Have you ever wondered what you need for a year-long bike trip through various climates, terrains, and weather conditions? Well we have… we’ve been pondering this question for at least the last year, taking note of all our gear malfunctions and thinking about what is deemed an ‘essential item.’
The bike and its gear
Fortunately, we’ve been able to take our Hase Pino tandem out on several week-long trial runs over the past two summers. The first summer, we only lost a few screws on a pieces where the rear wheel is attached to the frame and noticed that extreme jostling can dislodge the panniers from the bike rack. The second (this past) summer, when we added the BOB Ibex trailer, is when we really started to take note of all the strains that the tandem (and ourselves) endures.
While climbing our first mountain passes between Austria and Slovenia with 10%+ inclines, our physical limit was met. More than once, we resorted to pushing the tandem and all of its gear up the road because our gears couldn’t go low enough. At the beginning of the summer, we already had increased the gear range to make uphill cycling more comfortable, but with the addition of the BOB Ibex and a full load, any incline over 7% became nearly impossible.
After the Slovenia trip, we left our bike at a shop to increase our gear range even more. Now, with a front derailleur in addition to the Rohloff hub, and some pretty freaky looking handlebars, we should be ready to tackle all of the climbs out trip has to offer.
The other addition to Hase Pino is a new internal dynamo in the front wheel, which serves as a front light and battery charger.
Panniers
Although we really love our canvas Carradice SuperC panniers, we opted for the Ortlieb Waterproof panniers that can also serve as backpacks… we carried small hiking backpacks with us in Slovenia for the Triglav climb but noticed that they took up too much space. In addition, instead of stuffing our food in an old backpack bungeed to our bike rack, we went for something more stable, so we chose the Ortlieb Trunk-Bag. In the front, we’re using two front Carradice SuperC panniers below my seat, and then two more Ortlieb handlebar bags to quickly access other items.
Bike gear – repair kit – 4,1kg
Due to the ‘uniqueness’ of our rig, a few pieces will be fairly hard to come by when out on the road. This means that we will be taking a few necessary pieces in case of a break-down and to (hopefully) save time for repairs .. ex. not waiting 2 weeks for a special German part to be delivered to us.
- Disk brake pads – one pair, these are fairly easy to find – 28 g
- Chain links x3 – in case we wear out the chain – 12 g
- Extra screws – bumpy roads can loosen up things – 175 g
- Extra cable for Rohloff – just in case, this is pretty difficult to find at a random bike shop – 375 g
- Tube repair kits x4 – 73 g
- Tools – for dismounting and rebuilding the bike, and everything in between – 269 g
- Small lock – for locking the bike to itself or our tent – 87 g
- Rohloff oils – oil changes – 199 g
- Extra 16″ tire – 580 g
- Extra 20″ tire – 744 g
- Extra 26″ Mondial tire – 810 g
- Chain lube – 102 g
- Screw glue – 8 g
- Tubes – 16, 20, and 26 inch – 704 g
Cooking gear – 2,7kg
- MSR XGK stove – uses all types of fuel sources – 341 g
- Tatonka metal cups x2 – 298 g
- Tatonka metal bowls x2 – 330 g
- Large fork/spoon set – 172 g
- Small fork/spoon set – 149 g
- Stove wind guard – 75 g
- Sponges x2 – 29 g
- GSI big pot – 461 g
- GSI pan – 184 g
- GSI wash bucket – more to keep everything contained – 84 g
- GSI plates x2 – pretty useless for eating noodles, but they’ll work as a cutting board – 74 g
- GSI pot handle – 79 g
- 1L nalgene – 189 g
- Opinel knife – 61 g
- MSR fuel bottle and pump– to hold all of that fuel
Medicine and toiletries – 1,850kg
- Medicine box (incl. antibiotics and ibuprofin) – 320 g
- Wound care – the basics – 170 g
- Toiletry bag – to contain our lotions and potions – 588 g
- Asthma, contact lenses, and razor blades – enough for a long time – 320 g
- Quick-dry towel – 61 g
- Water purification drops and tabs – 95 g
- Soap box – 123 g
