The vagaries of life led me to take the Road again with a bike intended for the trash which I offered a second chance (and vice versa). Not using the internet at the time, and having never met a traveler on a bike, I felt like I was inventing a discipline. It is useless to explain that I was not aware of the existence of specific equipment intended for the practice of cycle tourism such as the Surly LHT Long Haul Trucker frames, the Ortlieb waterproof panniers, the Tubus luggage racks, the Marathon Schwalbe tires, or the popular Brooks saddles. I started pedaling without any knowledge of the whole of this universe and with even less skill in terms of mechanics. However, a few years later, no more screws on my bike held any secrets for me.
No longer able to walk and in a hurry to go after a disastrous hitchhiking trip, I had learned to weld in less than a week in order to make myself a rack where to put my backpack. I hit the Route for the first time on a bicycle, which was of bad quality and of which I knew nothing. I did not yet know that this machine on two wheels in poor condition was going to take me far, very far.
Due to my lack of technical knowledge and my inability to take care of this already very old bike, the first months, mechanical issues were numerous. The little ones like the biggest troubles never stoped during my first ride of nearly 5000 km across the North of Europe. It was epic. My bike literally disintegrated over the kilometers and the speed bumps that I took at full speed downhill just because it was exhilarating. By making mistakes, I took my first lessons, especially since I also made the choice to always repair by myself, even if it meant doing worse than better, in order to learn.
At the beginning, electric cables was often my ally, inspired by the adventures of Ernesto Che Guevara, that certain passages of his notebook “The Motorcycle Diaries” still resonated in my head :
The motorbike struggled, showing signs it was feeling the strain, especially in the bodywork which we constantly had to fix with Alberto’s favored spare part — wire. He picked up this quote from somewhere, I don’t know where, attributing it to Oscar Gálvez : “When a piece of wire can replace a screw, give me the wire, it’s safer.”
The multitude of concerns encountered did not discourage me, on the contrary, they were an integral part of the adventure and my learning. But to live my trip a little more serenely and appreciate it at its fair value, decided to continue pedaling, the need to make me a more solid bike was quickly felt. Restarting from zero, I built new racks, stripped and repainted my frame, and later, tired of strapping old backpacks all over the bike, I made real waterproof and indestructible panniers from recycled water container, which I commonly call my “African panniers”.
The idea of my “African panniers” has even made babies, and along the way, some have been inspired by, even improved it : Chameleon’s panniers
On the transmission side, helped a bit by the internet this time, I was investing in quality elements at a reasonable price to ride a reliable bike in all circumstances capable of running tens of thousands of kilometers. My crankset and my derailleurs have proven themselves, I was still driving in 2020 after more than 55.000 km with those I had bought at that time. However, I ask a lot to my bike pedaling sometimes in very rough conditions. My bike is in as much pain as I am, if not more.
My favorite transmission :
→ Shimano Deore 22-32-42 crankset 170 mm crank (FC-T611)
→ Hollowtech II Bottom bracket (SM-BB51/SM-BB70)
→ Front derailleur XT Down Swing (Dual Pull) 3×9 speed (FD-M772/M773)
→ XT 8/9 Speed rear derailleur long version (RD-M771)
→ Shimano LX 9-speed 11-34 (CS-HG80) or Alivio 9-speed 12-36 (CS-HG400) cassette
→ SRAM PC 971 or KMC X9.73 9-speed chain
My mount was starting to look like a “real” travelling biker and only kilometers and amount of problems I had encountered before allowed me to understood which parts of the bike are important for pedaling with confidence. However, at the same time, I made one of the biggest beginner’s mistakes possible, that of overloading myself for fear of the cold because I was slowly entering winter.
With mechanics that was now reliable, my racks which was still not perfectly developed have become the weak points of my new bike. To repair and improve them, I often had to ask help to the local population and the welding machine. Thus, by encountering problems that are sometimes complex to solve, major breakages, often in the middle of nowhere, I significantly increased my experience and my self-confidence. Slowly, I became able to get out of all situations, without any particular stress, with pleasure even, taking big troubles like a game, like another challenge to increase my limits ever further, my need to be inventive, my adaptability, my resilience in short.
Tired that my racks always break in the same places, I practiced to improve my welding technique, and I ended up with two new indestructible prototypes perfectly suited to my needs, which never broke again. . Never. Over time, I had not only learned to know my bike, but also to know myself and to believe in my abilities.
The self-confidence that I had accumulated allowed me to launch new challenges, to sink into more and more remote areas, on more and more rough terrain for mechanics. The little issues could quickly turn into very big problems, and to get out of it I had to be calm, patient, and probably have a little luck. The material inevitably deteriorating, the mechanics hardly push began to show signs of fatigue over tens of thousands of kilometers and I faced new situations that I had not really imagined. It proved to me that I still had a lot to learn and that was a good news.
I had reached the western Norway fjords, and their steep slopes and the constant rain exhausted me. However, I was voluntarily embarking on an extraordinary adventure, but I didn’t know it yet. After several days of pedaling on a big stones track prohibited for motor vehicles, in the middle of the snow-capped mountains in the middle of summer, far from any civilization, I pitched the tent front to three glaciers where I remained for five days in total autonomy until that my supplies decrease to the point of forcing me to leave my total immersion in the majestic Mother Nature. It was at this point that I discovered that my rear rim had cracked at twelve points on the climb. It was a serious problem because I still had to go down by a track of an roughness even more extreme than that which had brought me there. However, I had no other option than to hit the Road again, crossing my fingers and taking a thousand precautions so that my wheel would arrive in the valley where I would find the asphalt back that would take me to the hundred kilometers nearest town where I was hoping to find a bike shop that didn’t exist. I would spend three weeks in this town working to finance my new wheel that I was looking for in vain before restarting cycling desperate with my rim still cracked and a very very low quality wheel offer freely by my boss because he got an abondoned bike for so long in the garage. I carried it on my front rack. I would finally pedal an additional 3000 km with this cracked rim until I found a new one that fit with my needs.
