I am trying to figure out a cockpit solution so I can have both my Garmin and phone available if needed. Primarily for when in cities navigating on the fly and also sometimes I feel like I take more pictures if my phone is mega accessible. I do have the top tube bag that’s helped with that but… this felt alright riding around the block so apart from looking rediculous anyone think it’s a bad idea? Or have any better ideas?

So I have been on dozen or so injury free long distance tours and I think I got a bit lax on my medical supplies. Seven miles from my house and I hit gravel, tipped over and sliced up my leg well enough to need 10 stitches. I didn't have my med kit, because, well, it was only a short ride that day (lesson learned). But it got me to thinking, what do you all carry with you for medical supplies? Sadly, my med kit wasn't that well supplied and even if I had it; it would not have helped.

First, I like Brooks and have two B-17s that I’ve used for years. However, I’ve gone to a more upright riding position on my Surly DT and I’d like to consider an alternative that’s more friendly on my sits bones. All ideas appreciated

Im considering a custom titanium road bike with couplers, primarily for international travel. The bike would be a size 54 with 700x32mm tubeless road tires.

I'm trying to understand how practical it is to pack the bike into a compact Ritchey Break-Away-style case.

A few questions for owners:

1. Do you have to completely deflate your tubeless tires to fit the wheels inside the case, or can you leave some pressure in them?
2. If you deflate them substantially, do the beads generally remain seated? Any problems with sealant leaking or tires unseating?
3. How challenging is packing a modern hydraulic-disc road bike with 32mm tires compared with an older rim-brake travel bike?
4. Would you recommend a compact travel case over a larger EVOC-style bike bag after actually traveling with both?

I'd especially appreciate real-world experiences from people who fly regularly with coupled bikes. Thanks!

I just wrapped up a 4k mile tour of Europe on a Kona Rove DL gravel bike with 650bx47mm (27.5x1.85") Maxxis Rambler tires. All else equal I would have gone with a Kona Sutra (with Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700x40 tires) but I got a great deal on the Kona.

The tires worked well (two flats, and I did some gnarly stuff like the Camino de Portuguesa), but it's time for new ones. Assuming I'll be doing similar tours, is it time for narrower or less knobby tires? Does it matter much? Thanks.

Hi guys, I am planning to do a trans-Pyrenees ride next year. The route and direction (east-west or west-east) are still open to ideas, but I will fly to Barcelon and have my bike in a bike case. My initial plan was to then ride west, take a train to Barcelona, then fly home. After some research I found out that taking a bike on the high speed trains is only possible when disassembled. So I extended the plan to have my bike box shipped to Pamplona, pack the bike there, then take it on the train. I have the following questions:

- if the bike box doesn't 100% fit within the 140×90×40 bounding box, how much of an issue is that in practice? The bike will be packed but I cannot risk being stranded in Pamplona and miss my flight

- what would be the best way to have the bike box shipped from Barcelona (preferably airport) to Pamplona?

- is there an entirely different way to do stuff logistically? Open to riding in any direction, car rentals, anything really but the least hassle is prefered.

Anyone with experience, please share. Thanks!

Hey Guys!

In April I'm going over to Japan to cycle from the south of Kyushu to the North of Hokkaido - about 3000km all in which I plan to do in about 2 and a half months.

Im 24, I've never really cycled before and am doing this solo so could do with some advice re bikes, logistics and route.

My plan is to fly into Osaka with my bike. I'm under the impression you can check it in as oversized luggage provided its in a box with most airlines although if anyone knows of a better way / if this is not the case then please let me know! I'm then going to get the ferry from there down to Shibushi and then cycle down to Cape Sata to start. I've got my route pretty well mapped out to Tokyo, but could do with some suggestions for going North and also whether you think there are any absolute must sees outside of the main things people do.

I also could do with some advice with the bike. I'm looking at a number of different gravel bikes - my price point ideally would be £900-£1100 (although struggling a bit at this range!). The main bikes I'm looking at are the Canyon Grizl, Cube Nuroad Pro, Trek Checkpoint ALR 4, Kona Rove DL Gravel Bike 2026. I will need to load it up with two panniers at the back and probably some sort of bag at the front. Am I in the right area with these? Am I being a bit too conservative with my price range? I also don't know whether or not to just wait til I get out these to buy the bike, as I hear it could be a lot cheaper. But then again, I would quite like to have the whole set up ready in the UK and train on it especially as I've never really done much cycling.

Finally, for anyone who has done a similar trip, did you camp much? I'm torn between brining a tent or just booking hostels/hotels/onsens along the way. I've heard the camping is amazing and also having a tent can be really useful when in more remote areas but also I quite like the idea of a bed after 100k on the bike. Also, any tips for just general logistics stuff while in Japan would be really great too!

Thank you!

I want to determine which is a better drive train for loaded bike touring....

1x, 2x or rholoff hub.

I currently have a 1x12 on my surly bridge club and have 18 gear inches for climbing. Ottawa bike and trail has a 2x conversion kit using the shimano Cues drive components...would still give me the same climbing inches but more top gear inches for the flats and downhills. If cost wasn't an issue I would see if I could put a rholoff hub on my bridge club but dont know if that is pissible with the vertical QR dropouts. I could just get an Ogre frameset and swap over my BC components to the Ogre since that bike is designed for the rholoff hub. The BC and ogre frames sets are about the same weight.

