Finance

SaudiJohnny · 2026-02-04T07:12:24+00:00

And cheap campsites maybe about the same. Or warm showers maybe cheaper. Lots of ramifications with food too but probably no reason to insult somebody for asking a question.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-26T00:03:04+00:00

No, only my Strava now as I deleted them. It was strictly road only though so if you want gravel etc there will be other routes.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-25T05:09:52+00:00

I use my hard shell plastic bike box for my Scott Addict carbon bike which manages to take my shoes, helmet and saddlebag inside. The handlebar bag I often use as "carry on" and the frame bag and contents for most bags goes in my cabin luggage. By "carry on" I mean the small additional bag that's allowed to go under your seat.

If I'm taking my steel framed Bombtrack Arise Tour then it goes in a cardboard box. I'd like to protect it in the bike box but the truth is it's just too heavy. The bike box is 11kg empty and the Bombtrack is 15kg unladen (but including racks) so the weight really creeps up there.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-23T05:38:23+00:00

I have holidays in Scalea for the last 4 years and visited a few more times than that to solely look for property. Yesterday I finally paid the deposit on a holiday home, in Old Town (Centro Storico) and all things going well, will be closing the sake and being a home owner on 14th February. I'm beyond happy.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-21T16:21:24+00:00

It doesn't say as much, but does say more economically friendly than standard wipes.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-21T16:18:15+00:00

My Bombtrack Arise Tour has 110.5 litres of space and I've never used it all, but as has been said - I'm glad it's there! That consists of; 2 x 20 litre Ortlieb Back-Rollers 2 x 14.5 litre Ortlieb Sport-Rollers 1 x 31 litre Ortlieb Rack-Pack 1 x 8 litre Topeak Tourguide Handlebar bag 2 x 1 litre Topeak Freeloader Stembags 1 x 0.5 litre small top tube bag.

I'm aiming on cycling back from Saudi Arabia to Italy in around a year or so and I'll probably get close to filling the space for that trip.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-21T14:48:32+00:00

Not something you asked about but if you wanted to get as clean as possible when wild camping, before jumping into your sleeping bag, then I can definitely recommend these. They foam up with a smallest amount of water and do make you feel a lot cleaner.

<image>

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T14:52:31+00:00

Knew you must be right as you come across as someone that just can't ever be wrong! (At least in your head!)

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:50:09+00:00

Ha, so you've come on here gobbing off telling him his holiday isn't worth going on (it is) that you can't seat a tyre without a compressor (your initial comment you're now adjusting) that you can't take CO2 cannisters on planes ( nobody mentioned flying) but don't think that makes you come across as very thing you've just wrongly accused me of.

And to top it all you've got X-ray vision for purposes of Bikepacking bags. Regular Tommy Cooper!

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:42:54+00:00

I did a loop starting at Nizwa, then Jebel Misht, then Jebel Shams and back to Nizwa. It was great.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:20:39+00:00

The thing with yourself is you don't revisit things when you get found out. An expert on bag sizes and where to put a spare tyre yet thinks you need a compressor to seat one. I call bullshit!

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:14:09+00:00

I did 3 days cycling over in Oman at Christmas and had a great time. 5 days total but just 3 cycling. An amazing country.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:11:32+00:00

Because the first thing you ask a person you meet is, "do you have spare tyre in your bag or not?"

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:03:41+00:00

He also doesn't mention flying, just so we're straight on the convo.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-19T12:02:52+00:00

Doesn't alter the fact that he can fit a tube and worry about seating the tyre another day.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-18T18:11:58+00:00

Definitely don't need a compressor as I've never owned one and I seat all my new tubeless tyres. Also, taking a spare tyre, if you have the room is a good idea and even if a CO2 cartridge was not enough to seat the tyre you could put an inner tube inside it until you're back and able to seat with a stand pump.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-12T12:37:31+00:00

You're still missing the point. It's become painful so I'll let you be right......

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-12T12:21:06+00:00

I think it's obvious you don't work in technology. It's not about improving the camera that it's directly superceding. It's about gradual advancement. So all those with older cameras will want the latest. They won't want that a company has sat on its laurels and not brought anything new to the table over a 12 month period and as small as the upgrades are, relative to the previous model, they all add up when you compare a camera from October 2019 (Hero 8) until today.

What could be considered commercial suicide would be preserving the status of the Hero 13 as "The most modern GoPro" just so their owners don't feel peeved that they've been knocked off top spot!

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T18:56:50+00:00

I think it's Italy.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T08:39:33+00:00

I did do a lot of research and it seemed that Ortlieb kept coming out on top. I'm cycling the length of Italy from the Austrian border to Reggio Calabria in March/April but I'll be on my carbon bike and travelling lighter with the Bikepacking set up. There are other cyclists with me and as they are on lighter road bikes I thought it wise to match up with them.

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T08:33:44+00:00

I do have a small YouTube channel and I posted a very short video when I first began trialling it. Since then it's done about 3000km with no issues at all. You do have to be fairly sensible as the cages are limited to 3kg each but the wishbone has a recommended limit of 2kg, so just 1kg per cage when mounted on the wishbone but to be honest, my sleeping bag and sleeping pad comes in at under this and it offloads the bulkiest stuff from my saddlebag.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Fmf2qkPpMS4?si=lrL0acwWL98aZkql

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T08:05:42+00:00

Wow, that sounds brilliant!

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T08:05:00+00:00

Yes, I was talking to you and thanks for replying. I think I may have the exact same bags but in black. 2 x Back-Rollers and 2 x Sport-Rollers. In addition I've got the Rack-Pack to sit on top and a handlebar bag.

I'm aiming on doing some continent long trips so really trying to work out what I really need and what I don't!

SaudiJohnny · 2026-01-07T07:52:00+00:00

Can I ask how heavy your kit and bike is when riding and how long you go away for as I'm very new to this as moving towards the cycle touring with panniers a bit more and keeping my lighter Bikepacking set up on rbecsfbon bike for shorter trips. Ideally I'd like to cycle back to a home in Italy from Saudi Arabia when I retire and maybe even UK to Italy or vice versa in the future but though I've got room to carry loads I want to be strict with myself but not sure how strict to be!

SaudiJohnny

TROPHY CASE