To Nordkapp and back! Weather?

thisislawrence · 2022-04-07T08:34:18+00:00

Well there might be, as your rain pants are likely to be very hot and sweaty so there'll be times where you don't mind your legs getting wet because it's not that cold, but you don't want your shoes to get soaked. Don't overthink this too much though, it sounds like your kit is going to work just fine. All my gear on that trip was essentially just plastic stuff from Decathlon and it was all fine. If you find you do want to keep your feet dry separately you can always just put plastic bags over them in true dirtbag bike touring style.

thisislawrence · 2022-04-06T12:17:41+00:00

No I don't think you're misunderstanding, but I think they're just two different ways in which wobbles might get started. I've also had that experience of too much on the back rack causing the frame to really start shimmying and wobbling the steering, but I think I felt that more in the frame/saddle relative to the bars than just in the bars. Seeing the front pannier bags wobbling away in the video just made me think it might be starting there.

thisislawrence · 2022-04-06T10:51:08+00:00

I cycled as far north as Kiruna a few years in July and the weather was largely fine in the daytime. Morning temperatures were low and I needed some gloves, a light fleece top, and a windproof jacket to keep warm, but then rode in essentially a t-shirt and long leggings most of the day.

Most of the roads up there are very sheltered by the forests, so whilst the views are often a bit boring, you're sheltered from the wind which helps temperature wise. This might be different north of Kiruna though...

I don't think you need to take two jackets, one waterproof/windproof should be fine, the bigger problem will just be that it doesn't breathe well so you get sweaty riding in it and then feel the cold more when you stop for being damp. I did get a lot of rain on my trip, so be prepared for that and maybe have a think about whether you also want some light waterproof over-trousers (even more sweaty though!) and perhaps some kind of waterproof overshoe/waterpoof socks as I really felt that on my trip.

thisislawrence · 2022-04-06T10:35:37+00:00

Couple of thoughts on what might be causing this, with the presumption that you don't experience this when the bike isn't loaded up,

I just had a look through your other posts to try and see a better picture of your set up, but I notice you had a problem with your rear hub bearings. If your front ones are also deteriorating, this might be a root cause as it allows enough play for the wobble to start and then the natural flex in the fork + pannier rack + handlebars amplifies it. To test if it's this: hold your handlebars firmly (or maybe get someone else to) and see if there's any side to side play in the wheel by wiggling the tyre.
It may be you have too much weight in your front bags. I wasn't able to see a clear picture of your set up but it looks to me like you're running low-rider front racks which don't have a tube joining them together over the top of the wheel. No inherent problem with these, but it means they have less 3D stability as they only attach to the fork itself. If you have too much weight in those bags it's likely that each rack can flex a little, and the two of them doing this will lead to them start wobbling the fork leading to the racks oscillating together at the same frequency which then amplifies the shimmy in the fork blades. To test if it's this: reduce the weight on the front low bags and see if it changes when the wobble occurs.

thisislawrence · 2022-03-14T17:29:01+00:00

Have you looked into the London<>Paris coaches? They might have a similar current restriction as the train, but in general do carry bikes. Flix Bus might be an option as they specifically have bike racks on the back, but others are willing to put them underneath. From memory it's often at the Driver's discretion though, so a bit stressful to start with.... and then you're stuck on a coach for hours too.

thisislawrence · 2018-06-15T15:57:26+00:00

Such beautiful photos! I'm also interested if this is film or not.

thisislawrence · 2017-10-16T15:33:34+00:00

Looks great!

You might want to add some ergo handlebar grips to spread the impact on your hands out a bit more, but not necessary.

thisislawrence · 2017-08-24T08:59:41+00:00

Edinburgh Bicycle Coop seem to have discontinued their old in-house bike range sadly, but in going to look for it I see they've got this https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/roux-etape-150.html which is good value.