My favorites wheels :
Hand-mounted wheels by AlpinWheels (France)
Rigida Big Bull 36 hole rims (eventually 32 holes)
Spokes Sapim Strong 2,3 Double Butted crossing by 3
Front and rear LX hubs + 8/9 speed cassette body
My favorites tires :
FRONT : Schwalbe Marathon PLUS TOUR Rigid Rod 26×1.75
REAR : Schwalbe Marathon PLUS Rigid Rod 26×1.75
To be able to face a maximum of problems independently, in addition to carry the most essential wearing parts (spare chain, inner tube, patches, brake pads, brake and derailleur cables, various screws, etc….), I made a complete tool kit capable of dismantling the bike entirely or almost. This is essential, especially in committed adventures and remote areas. Thanks to this and often a little inventiveness, I almost always managed to repair on the Road by myself.
It was also thanks to this relatively complete tool kit that I was able to prevent problems. Indeed, I did not have to wait tens of thousands of kilometers to understand an essential thing : taking care and maintaining your bike regularly is essential to avoid and anticipate trouble. Observing, checking, cleaning, touching, and listening to the slightest suspicious noise of your bike, whose you end up to know his sound by heart, are an integral part of everyday life for cyclists and procrastinating by pushing the problem to tomorrow is one of the worst mistakes to do. I pay almost constant attention to my bike because without it, I will not go far.
This particular attention has allowed me over the years to rarefy mechanical problems, and to further reduce this risk, as well as to increase the lifetime of my bike parts, I realize a “mechanical day” every 1000 km, which consists of : dismantling, checking, cleaning, re-greasing if necessary and reassembling my entire transmission. To do this, because it requires concentration, I choose a quiet place where I think I would not be (too) disturbed. These days dedicated to mechanics which took me from morning to evening without eating at the beginning, now only take me a few hours, allowing me t orelax the rest of the day.
Having less mechanical worries gave me more time to focus on something else : lightweight my bike. I started from far away, but over the years, at my own pace, then suddenly helped by the light travelling vision of my best friend, my bike was losing weight. Despite everything, with a deep philosophy of recycling and building the most of my equipment, I would never be as light as a Bikepacker.
Searching for a very long time to use the interior space of my frame in a more profitable way than by storing 3 liters of water there, the Bikepacking that I discovered after already five years of cycling inspired me the solution. The old leather sofa for the trash that I found on the street even more. After 50 hours of sewing that pierced my fingers, my frame bag with a volume of 6 liters was born, perfect for me.
This small evolution led to a great revolution, like a non resolved detail that for a long time stuck me to progress forward. My African panniers moved to the back rack, and in the process, I trashed my pair of unwaterproof Basil luggage too often sewn. The organization of my bike changed completely overnight, and clearly felt the lightweight. I felt like I was flying in the air while pedaling.
Flying in the air. I didn’t know that wasa perfect thought. In search of constant improvement, my goal was to remove my front rack. I offered it to a cyclist who need it more than me and in the middle of Finland, I loaded all my equipment on the back rack. Fatal error. It was a disaster. A few hours later, descending on a stony track, I lost control of my direction for lack of habit of rolling without weight on the front wheel. Flying over my bike, I landed my nose in the dust. The shock had been violent, my bloody arm had absorbed everything. My 20 years of judo practice had saved me. I was still in one piece. I jumped on my legs without thinking to check my bike, it was also not broken. My trip could have ended there.
My favorite brakes :
→ Alu AVID brake levers
→ Shimano LX brake arms
→ Standard brake pads
In a few days I joined a very small town with the suspicion of a broken thumb which not allow me to shift my gears. Without waiting, I went to the only sports store where to get bike equipment and negotiated for a paltry sum an old used aluminum rear rack that I adapted to my front wheel with a few bolts, a truck strap, colsons and Duck Tape: a temporary installation I thought that several tens of thousands of kilometers further still held the Road.
This misadventure did not make me abdicate, I had lost the battle but not the war. Luck smiles to me this time. In six years of cycling on the European continent, I had never seen what I saw in the ditch, this little blue canister perfectly matched to my rear panniers style and I already knew what it would become : a handlebar pannier. I had refused for a long time to install such a bag on my bike, thinking that it was the best way to indicate to thieves where valuables were located, but knowing that I could make it and not buy it opened me up new perspectives. Neither one nor two I designed my own KlickFix system and that was done.
To completely free my front rack, which was starting to show big signs of imminent breakage, I just had to build a few straps to attach my waterproof bags, containing my clothes, on each side of my fork. I installed them for a first test, and the rack, as a sign of fate, chose to break that same day. My traveling instinct seems to be good. It only remained for me to reach Iceland, but the Covid-19 in 2020 delayed me to go there, giving me all the time necessary to continue working on my bike which, during the 7 years that will have lasted my endless tour of Europe has been permanentaly underconstruction.
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