- Cassie’s lady bag – 177 g
Odds and Ends – 5,0kg
- Sunglasses x2, incl. case – one clear, one for sunny days – 332 g
- Water bottles x2 – 224 g
- Duct tape – 225 g
- Lezyne pump – 184 g
- Lock – 1053 g
- 5 m cable lock extension – 859 g
- Sigma headlamps x2 – 278 g
- Solar charger – 616 g
- Zipties – 89 g
- Bear spray – for vicious dogs and humans – 54 g
- Rope – to tie things – 65 g
- Bug spray – 87 g
- Saywer water filters x2 –
- MSR tent repair kit – 114 g
- Thermarest mattress repair kit x3 – 38 g
- Diary – 225 g
- Notebook – 136 g
- Deck of cards – 101 g
- Presta/schrader adapter – useful at gas stations – 2.5 g
- Suunto watch – 54 g
- 10L MSR dromedary bag – as suggested by one of our Warmshowers guests, we screwed some hooks into the back of the front seat to hang the water bladder. This makes water easily accessible to both Cassie and Cedric -325 g
Electronics – 5,840kg
- Canon powershot – 300 g
- Sony RX1005 – 299 g
- Sony camera case – 109 g
- Cullmann camera case – 100 g
- Delorme inReach – for SOS calls and location reports – 273 g
- Anker 10 port USB charger – because everything is charged with USB cables these days – 292 g
- Dicapac waterproof camera case – for pictures when it rains – 127 g
- Extra Sony batteries x4 – 92 g
- Extra Canon batteries x2 – 48 g
- USB battery charger for Sony camera – 96 g
- USB battery charger for Canon camera – 99 g
- ChipTAN device – a necessity when traveling with German bank cards – 50 g
- Bagsmart camera accessory case – 176 g
- Laptop case – to provide some protection and cushion – 275 g
- Small laptop/tablet hybrid – for writing blog posts and watching Netflix – 1115 g
- Cédric’s kindle & case – 343 g
- Cassie’s kindle & case (not pictured) – 343 g
- Universal UBS charger – charges any battery with any voltage – 60 g
- Outlet adapter – a must – 112 g
- Anker battery – 359 g
- Small battery – to give something an extra boost – 68 g
- Luminoodle – tent lights – 119 g
- Headphones x2 – for the plane and video calls – 77 g
- Camera stand – for action shots – 38 g
- Burner phone and charger – for foreign SIM cards – 160 g
- USB cords x8 – 122 g
- Garmin GPS – so we don’t get too lost – 132 g
- Sigma tacho – to see if we actually reach 20k km – 40 g
- Our smartphones (not pictured) – keeping us in touch with the rest of the world
Camping gear – 5,820kg
- MSR Hubba Hubba tent – for 2 people – 2087 g
- Thermarest NeoAir pads x2 – for a good night’s sleep – 1210 g
- Millet Alpine LTK 800 x2 – right and left zippers for extra warmth – 1472 g
- OUTAD tarp – keeping the tent just a bit cleaner – 488 g
- Decathlon silk liners – 234 g
- Petzl headlamps x2 – for seeing in the dark – 153 g
- Extra tent poles – for the tarp – 143 g
Cedric’s Clothes – 6.3 kg
- Hat – for extra shade protection – 76 g
- Socks x3 – 168 g
- Dex-Shell waterproof socks – 97 g
- Padded underwear – 111 g
- Underwear x2 – 136 g
- Old cycling shirts – yellow, to get noticed – 329 g
- Smartwool t-shirt – we’re conducting a year-long test to see if merino wool actually does smell – 133 g
- Long sleeve Under Armor pullover – bright orange, to be seen – 248 g
- Patagonia shorts – to wear when not on the bike – 117 g
- Castrelli biking bibs – to wear when biking – 171 g
- Knee length tights – man leggings – 178 g
- Patagonia Baggies Pants – 275 g
- Buff x2 – to protect against dirt and cold – 70 g
- Rain/wind jacket – 459 g
- Vaude rain cape – 375 g
- Swim shorts – 79 g
- Decathlon down jacket – for those extra cold nights – 598 g
- Old sneakers – 568 g
- Crocs – to slip on after a long day of biking – 560 g
- Keen SPD clip sandals – comfortable, yet more stylish than the Shimano SPD sandals – 900 g
- Bike gloves – 66 g
- Warm bike gloves – 160 g
- Waterproof bike glove layer – 88 g
- Endura Hi-Vis helmet – comes with a USB-rechargeable rear light – 319 g
Cassie’s Clothes – 5.7 kg
Compared to Cédric, Cassie is taking more clothing and layers because she suffers from ‘Always-Cold Syndrome.’ This was an area of headed discussion between the two a few days ago, but she managed to get her point across and would like to point out that her gear weighs less than Cédric’s.
