Weight when touring - how much is too much?

[pwa]

And I don't know of any filtration system that will deal with contaminants such as heavy metals present in some springs. You need to exercise a bit of caution doing that. I would be very careful in areas where mining of minerals has taken place in the past.

www.drinksafe-systems.co.uk filters claim to filter out heavy metals. I use one of these filter systems.

Sounds good, though they don't claim to remove metals entirely. They use the phrase "remove and reduce". It's still worth being choosy where you collect your water. Cwm Ystwyth, for instance, has problems with lead and other metals contaminating water.

[syklist]

Sounds good, though they don't claim to remove metals entirely. They use the phrase "remove and reduce". It's still worth being choosy where you collect your water. Cwm Ystwyth, for instance, has problems with lead and other metals contaminating water.

Well that's next years summer tour plans in tatters... Or is there a simple way to test for the presence of common heavy metals in water?

[pwa]

Sounds good, though they don't claim to remove metals entirely. They use the phrase "remove and reduce". It's still worth being choosy where you collect your water. Cwm Ystwyth, for instance, has problems with lead and other metals contaminating water.

Well that's next years summer tour plans in tatters... Or is there a simple way to test for the presence of common heavy metals in water?

No. Just read local guides and information boards / maps and be alert for disused mines. Be suspicious if you notice any. It's just something to be aware of.

[Dudley Manlove]

I don't think I'd worry too much about weight on that route. It'll be flat and you'll probably have the wind behind you. I'm guessing it gets lumpy if you're following it up to Norway, but you'll have the legs for it by then.

After an op that limits how much I can strain I'm a little more mindful of weight than I used to be, but personally would still probably take ~20kg for that trip (4panniers, front 2 half full and a barbag).

[oneten]

Wow! What a lot of useful comments and advice. I've just returned from my 3 week trip and read them all. After a couple of hours of setting off, I got used to the weight and was quite happy. Being in the Netherlands and North Germany, the going was pretty flat anyway.
There were certain items I disposed of along the way including a cheap hammer ( what on earth possessed me to take that to bang tent pegs in with?) and a heavy old pair of shoes with neoprene covers that developed tears in the fabric.
One thing I did not regret taking was the hot water bottle. I either boiled water on my stove for this or else the tap water from some campsites was hot enough.
Tool wise, I had most things I needed except for a cassette remover and spanner to use when a spoke broke late on Saturday 4 days from the end of the trip so I adjusted the other spokes to compensate and rode home on it.
Clothing made up a lot of weight, but I was certainly glad of the jeans and extra T shirts in the tent as it was pretty cold some nights. The tent, though light, was inadequate and let in water through the flap as well as forming loads of condensation on the inside due to being single layer without a fly. This was countered by wearing a neoprene hat with flaps as well as polythene bags between two pairs of socks at the other end which I took to wearing after an awful night when I was really cold and uncomfortable. Anyway, the nights when I hosteled or stayed in a cheap guesthouse felt all the more luxurious as a result!

[gaz]

Welcome back. Sounds like you had a good trip.

Hope I get to see the hat someday .

[pwa]

The load distribution looks good on that bike. The hammer for the pegs issue is easily sorted by acquiring a suitable rock as you approach your pitch. Back to the Stone Age, tools wise! The cassette removal (for changing drive side spokes) is sorted by a NBT2 tool (e.g. from Spa Cycles) which weighs next to nothing. You just make sure your lock ring is not too tight before you leave home so that this tiny tool does not have too much to do. And you need to remember to tape a few spare spokes to your frame. Condensation happens in the best of tents in cool or damp conditions.

[oneten]

Thanks Pwa. The weight did feel pretty balanced and I tried to keep the heavier stuff low in the panniers. A useful addition was one of those stretchy nets with five hooks spread over the rear load for holding the day's shopping bag in place. Along with the bungee straps, I also held the hawser for the lock and a third water bottle.

I'll have a look at the cassette wrench you recommend for next time. I did have a spare spoke with me held straight by the pump but couldn't fit it. Would I be right in saying that you can also buy flexible spokes that can be inserted into the hub without removing the freewheel and can then be tensioned ?

As for the rock - I only had to use one on a single occasion where I wild camped on fairly hard ground one night. The rest of time the ground was soft enough to simply push the pegs in. The hammer is probably still laying on a shelf in a car port for bike storage at the guest house where I left it on the third day!

I would also add a small roll of duct tape next time as well. I had already wound several turns around my pump for emergencies but used this up fixing a split tent frame section and in fixing my map case. When I went to buy a new roll , none of the garages had any and when I tried an agricultural machinery sales desk I was told it was 10 Euros a roll ! I passed on that and then found a Euro shop a couple of days later where that's all it cost.

