Cycling Around the World, Sadly had to return for major repairs

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Bonefish Blues

Banging donk
Location
52 Festive Road
My biggest waste of money, besides the bike :smile: Was the dynamo front hub with a usb adaptor, what a load of crap that is. It will hold a charge on things I'm using, but won't give much more than that. The lights obviously work with it, but I don't ride at night anyway. So I bought 2 EasyAcc 1000mAh power banks, and I wouldn't now be without them, they are amazing and smallish. I charge them up at campsite receptions overnight, and I will get a good couple of days out of them on my phone, satnav, blutooth speaker, walkman.
To be fair Stephen you're generally going really quite slowly I think, likely below its minimum speed.

In a spirit of light heartedness, I just have a mental picture of you climbing those big Spanish hills with 200kgs all-up. My mental picture looks a bit like this :whistle: (skip to 45 secs):


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k81rRaszRlg
 
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John Peel

John Peel

Senior Member
Location
Cheshire England
One bit of advice i give peeps, preventive maintenance is the answer to avoid many parts failure

Yes, I will keep up with maintenance, and some good advice thanks. I was saying that I couldn't find many people going completely around the wold with a hub, but I do no of loads going around the world with derailleur. I know lots of people doing long tours on hubs, like Alaska to Argentina and the like with hubs.
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Through most of your RWT route; getting standard bike parts, other than items like your Hub and drive belt, should not be a problem you might have to buy cheaper parts but that keeps you on the move. Even if the frame break you should be able in the main cities or Towns to find someone who can weld the frame, anyway flying spares to you via DHL, Fedex, UPS is easy enough, just a tad expensive, once you have done your courses you will have not problems fixing things. thats the advantage of a bike, its made of readily available standard parts in most cases. And will save you the effort of arranging shipping the damage bike home.

One bit of advice i give peeps, preventive maintenance is the answer to avoid many parts failure, at the end of the days riding, always take time to check the bike over, check the tightness of all your fastenings, and spokes clean your chain, and then lube it, check all your cables and brake hoses look for cracks around the spoke holes on your wheel rims and cone adjustment. If done in the evening it allows the fresh oil on the chain to soak into the rollers, then in the morning just wipe a rag over the outside to remove any surplus oil.

I noticed in one of your posts that you thought not many people did RTW tours, once you are out of Europe you will be surprised the amount of cyclist doing Long haul tours, indeed some routes feel like the M25 at times, and you can struggle to fine somewhere to stay.

Yeah there's a conveyor belt of RTW cyclists of all nationalities in the Stans typically Bishkek either heading East or West. Not that I would know what cycling on the M25 is like ;@)

For me disc brakes are one major leap forward in technology, performance and reliability. So many long distance or RTW cyclists suffer from either worn out and or split rims, generally the rear, due to the braking surface wearing away at some point which necessitates a new wheel and where are you going to get a strong durable wheel built in the back of beyond that isn't going to break within 25km carrying you and all your gear? Disc brakes you don't have the problem of worn out rims or crud grinding them to a paste. Ok there are ceramic or carbide ones or such similar with hydraulic rim brakes such as .......... Koga do, but not my cup of tea. One thing about a Rohloff hub wheel, it is not dished so you could rebuild a wheel more easily than on a derailleur bike which can be heavily dished. A Rohloff wheel is therefore stronger. Maybe leave a couple of spare rims at home with a full set of spokes so if you need a new wheel then all you do is get them sent out by Fedex or UPS and you can build it yourself.

The other tip is take a spare set of bolts and nuts for the whole of your bike especially rack or mudguard bolts. Use Nylon nuts or Threadloc or spring washers to prevent nuts being shaken undone through vibration. There shouldn't be too many. Also a fair few cable ties which are fairly light. And get Schwalbe Marathon Plus Touring tyres with Smartguard either 1.75" or 2" width. Schwalbe Mondials might have Smartguard as well. Don't bother with anything else, seriously, unless you want to be stuck at the side of the road in the pissing rain or when it's a scorching hot day with no shade and your water has run out trying to repair a puncture with a gang of kids and dogs circling. My Schwalbe Marathon Plus Smartguard tyres 1.75" have done about 8k miles and the rear still has a lot of tread on it. For RTW touring where you might be riding a lot rougher terrain I would get the touring version, but commuting you don't need them.

And take a Rohloff oil change kit with enough oil and cleaning fluid for several changes at least until you get to another place that has dealers or you can buy the oil and cleaner. You don't want to miss the oil change intervals if you can help it.

You are getting lots of help so I hope you are making notes ;@)
 
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John Peel

John Peel

Senior Member
Location
Cheshire England
Yeah there's a conveyor belt of RTW cyclists of all nationalities in the Stans typically Bishkek either heading East or West. Not that I would know what cycling on the M25 is like ;@)

For me disc brakes are one major leap forward in technology, performance and reliability. So many long distance or RTW cyclists suffer from either worn out and or split rims, generally the rear, due to the braking surface wearing away at some point which necessitates a new wheel and where are you going to get a strong durable wheel built in the back of beyond that isn't going to break within 25km carrying you and all your gear? Disc brakes you don't have the problem of worn out rims or crud grinding them to a paste. Ok there are ceramic or carbide ones or such similar with hydraulic rim brakes such as .......... Koga do, but not my cup of tea. One thing about a Rohloff hub wheel, it is not dished so you could rebuild a wheel more easily than on a derailleur bike which can be heavily dished. A Rohloff wheel is therefore stronger. Maybe leave a couple of spare rims at home with a full set of spokes so if you need a new wheel then all you do is get them sent out by Fedex or UPS and you can build it yourself.