- Underwear x3 – 67 g
- Nooyme bike underwear – a thoughtful bachelorette gift – 66 g
- Sports bras x2 – bought off the streets in Viet Nam a few years ago – 144 g
- Tank tops x2 – 144g
- T-shirts x2 – 190 g
- Socks x2 – 53 g
- Smartwool socks – Cassie wishes she could bring more of these – 80 g
- Dex-Shell waterproof socks – hopefully keeping Cassie’s feet warm in cold rain – 70 g
- Buff x2 – 65 g
- Sheer scarf – sun protection – 45 g
- Leg/arm warmers – sun protection for when Cassie doesn’t want to wear sunscreen – 109 g
- Merino long sleeve shirt – 177 g
- Pullover – 230 g
- Zip pullover – 200 g
- Patagonia Hoodini Jacket – the only protection between Cassie and the wind – 88 g
- Prana shorts – 145 g
- Spandex shorts – 107 g
- Skirt – 145 g
- Falke knee-length leggings – Cassie’s go-to for biking in mild weather – 181 g
- Thick leggings – for colder weather – 234 g
- Vaude rain cape – 336 g
- Guide series rain pants – 293 g
- Decathlon down jacket – conveniently pre-soaked in Glühwein from this past Christmas season-482 g
- 1-piece swimsuit – 126 g
- Fanny pack – necessary for front seat navigation – 152 g
- Biking gloves – 57 g
- Winter bike gloves – 128 g
- Sandals – Cassie’s poor Chacos didn’t make the cut – 175 g
- Sneakers – 350 g
- Keen SPD sandals – 735 g
- Endura Hi-Vis helmet – 227 g
Total = about 37,3kg + weight of pannier/bags (total about 40kg)
Pino tandem weight including BOB trailer = 35kg
Comments
I suppose I could add it all up, but do you have a total weight?
It’s around 40 kg, including the weight of the bike bags.
-Cassie
Hi Brendan,
That’s indeed a lot of weight in total… so we probably won’t break any speed records during this tour 🙂
We have about 40kg (88lbs) of luggages and 35kg (77lbs) for the bike and the trailer behind (about 75kg total – or 165lbs).
Are you helping us to push that uphill somewhere? 🙂
Take care, Cedric
Probably won’t be able to meet up you guys and push it up hill… But I’ll gladly call you an Uber!
Will either of your seats wear out (bike gear)? You’ll be spending alot of time in those saddles! Looking forward to reading your blogs on the tales of your travels. Love, Colby
Cedric is using a “Brooks B17 Imperial” – it’s an old model of leather saddles that basically destroy your butt the first 2000km but take the shape afterwards… and as it’s leather, if correctly maintained they last decades (check that link: Brooks B17) !
Cassie has a plastic seat that is more like a mesh net and can be stretched over time. That should last for at least a year…
We are more concerned about finding (good) replacement tires, the chain, break-pads, the fork, the rims, etc. – and apart from that we don’t expect much about our sleeping bags, tent and clothes after a year outdoors. Visitors might be requested to bring spare parts 🙂
Missing from your gear list: Toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant and a comb! I did see dental floss and duct tape, good “MacGyver ” tools to fix anything :). Happy to provide any spare part when we meet up somewhere during your journey. Thanks for writing your blog in English.
