. This has worked well so far.
- brake pads: (Magura, specific for our braking system) We carry around 6 sets.
- spokes: An assortment of spare spokes, around 12 of each (front and back).
- tools: (allen keys, chain remover, chain gauge, cassette lockring remover, tyre leavers, puncture repair kit)
- oils: (chain oil, grease, seat oil)
other
- water purification: (SteriPEN)
- water bladders: (Ortlieb 10ltr)
- gps: (Magellan eXplorist 310) This is not used for navigation, solely for recording where we are staying and any milestones that we may pass.
- first aid kit: (Life Systems Solo Traveller)
- laptop: (Macbook Air)
- cameras: (Canon 700d, Olympus Tough)
- kindles: We each have our own Kindle. Great investment, however, we find that we don’t actually have as much time as we would like to read. Once you finish a days cycling, setup the tent, and cook we are pretty much ready for sleep.
- seat covers: (Brooks rain cover)
- high visibility coats: We each have a coat. We very rarely wear them, preferring to drape them over our back roll bag. Great for cycling with, but need to be removed prior to looking for somewhere to wild camp.
- sunglasses: (steven: nothing special, just normal sunglasses from home, katie: Prescription sunglasses from Optilabs)
- towels: (LifeVenture SoftFibre Trek Towels)
- buffs: (one each)
- thermus flask: Picked one up in Samsun; great for having a ready made warm drink during the day.
Latest Tweets
Good Morning Katie & Steven,
First of all I am very much impressed by your cycling adventure..looks awesome!
My partner and I, (he is a Swiss cycling nut who has done quite a lot of touring, but me a small town Kiwi has only done a few hundred km’s in Asia, NZ and Switzerland), are starting out on a South East Asia touring adventure in a few weeks.
I have been going over your kit list (love that you are packing with a beer handy) and wanted to pick your brains a little. I’m not so concerned about the bike gear, as my partner has that under control..i hope, I am more interested in the camping and cooking gear. Can you recommend your MSR cooking gear? or would you change anything? We were planning on picking up stuff in Thailand, but I am wondering if it will be quality enough. Also how has “the plug” preformed? Have you charged an iPhone? Would you recommend your merino’s? We also try and cycle in merinos but I have found much of the ultra fine icebreakers (great for hot climates) are not very durable and I usually have a hole within a few weeks?
Anyway best of luck with the remainder of your trip..almost home.
Cheers
Heidi
Posted by Heidi Weston | November 24, 2015, 9:44 amGreat to hear that you are planning a cycle trip to SE Asia.
First of all, we were in SE Asia in the hottest season, so our experiences may be a little different from what you are going to experience.
We only camped once in SE as it was so cheap and so hot that it didn’t really make sense for us to camp, which also means that we did not use our cooking gear there either. The food is plentiful and easy to obtain, and it is super cheap.
If you are planning on camping and cooking then I would really recommend NOT using MSR; we have had nothing but trouble with ours and in fact ended up tossing it in a bin somewhere in SE Asia. We contacted MSR but they were completely useless about replacing the stove and suggested because we were using unleaded fuel then you can’t expect it to work (or something along those lines). Given that unleaded seems to be what you can get it is a bit ridiculous. The MSR stove was the single worst piece of equipment we had.
The plug worked for a while, but then it just stopped working, or at least it stopped charging, possibly after it got wet. Again, I would really NOT recommend it. The stupid little rubber bit that comes with it to protect it from water is just that… a stupid little rubber bit that just broke off. We have heard of others using a Power Monkey, which is what we would look at if we were to do it again.
Merino – you are right, it is not at all durable, particularly the thinner items. I love my merino and if you carry two, one for cycling and one for after it is a good mix. Yes, they will end up with holes in them, but in the heat of SE Asia it is worth the money. Katie wore cotton the whole time and loved that as well, so it is really a personal preference there. I would always tour in merino.
Hope that this helps.
Cheers,
Steven
Posted by Steven | November 24, 2015, 11:12 pm