The other tip is take a spare set of bolts and nuts for the whole of your bike especially rack or mudguard bolts. Use Nylon nuts or Threadloc or spring washers to prevent nuts being shaken undone through vibration. There shouldn't be too many. Also a fair few cable ties which are fairly light. And get Schwalbe Marathon Plus Touring tyres with Smartguard either 1.75" or 2" width. Schwalbe Mondials might have Smartguard as well. Don't bother with anything else, seriously, unless you want to be stuck at the side of the road in the pissing rain or when it's a scorching hot day with no shade and your water has run out trying to repair a puncture with a gang of kids and dogs circling. My Schwalbe Marathon Plus Smartguard tyres 1.75" have done about 8k miles and the rear still has a lot of tread on it. For RTW touring where Wmight be riding a lot rougher terrain I would get the touring version, but commuting you don't need them.

And take a Rohloff oil change kit with enough oil and cleaning fluid for several changes at least until you get to another place that has dealers or you can buy the oil and cleaner. You don't want to miss the oil change intervals if you can help it.

You are getting lots of help so I hope you are making notes ;@)

In a few weeks I'm booked in to to do a wheel building and truing course, so that should be handy, maybe. Those are the tyres I use at 50mm, and during the last 3300km's not a single puncture, I damaged the tyre wall on some sharp crappy caminos, but that's it. I keep an oil changing kit in my panniers. Rohloff have just serviced and changed the oil, so that will give me another 5k, and with the kit I have should seem me to 10k. When I set off again from Marseille, I will be a lot lighter, not just me, but kit wise. New phone to see how I get on with out the 7kg of camera gear and laptop, and all the cables, batteries and chargers associated with that, and other luxury items are going. I'm going to see how I get on with around 20kg of kit if I can, we will see.
 
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John Peel

John Peel

Senior Member
Location
Cheshire England
@John Peel I’ve just checked out your photos on Twitter of your trip so far. You’ve got some amazing shots. I look forward to seeing more on your return to your trip.
Thanks Lee, photography is my hobby and I love taking great pics, its my videography where I fall down, but I'm working on it :smile: I have a go pro 5 and my Sony A7rii takes great 4K video. I video everything in 4K, then upload bits of video in 1080 or less for ease while I'm away. I save every bit of 4k video on SSD drives in the hope that when I complete this tour I can put a real video together, or get someone else to do it :smile:. I'm only get one chance at this tour, so I'm trying to capture as much of it in anyway I can. Cheers for taking a real interest too Lee. Steve
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Is the hub external gearbox? If so, taking it off and checking the grease is worth doing approx every 500km or so. A box spanner is also worth carrying to re align the gears if you take the external mech off and twist the shifter by mistake.
 
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John Peel

John Peel

Senior Member
Location
Cheshire England
Is the hub external gearbox? .

The hub is pretty standard for Rohloff, its all enclosed except the bits that appear to be the problem, so access to those parts I am told is now fairly straight forward with the right tools. I'm on the understanding that this latest carrier / components are prone to the grease washing out more easily, and so I suppose checks often would be an idea. You can only get that special grease from Rohloff I believe. My issue started grinding in under 200 miles, so checking under that would be a real pain in the arse. I'm hoping it will not be necessary to check so often.
 

Pale Rider

Legendary Member
Worth carrying a small spanner or pliers to fit the hex shifter on the hub.

If one of the cables or the handlebar shifter fails, you can still change gear, although you would have to dismount each time to do it.
 

tyreon

Active Member
You sound an amateur John...and which,in part,is why I sometimes follow you. I must say I get a bit fed up with the semi pros and the pros theseadays...and with so many around. I also get fed up with 'first to be' 'first to have...': have read it all,refuse to buy the book or hook and go for the long burn. The uninteresting story can sometimes be the best told: Japanese simplicity and understatement can make a good 'movie'. Benedict Allen is way too rich for me(rich as in plum pudding rich). I know, I was recently trying to sell my book on how I ate my wife whilst trekking across Antartica in the mosquito infested jungles. The wife had been bitten by an Asp and I had no food...

Hey,I'm now in bold print. How did that happen?

I think it was the cyclist Ian Hibbell who said his RTW adventures had to be glammed up to attract sales. I don't think IH wanted the make up.

I thought your £4k for a bike was a bit OTT. But hey...each to their own. I tend to believe what's tried and tested and simpler to fix is better understood and ...better tried and tested,then fixed if it goes wrong

I seem to be posting on page 5/6? Is this why I am in bold?

You don't appear to be as I expect a RTW cyclist to appear. Hey,novel!

As a man of the 60s and in his 60s I like some character. You seem well balanced. It's okay to get frustrated John. Get stressed. Get angry. Go ballistic. It sortsa spices up stuff.

Hey,I'm beginning to contradict meself here. Better quit.

As a numbskull on the network I seem only to be able to follow you on Facebook. And I'm not a member(and don't wish to be) Give me a link wherein I can dip into what's happening to you. PS If you ever appear on the dreaded One Show,I'm out.
BFN

 
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