Did you consider what might be an important electronic item like the SPOT Trace Anti-Theft Tracking device to put on the bike?
https://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=128
Maybe by 3 of these devices so you could put one on each of you too!
Can’t imagine planning every minute detail. It was hard packing for just two weeks away in August. Have a wonderful and safe trip. So glad to be able to follow your adventure.Bon Voyage.
Ruth
This list will be looked at again after the trip, to see what got used the most, if anything turned out to be not-so-necessary and if there were any important omissions!
Do you know when you’re likely to be in Newy or Taree?
Hi Andrew, nice to hear from you 🙂
We’re ready for boarding the flight-marathon to Auckland now.
A lot of stuff in the list are spare parts/bike tools/repair kits and first-aid or pharmacy. We’d hope to not have to use that… After we have cooking/camping stuff that are going to be used daily. The clothes are limited, and they’ll likely be replaced as they wear out.
The electronics are a little extra, but kindles save a lot of weight over books, the laptop saves a lot of time (vs. internet-cafes or big fingers on smartphones…). We have two cameras as back-up and because one has a large zoom, whereas the other one as cooler features (time-lapse, stars, panorama, etc.) and makes better video. 2x 300g is also better than a reflex + gopro in our previous trips.
The biggest question was 2 or 3 pairs of shoes…the third pair got packed only because of possible hiking in NZ.
We’ll be in Taree sometimes at the beginning of May. We’re landing in Melbourne the 20th of march, leaving probably from Brisbane at the end of May (no flights yet).
Cheers, Ced
Whew! That’s an enormous amount of planning and packing; had a bit of a chuckle at the Carol & Colby practical Mom & Dad responses (I would too). But I’ll just be the Aunt that wishes you all things good on your mammoth adventure! Looking forward to posts and photos! ❤️
1 question; are you happy with your mattresses ?
2, I am conducting test on smart wool product myself 🙂 here is my conclusion : my smart wool tee shirt and sweater (icebreaker) never ever smell
My smart wool sock from Falke sticks after a couple of day => remboursé!
My smart wool socks from icebreaker do not smell more on the 6th day than on the second meaning it s not odorfree, but it s keeping its promise, although I have noticed the more you wash it the more it loses its quality
3 I found out the way I organize and separate my clothes is crucial and that s also why it don’t stick
voila !
( yes i take the time to write about this important backpacking subject as its 3 am and I am facing my second indigestion of viande hachée in South America yeaaa)
No issues with meat pies and lamb chops in NZ and Australia!
About your survey:
1 – we’re pretty happy with our mattresses. Definitely more comfortable than our previous foam mattresses, the thermarest ridgerest. Only inconvenient with inflatable mattresses is that you can’t use them randomly as a seat or for a nap outside…
We have the neoair xtherm: lightweight, really compact, great insulation and very comfortable…but also $$$($$)!
2- I’m not super excited about Merino in general! We bought several T-shirts and underwear from Icebreaker and Smartwool. It’s now the same company anyway… North-Face! They apparently sell more as “Smart-wool” in northern America (where it’s originally from) and Icebreaker in Europe and NZ/Aus (it’s originally from NZ).
Both are comfortable and odor-free, but the durability is absolutely shitty (we got holes in pretty much all the merino clothes after a few weeks). Basically, anywhere there’s friction with the bike or the body -> you get the clothes damaged! That would be okay for cheap clothes, but clearly crap for the price merino clothes are!
I have running T-shirts made of bamboo fiber in Germany that are at least ten year old, have been used hundreds of times and are still perfectly fine. I find them way better: also odor-free, comfortable and super resistant! I unfortunately did not take them… probably too convinced by the Merino marketing bullsh#t!
Bamboo clothes are also not super easy to find – mine were from Raidlight, but they apparently don’t make them anymore…
3- Yep, very important! The biggest mistake is to put wet clean clothes with the clean clothes in a closed bag… that pretty much ruins all your clean clothes with a nice rotten smell 😛
We got to experience that with the rain in NZ -> result: urgent laundry with the whole bag of clothes (and given that we have a very limited amount of clothes, that also means waiting 1h in the laundry room wearing only underwear 😀 )