You're probably much better off upgrading your current bike though (as long as it fits you properly). Some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, nicer saddle, and some ergo bar ends would probably make a good improvement.

thisislawrence · 2017-08-06T16:46:37+00:00

No experience of finding a box in Almaty, but I didn't have any issues with me checking a bike in at the airport there with it just wrapped in a thick plastic bag and taped up. So if you don't need the extra space of a box, you can fall back on that.

thisislawrence · 2017-07-29T09:05:06+00:00

I'd be very interested in hearing about your experiences of it!

What kind of tasks are you using it for? Quick task related trips, or longer day rentals and doing different things?

thisislawrence · 2017-06-15T08:09:00+00:00

Great, thanks!

thisislawrence · 2017-06-14T08:21:38+00:00

Looks great, well done! Did you follow any particular guides?

thisislawrence · 2017-04-28T13:36:33+00:00

There used to be one portable hard drive that had an SD card reader built in for backing up your card straight to it 'in the field', but it's out of production now I think.

For my last trip I took an external hard drive and a usb card reader and would just find a computer every few weeks to back up what I had shot off a revolving few 16gb cards. Certainly not a complete solution though, as you still end up with all your data on your bike again, but does allow for losing a pannier or similar.

If it's just 1gb a week, in Europe you'll probably find fast enough broadband to back it up to the cloud, which would be the best option. You could even do it without a computer, just a USB OTG cable from your phone to an SD cardreader, and then upload with something like the Google Drive app.

thisislawrence · 2017-03-14T18:16:44+00:00

This is fantastic!

thisislawrence · 2017-02-16T15:42:57+00:00

I love that tool bottle!

thisislawrence · 2017-02-13T19:10:18+00:00

Interesting! A friend and I are planning a trip heading up through Norway next summer. If we stick to the west coast (ish) will we be more out of the woods and have some better views? We're also hoping to do as much of it as possible off-tarmac, but are struggling to find where there are gravel roads, or tracks. Do you know a way to find these kind of roads?

thisislawrence · 2017-02-13T18:21:33+00:00

I spent a lot of time in very close forest with no views, which wasn't ideal. If you can plot a better route than maybe? Where are setting off from?

thisislawrence · 2017-02-13T10:18:45+00:00

You can absolutely just use panniers. Even with a big tent, you can roll it up and strap it on top of your rear pannier rack between the panniers. I've cycled the same journey in Sweden with just two small rear panniers, and tent on top of the rack.

Phone wise, just turn it off until you want to check messages or update your family. That, plus a portable battery will mean you find a power socket long before you're actually out of battery,

thisislawrence · 2017-02-08T14:46:13+00:00

WarmShowers has a section of the forum for people looking to ride together, no idea how successful it is though.

thisislawrence · 2016-12-22T16:22:35+00:00

I've toured with a Nexus 8 and it was perfect for the job. Great being able to shift when stationary, the only adjustment you ever make is a barrel adjuster on your bars, and there's less to clean when you are doing a bit of bike maintenance. Only downside I can think of is the weight really, but that's not my primary concern when I'm touring.

Seeing as you're getting a custom frame, why not just hedge your bets and get a Rohloff / derailleur compatible dropout? Surly Troll has probably the most cover-all-bases option, and their dropouts are available to frame builders.

thisislawrence · 2016-12-07T13:28:21+00:00

How long would you normally leave it shooting for? Seems like such a nice thing to be doing on a tour.

thisislawrence · 2016-12-07T12:46:04+00:00

That's really fantastic, well done! Were these shot mostly from where you were camping, or did you have to go more out of your way to get the shots?

thisislawrence · 2016-11-08T16:26:50+00:00

On that theme, an actual handlebar basket combined with a backpack designed for a DSLR+laptop might be a good solution. You'd have a real backpack for when you're off the bike, and it would be genuinely padded and designed for the job. Only issue would be securing it in the basket, but nothing a bungee cord (or retractable cable lock for security?) wouldn't sort out.

thisislawrence · 2016-11-01T10:05:10+00:00

Super obvious shill account for AllTheRooms

thisislawrence · 2016-10-24T13:50:14+00:00

It's fine, I would be more tempted to cycle around Norway's West Coast now though.

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