Touring Gadgets
This is just a short article on a few of the gadgets available to make a cycle tourist's life easier. You may be aware of these, but when I first started touring, I knew nothing about what equipment was avilable, and finding the information was hard. I thought I'd mention a few here in case you are new to touring.
Some of the later articles cover a lot of the equipment needed for touring. This is just an introduction to some of the equipment one might need or want on a bicycle when touring. The photo below shows a mountain bike converted for touring. It does not have the panniers on, but shows the extra water bottles, (subject of a later article) mirrors, and rear rack top bag. I have also fitted a set of bar ends in the centre of the handlebars for an extra hand position.
MTB set up for touring.
Later articles cover the subjects of racks, panniers, bags, trailers and other equipment. One thing you always need to take on tour with you is some tools, especially puncture kits, and tyre levers. Some tools are quite heavy. The best place to put them is where you will be able to get to them easily, and being heavy, the best place is as close to the ground as possible.
Tool bottle in 3rd position.
You can actually purchase cheap purpose made containers designed for bicycle tools, and also designed to fit into a standard water cage. You can mount the cage containing the tool bottle in the "third" water cage position. This is the position on the lower part of the frame in front of the pedals. Most touring frames come with holes in this position. If not it's quite easy to fit an extra cage.
Another thing you need to carry with you is spare tubes. Carrying spare tubes inside panniers can sometimes damage them especially if they are packed next to sharp objects. Also it can sometimes be a problem going through your panniers looking for spare tubes, especially if it is pouring with rain. There are bags available to carry spare tubes underneath the seat. I sometimes carry extra water bottles on a bracket that fits behind the seat, so I carry my spare tubes in one of these bags that fits neatly inside the main triangle of the frame.
This type of bag carries several tubes, and fits inside the main triange of the frame.
I feel another thing that is necessary when riding the main roads in the outback is a set of mirrors. They are especially handy for keeping an eye out behind you for road trains, especially in a head wind. Occasionally a house will sneak up on you. It's amazing the wide loads that are carried around the state on a back of a vehicle. Oh yes, I did say house.
I use bar end mirrors that fold in when not in use. These are handy, because I can fold them in when riding off road. I can adjust the left hand one to look further back on the road than the right hand one and see things coming from a distance.
This was just a short introduction to touring gadgets. I will add more articles later about the various gadgets that make a cycle tourist's life easier.
