Bike Touring 101 (Reprise)

Lately, I have received emails from visitors to my Blog who expressed their interest in Bike Touring. Hey, it's always a pleasure to encourage people to try Bike Touring because it's simply FUN!

OK, Bike Touring is NOT for macho people who wants to go fast & furious and those who fancy light carbon bikes. Bike Touring is for ANYONE with sense of adventure who wants to explore the back roads, highlands, country sides, coastal roads, etc. It's not about the speed or distance. Instead, it's about the journey that you are to take. Whether it is 30km or 100km, along the way, you will meet and talk to people who you just met, enjoy the food at roadside, taking photographs with your friends, enjoy the beautiful sceneries, etc.

It doesn't matter if you are 25 or 65, if you are in sound physical condition and willing to take some time to prepare, you will be ok. Bottom line is, in Bike Touring, gearing & patience are more important than raw strength!

As long as you know how to ride a bicycle and are familiar with the basic operation of gear shifting and braking, then you are ready for a Bike Tour. No problemo!

For a beginner, I would advise that you don't splash your money on a new bike. Just ride your own bike whether it is a road bike, mountain bike or a hybrid. Try to fix a rear rack to your bike to carry your stuff. Then, invite your friends to join you for a short trip, maybe a day trip or an overnighter.

Once you got hooked on the Bike Touring, i.e. you don't mind riding for 5-8 hours for few days under hot sun or in the rain, getting dirty and smelly, get used to the local foods at the road stalls, then only you should consider invest in a proper Touring Bike and its accessories.

Welcome to the world of Bike Touring!

Cameron Highlands Tour Photos

Barrat Tea Plantation @ Tanah Rata

Kranked 8 Revolved Coastal Crew

My favourite cycling video! Awesome stuff from the Coastal Crew!



Source: YouTube

Travelling with a bicycle (by Air)

Back in 2002 as I was walking in the Sydney Airport Transit Hall , I saw a guy pushing his touring bike. And I asked him whether he carry his bike just like that without boxed it up. He answered (with his French accent) Yes and told me to check with some airlines that allow bikes to be carried without box. And I did checked it out and found out that it is the Malaysia Airlines.

In the South East Asia, it is very convenient and inexpensive to travel with bicycle by plane. I have fly with Qantas, Air Asia, British Midlands, Tiger Airways, Jetstar and of course, the Malaysia Airlines. No hassle and no problem given by them. My only worry is how the airport staff handle my bike at the baggage area and when they unload/off load to/from the plane.

In my past posting (Jan 2009), I have stated that Malaysia Airlines as Cycling Friendly Airlines due to their baggage policy that facilitate cyclist like us. But there are also other airlines, for example Qantas, Jetstar & British Midlands that allows you to carry your bicycle without additional charges as long as the total weight of your luggage + the bike does not exceed the baggage allowance. However, you still need to box up your bike. But you must be warned that the charges for access baggage is expensive. It can be as high as SGD20 per kg in Changi and 20GBP per kg in Heathrow.

Jetstar is another airlines that offer you a good solution. They allow you to purchase your luggage allowance according to your requirements. What I normally do is to declare my bike as a sports equipments and pay SGD35 per sector for my bike. With that I have covered approx. 20kg of weight. Then I purchased 20kg of luggage allowance at SGD15 per sector for my bags, panniers, etc. In addition, I still have 7kg for my hand luggage. Again, I still need to box-up my bike as per their baggage policy.

So next time when you plan to travel with your bicycle, do your homework first. Check out few options on the internet before you choose to travel with which airlines.

Happy travel!

How to choose a good rack

If you are travelling with your panniers, choosing the right rack is very important. Pictured above is my rear rack recently fixed to my touring folding bike. I will briefly explain to you why I think this rack is a good rack.

Even though Steel is the best material for the rack because it is stiffer, mine is made of an Aluminium. It's lighter but to provide the same stiffness as the steel, the tube is thicker, i.e., 10mm in diameter. And it is less expensive.

The design of the vertical support of V-shaped stay will feed the loads of the panniers directly into the dropouts. The straight stay will provide effective trangulation therefore it won't flex.

A good rack also need to keep it from moving back and forth. To prevent this movement, it is fixed to the seat stay, i.e., the nearest to the frame. The shortest connection support the better for optimum stiffeness.

It is also important that the support prevents the rack from swaying from side to side. A single support, normally clamped to the seatpost has to resist both compression and tension within small width. While two supports that in line with the rack and fixed to both seat stays separate the compression and tension as far as possible making the rack much more stable.

In addition, I love the two tier horizontal supports because I can fixed both my panniers and the rack bag together.

A well design rack is stiff, lightweight and strong. It makes your load intergral with your bike, minimizing its negative impacts on overall handling. So, to choose a good rack, look for a large-diameter tubing, good triangulation and strong attachments. A good rack like Tubus meets all these design criterias but it is very expensive. So look for the one that comes closest to the deal.

Source: Adventure Cyclist Magazine- Mecahnical Advantage, Jan Heine.

Sg Koyan to Ringlet Highway

This is a brand new highway that connect the inner Pahang to the Cameron Highlands. The road is from the junction at Sg Koyan straight to Ringlet for approximate distance of 81km. There is no R&R stop along the new highway.

As expected the road climbs from 109m to 1095m with gradual climb for the first 45km. Then some moderate climb till 65km where there is some water point for you to refill your bottle. (a life saver!) The last climb till Ringlet is a bit harder but manageable with low gear if you are riding a fully loaded bike. No problem if you are riding a road bike, though.

The scenery is beautiful where you can see some matured tropical jungle of the Taman Negara (National Park). The road is brand new with detour in our spot due to major landslide. However, at this moment (June 2010) the last 16km is still unfinished. You will ride on some compact sub-base and concrete in some area. No problem.

However, be careful if you ride at night, because according to the locals there were some incidents involving the indigenous people who drank too much and disturbing the passerby whether you are on bikes or in cars. Actually, we experienced some people observing us on their motorbike while we were riding at night. Luckily nothing happen.

So if you want to try the route, start early and bring along ample supply of water and food. And enjoy the ride. One more thing, don't forget to bring a duct tape along!

Good Luck!

Miracle Tape

Last Friday, we experienced a 'McGyver moment' because one of my friend's tire just burst in the middle of nowhere. What we saw was this big cut on the tire and obviously it needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, no one carry a spare. In fact, we are too late to go back and too far to go forward.

Lo and behold! ...suddenly I remember that I had a roll of duct tape in my pannier!

What we did was to tape the back of the tire with 2 layers of 3" & 4" duct tape over the cut area. Although it is unnecessary but for double (triple?) protection, we cut (using a SWISS KNIFE, ahem!) the old tube into 2 pieces of 4" & 5" and slice it into half so that it wrapped around the new tube right below the cut area. Then, slot everything into the tire.

Actually, this was my original idea before I remember about the duct tape. I was playing safe because we still have another 60km++ of riding untill our destination.

After everything is set properly into the rim, we cut another 4" of duct tape and cover the cut area from the front to prevent small stones or pieces of glasses to slip into the cut area and damage the inner layer of duct tape.

Surprisingly everything went well! After 30km, I replaced the outer layer of duct tape and we keep riding for more than 60km and the tape is till there! YEEAAH..!!!

Duct Tape....definitely a MIRACLE TAPE!