I can still remember seeing my first piece of ‘bikepacking luggage’ and thinking what a great idea it was. The other overwhelming thought swirling round in my head as I stroked the X-pac and fondled the buckles was, bloody hell that’s a lot of money for a bag. I’m sure it’s a thought many people […]
Imagine the indignity … forced to conduct your own interview. Luckily though, I’m not a proud man, so armed with a variety of questions from the bikepacking populace I’m going to do just that … because it appears that no one else ever will. Okay then, the first question is from Scott and he asks, ‘At […]
It’s not unusual for me to find myself beavering away in the dark recesses of my workshop and this day was no exception. As I busied myself making things … mainly tea, radio 4 chatted away to itself in the background. In time honoured tradition, Jayne Garvey introduced Woman’s Hour just after the news at […]
Why don’t all bikepackers use a dynamo? Not only are they a source of unlimited free power but they place a big bold tick in the important box marked ‘self-sufficient’. They’ll run your lights, charge batteries and keep any number of electronic gadgets from becoming little more than excess baggage. Sounds good doesn’t it … […]
Those of you of a certain age can hopefully remember a time when your bicycle light attached to a (generally rusty) bracket on your forks. Most of the time it never worked because the batteries to make it work cost more than the light did, and on the odd occasion it did glimmer, it was […]
Lots of people now carry ‘battery packs’ during their bikepacking endeavours but not so very long ago, no one did. We didn’t carry battery packs because there was simply no need. No phones or gps, no tablets and no usb. Don’t worry, I’m not about to bang-on about the good ol’ days when you went […]
‘Race’, from a marketing perspective it’s often pure magic sprinkled with gold dust – many people don’t want to go racing but they like the imagery and enjoy the association. Obviously, then there’s the rest of us, the ones for whom racing holds less than limited appeal and appears to be a pastime that gets […]
I’ve travelled down the highway of alternative bars many times. Occasionally and sometimes to my surprise, I arrive in Weirdsville on carnival day but generally I arrive after dark only to find the pub’s shut and the chippy served its last battered sausage an hour ago … it can be a disappointing journey. Funny shaped […]
Me, I’m a fan of simple. The unkind amongst you are now likely thinking, ‘simple is as simple does’ and who knows, maybe you’re right but in my mind, simplicity is the key to both form and function. It’s why I like rigid bikes – what could be simpler than two triangles welded together and […]
The weakest part of any sectioned pole will always be the spigot where the sections join. On a well designed pole used correctly, it doesn’t cause a problem. Poles are very strong when subjected to compression forces but what about those stresses applied when subjected to bending forces which might occur if the pole is […]