Would slso see about putting a dropper post on either bike to make mounting/dismounting easier for my older body.

Any suggestions? Switch to 2x or stay with 1x

My partner and I are slowly cycling down from Seoul to Busan, and I started working on this cycling map mid-trip, for my own use.  Decided to share it, as it might be useful for others, too: rivermap.makingdavid.com

I've been adding things that I need while riding. Currently, it includes:

• Weather forecasts along your route.
• Distances to the next public toilet, convenience stores, stamps and other useful stops.
• Interesting attractions and pretty vistas.
• Interactive elevation maps for the next 10/30/50km.
• All major Korean cycling routes included eastern routes and Jeju.
• Hotels, motels, campsites, bike repair, and other practical places.

You can add your own places, leave notes on existing places, save favorites, or flag/remove places that are inaccurate.

A lot of the data was researched with AI, so I won't pretend it is fully comprehensive (especially hotels/camping spots, and attractions/vistas), or 100% accurate. In my experience though, I find it 90% accurate and I'm verifying it as I cycle southwards -- I'm about 300km in now.

Basically, it's the map I wished I had when I started the ride.

This is just a fun personal project, so I'm committed to keeping it free, now and forever. Hopefully it's useful to a few other cyclists too. Let me know if you use it / have any suggestions!

Hi all,

Looking to change my gearing from the GRX400 that came with my bike, as the range is not the greatest (46/32 chainrings, 11-34 cassette!).

Currently looking for inspiration, for later down the line.

There are a few specifics I am looking for however -

- No "hard to find" parts - I would not like to use parts that would be difficult to find, or be overly expensive, things like 12 speed cassettes, or parts that are/ were not overly mass produced.

- A wide range - ideally would like ~20 gear inches for a low gear, and around 70-100 for the highest, with "smaller" steps in-between.

- Ideally indexed, but if that is not possible, then could use bar end friction.

• Must be mechanical.

If you have experience with various setups, please share.

Thank you for any help.

Hello all,

i need advice from people who drove/are driving kona sutra. Mine is from 2020 and its size bigger than what it should be. Im 175cm male with usually “book proportions”, but reach feels wrong no matter how i setup saddle (i also slip alot from original brooks, so i will be replacing it also).

question is, what stem can i replace original with, obviously i have to go with shorter, since i cant swap bike for size 52. Mine is 54.

what saddle would you recommend for touring etc 60angle

Pertains to bike touring and bikepacking

Looking to replace my 14-year-old 2-wall 2P Marmot tent that weighs a ton, with some ultralight. Tarptent and Durston two options I'm looking at. I've investigated many other tent makers, Nemo, Big Agnes, MSR, NH, etc

Lightweight

Sizable vestibule

Short pole length

Condensation control - good ventilation

Cost

Floor space without being a 2p

I appreciate your feedback

Type of tour: Solo, mostly pavement with occasional gravel and dirt, carrying a small, light backpacking tent as a backup for when I could not find lodging (which was never on this 62-day tour; I had to do some long days, and sleep in a couple of churches, but I never camped.) Mostly following the TransAm through Missouri, then making my own route to California.

On past tours I would seek out the cheapest non-terrible motel I could find, and often try to haggle. Now that I'm old and soft, and need to sleep nine hours a night at a minimum, I stay in nicer places when they are available, and rarely bother with the hard negotiating I used to do.

Also, for the first time I tried to calculate how much I spent on food during a bike tour.

A few people on this sub, and other places, have asked me what this tour cost. Here it is: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/20yearslater/what-it-cost/

Hola amigos. Tengo una duda para todos los que ya han hecho viajes largos en bicicleta o están haciéndolo ahora mismo. ¿Qué tan gratificante es recorrer el mundo en 🚲? Y otra es, ¿qué peso llevan normalmente? Gracias

Picked up this really fun bike and wanted to mod it some to be a touring bike, obviously not the most modern or lightest rig. I was wondering if it would be a good base for an amateur touring setup for long weekends trips. Was wondering y’all’s opinions on this and if it’s worth it or not? Not really in a place where I can buy a brand new touring bike and they seem to be ATV bikes

Hey guys this is my first post related to a tour across europe I want to start in ~5 months, route tbd first thing i wanna figure out is what to expect gear wise. How many bags I can/should fit on the bike, what bike to get, whether to buy the bike in the US then transport it to Europe, how to transport it if I choose that, what type of bags to get, I know they aren't called bags they have names I just don't remember, like I said very new to this. I would also like to mostly camp out so I need whatever gear I can fit on the rig for camping, idk whether thatd be a tent, hammock (prob not since it relies on me having trees), or just a mat, sleeping bag and a rain tarp.

Tldr: I'm posting this looking for people experienced in long distance touring to drop what gear let them survive their journey. And any other tips anyone has to offer. Desperate to get a grip on the basics and some more

Hiiii

Has anyone completed a bikepacking trip through Seoul that didn’t include the popular four rivers route? I don’t being on it for a bit but would really like to do some climbing. Relatively fit & experienced bikepacking with my road bike, maybe some smooth mountain roads. No gravel roads please. All help is appreciated!