Touring Is On Its Way - Preparing To Tour On A Budget!

Finally! It seems like forever since I last blogged. We have finally moved house and after a month of waiting, finally have the internet connected. Here's hoping that the NBN is faster than its connection services.

Well enough of that...

Another finally...is that I am getting my tourer up and running. After months of drooling over the bike of my dreams on the internet, a Kona Sutra, then seeing it in stock in my Local Bike Store, then, looking at the finances, I realised that my dream bike was a long way away.

UNTIL...we moved. The house we moved into is owned by my wife's old boss. They are heading overseas for a few years and wanted someone they could trust to rent their home. In the process of preparing to move the owner asked if I knew someone who wanted to buy his ute, and in general conversation I asked him if he was selling his bike, a Merida Crossway 10.

His answer was that he wasn't sure but by the end of the conversation I was given a bike. No, it's not the bike that I dreamed of, but has become my dream bike and has enabled me to prepare for the touring set.

It's a simple bike with Shimano Altus seven speed cassette and 3 speed chain ring, with standard V- Brakes. No it's not brilliant, but it's ample for me. It is comfortable to ride and easy to maneuver, and has been used extensively over the past two months for everything from commuting, shopping and just an all round fun-a-bout.

The bike being free of charge has enabled me to spend some money on setting it up. I haven't gone overboard, and I suppose that doing it this way is a Godsend. I look at it this way, if I spend a motza and don't like touring (which I can't see happening) I haven't lost that much and it is still acceptable as a general commuter. If I do like touring (which I'm confident of) I can always upgrade later and use some of the accessories from this bike to compliment a newby down the track. At the end of the day I am not after the biggest, shiniest bike out there, I simply want one that can suit my needs, that is all, and the challenge for me now, with minimal funds, is to focus on setting up a "budget tourer".

The upgrades so far consist of a rear rack. Nothing expensive, just one from Amart Sports but has a suitable carrying load capacity. $40.00

A pair of Dueter Panniers for the rear rack give me a combine carrying capacity of 38 litres. They expand rather well, hold a reasonable weight, and have top and side pockets. They aren't completely water proof, but that is ok, I am used to the world of motorcycling, cheap vacuum bags sort out this problem. I picked these up off Wiggle for $82.000

The seat on the bike needed replacing, it was small and fitted with one of those gel pad covers that always seem to move about. The replacement, a Serfras RX is great, comfortable and I find that I can commute reasonable distances without knicks. It suits the upright riding position of the bike perfectly. I picked this up from the Local Bike Store, Hoopie Cycles, for $75.00

The Ergon GP3 grips are brilliant and worth every penny. They support the hand and allow my arms and hands to be relaxed on the bars. The bar end extensions aren't that huge that they get in the way, but ample in size to allow good grip when climbing. They also give a miriad of hand positions whilst riding. I've done a few longish rides and have found no numbing of the hands. I picked these up online from Wiggle for $52.00.

The Shimano A530 Touring/Commuting pedal are awesome. Whilst being flat on one side to allow for commuting and running around town, or just out leisurely riding with the kids, they have MTB/Touring clip ins on the other side to allow for a more serious ride, or longer ride. Riding around town on flats is ok, but when you head out on a longer ride, clips saves the knees. Again purchased online for $52.00.

Lighting is important, you never know when that day just becomes too long. On the bars I have a Solar Storm 1800 Lumen along with a Aquee 700 700 Lumen light. I ride to work early in the morning and also ride home at night along country roads that have no street lighting. These lights are more than ample and give me close to 150 meters of vision in front of me. The Aquee is every bit as good as my Bontrager Ion 700, only bigger. I picked these up from the Local Bike Store, the Solar Storm $50.00, with the Aquee being $75.00. My plan is to get another Solar Storm and replace the Aquee.

On the rear I have a Knogg along with a couple of mouse lights, just for added effect.

I have put on some cheap plastic guards that I picked up from Amart for $14.99. I'll probably replace these down the  track, but they seen to be ok. I haven't had any wet weather since they went on so I'll have to wait and see.

So that's it for the moment, I have sourced a front rack of Velogear for around $52.00, along with some waterproof 30 liter front panniers for around the same price. Velogear have also got some reasonably priced top tube and handlebar bags that is also on the list.

The other thing is water storage, and with the Merida only having mounting options for on bottle cage that was a concern. I have decided to buy a couple of sets of  tube clamps that enable to mount a cage on my seat tube and another on my seat stem. Along with this I will purchase a couple of cages made by Topeak that carry 1 - 1.5 liter bottle. The mounts on my seat stem will carry a side cage for an extra standard sized bottle under my bum.

So that's it for the moment. I am hoping to have some extra additions within the next couple of weeks with my first trip, fingers crossed, planned for the end of September.

Again, the whole purpose of this project is to build a tourer on a budget, a quite restrictive one. I am hoping to show that you can set yourself up for minimal costs. A lot of the sites I have investigated have top end bikes and gear, which is great if you have the moola, but if you're like me and don't have the wad of funds, this may just help you look at alternatives.

I am also looking at building my own simple solar power solution. Hopefully I will have that finished over the weekend and can share that here.

Until next time cheers, and happy cycling...