I’ll be updating this page with photos of bike travellers I meet, their stories, their websites… and most importantly, their rigs!
As you can see, there’s a rich tapestry of bike-touring life on the road…
Anna Korchak
I first met Anna back in 2009, when we rode as a posse (along with Jeff and Jason) from Pie Town, New Mexico, to Zacatecas, Mexico. Anna took a pause in her trip to work for a year running a hostel and working as a diving instructor in Panama. She keeps an extremely elegant and considered blog, over at wishfish.org.
Start: Deadhorse, Alaska.
Destination: Africa?!
Encountered in: Huaraz, Peru.
Bike: Custom frame from Berlin.
Anna and her steed. Her setup is a mixture of commercial gear, home fab and hand-me-downs: Arkel panniers, Ortlieb bar bag, a homemade frame bag, with Tubus and OMM racks complete the setup.
Homemade framebag and fuel pack.
The bag between the seat and chain stays is known as the Squirrel Coffin.
Etienne Théroux
Québécois Etienne started his journey in Inuvik. His website includes footage recorded along the way, with a series of entertaining region by region reports. He’s following the mountain route south – and is so loaded up with gear, that I could barely lift his bike without risk of a hernia. Those Arkel bags are BIG!
Start: Inuvik, Canada.
Destination: Ushuaia, Argentina.
Encountered in: Huaraz, Peru.
Bike: Rocky Mountain.
Etienne and his Rocky Mountain. Sourcing 700c tyres and V-brake rims has proved a bit of an issue.
Those rear Arkels are MASSIVE! They’re actually designed for tandems. Note brighly coloured underwear found on the roadside in Colombia, which acts as a ‘reflector’.
The fronts are pretty big too… Etienne carries a lot of video equipment.
Including a niftily mounted Go Pro, on his front Surly rack.
Christian and Katya
This couple from Germany and Switzerland arrived in Buenos Aires by boat from Europe – a journey that took 5 weeks. They’re ridden all round the south – Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Bolivia – and are headed north to Colombia, where they’re booked on a boat back from Cartagena to Rotterdam (3 weeks). They chose to take the boat for environmental reasons – and for a more gentle introduction and exit to South America.
Start: Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Destination: Cartagena, Colombia
Encountered in: Huaraz, Peru.
Bike: Cube and MTB Velotech.
Some serious cargo-hauling!
A spot for everything. Including those all important clothes pegs…
Homemade charging stations cater for USB-powered devices and camera batteries too – via Schmidt hubs.
Juice for a GPS, for instance.
I must admit, I struggled to lift either bike more than a couple of centimetres off the ground… In part, this is because each carry 8kg of water, whatever the expected terrain ahead.
Loaded high. Christian chose a full suspension rig to help with a back issue. As you might expect, it hadn’t been completely reliable though.
Home repairs. A piece of wood provides an extra stiffening brace for the Tubus Swing.
More rigs coming soon!
Lovely! Makes this an own section instead of a post.
Get well soon!
thx!! it’s so intresting to compare one setup with another! keep going!
Too bad this item has been discontinued. I’ve been using mine daily for 4 years now, and it’s great.
http://www.bikecommuters.com/2010/05/24/review-pcych-commuter-bag/
This is so interesting. I really like to see how people adapt their rides for the road ahead.
Totally. I met this one guy the other day who carries his basejumping gear with him!
I just ran into Etienne again here at Hostel Estrellita in Cusco.
I hope you’re on the mend now and will be back on your bike soon.
I looked for Anna Korchak’s page. It is no longer at http://www.wishfish.org, but at http://www.athousandturns.net. Great article. I could rad these forever!