[pwa]

Thanks Pwa. The weight did feel pretty balanced and I tried to keep the heavier stuff low in the panniers. A useful addition was one of those stretchy nets with five hooks spread over the rear load for holding the day's shopping bag in place. Along with the bungee straps, I also held the hawser for the lock and a third water bottle.

I'll have a look at the cassette wrench you recommend for next time. I did have a spare spoke with me held straight by the pump but couldn't fit it. Would I be right in saying that you can also buy flexible spokes that can be inserted into the hub without removing the freewheel and can then be tensioned ?

As for the rock - I only had to use one on a single occasion where I wild camped on fairly hard ground one night. The rest of time the ground was soft enough to simply push the pegs in. The hammer is probably still laying on a shelf in a car port for bike storage at the guest house where I left it on the third day!

I would also add a small roll of duct tape next time as well. I had already wound several turns around my pump for emergencies but used this up fixing a split tent frame section and in fixing my map case. When I went to buy a new roll , none of the garages had any and when I tried an agricultural machinery sales desk I was told it was 10 Euros a roll ! I passed on that and then found a Euro shop a couple of days later where that's all it cost.

The NBT2 (Next Best Thing) is like a very shallow socket, rather than a wrench, and weighs about the same as a £2 coin, or maybe a little more. I also have one of those make-do string spoke things but I have never used it. I imagine being able to install a proper spoke would be much better and would not take much longer to do. Being able to fix little problems like this gives you a feeling of liberation, something to enjoy as part of the touring experience.

[oneten]

Yes, I've got one of those removal sockets and used it today to take the freewheel block off and repaired the spoke. The problem was that the freewheel was quite tight and even the mechanic at our local garage couldn't shift it with a foot long adjustable spanner.I had to hold the socket in their metalwork vice, putting the outside of the hex-headed socket in the vice enabled me to turn the wheel thus gaining that extra leverage. Without a sturdy spanner and perhaps an extension bar I don't see how I would have undertaken the freewheel removal on the road without some assistance. Of course, when putting the freewheel back on, it is self tightening and doesn't need any real force.

[gaz]

pwa is recommending a tool designed to undo the lockring on a cassette, a set of sprockets mounted onto a splined freehub. The lockring does not get tightened as you pedal so is comparatively easy to undo with the right tool.

oneten has a freewheel on a threaded hub. It gets tightened as you pedal and needs a great deal of strength and preferably a vice to remove with the correct tool.

The tool suggested by pwa is unsuitable for removing a freewheel.

For future trips it may be worth carrying the correct removal tool (rather than relying on the nearest LBS to have the right one), but not the vice or industrial length spanner which the LBS or garage can supply. IIRC CJ once wrote in cycle that the spacing between the grates of some drain covers might be correct to hold the tool. Desparate times may call for such desperate measures but choose a quiet road.

[pwa]

pwa is recommending a tool designed to undo the lockring on a cassette, a set of sprockets mounted onto a splined freehub. The lockring does not get tightened as you pedal so is comparatively easy to undo with the right tool.

oneten has a freewheel on a threaded hub. It gets tightened as you pedal and needs a great deal of strength and preferably a vice to remove with the correct tool.

The tool suggested by pwa is unsuitable for removing a freewheel.

For future trips it may be worth carrying the correct removal tool (rather than relying on the nearest LBS to have the right one), but not the vice or industrial length spanner which the LBS or garage can supply. IIRC CJ once wrote in cycle that the spacing between the grates of some drain covers might be correct to hold the tool. Desparate times may call for such desperate measures but choose a quiet road.

I see! A freewheel, not a Freehub with separate easier to remove cassette. I remember struggling to remove those by the roadside, sweat dripping from my nose. Happy memories.

[oneten]

Thanks for the clarification Gaz. The two removal tools look similar but are not interchangeable as the arrangement of the splines is different for each. For the cassette, I seem to remember that the tool is used in conjunction with a chain whip to hold the cassette whereas with a freewheel block the ratchet offers resistance against the anti-clockwise turn of the tool in removing the block.

It's also worth noting that the variety of cassettes and range of gear sprockets is quite wide ranging whereas with freewheel blocks the combinations are more limited.

[oneten]

BTW - I like the suggestion of using the gaps between the cast iron members of a drain cover as a makeshift spanner. I'd like to add that it would be wise not just to choose a quiet street for this but also tie a bit of string to the removal tool in case it comes loose and gets lost down the drain!

[ChrisF]

I'm puzzled by your photo of your bike on a train. Is that some type of cycle rack the front wheel is in, with all that weight hanging off the back? A lot of stress on the front rim, surely?