We are still thinking what will be the right way to carry our load of
gears needed. We can see 3 possibilities.
The first one would be to have a trailer like the Bob
gear one, Ibex trailer, but it weights almost 8kg on its one. What
are the parts which are most likely to brake? How much can you load the
bag? Does it stay stable at high speed, is there a speed limit? What
about riding in the rain, mud? And last but not least, you need to think
about carrying it in the plane on the way back, if it’s worth to keep it
for another adventure…
The second alternative would racks on the side of the bike
with bags attached to them. Is it easy to ride on a mountain bike with
bags in the front and in the back of the bike? Is there any part of the
rack what might brake? How would you balance the weight between the
front and back bags? How does it feel on a bumpy downhill? Easy to ride
at high speed? And I think you cannot have the rack on any bike, you
need a aluminum frame with the screw points, and if you have a front
fork, you won’t be able to put a rack, or am I wrong?
The third would be to have the Xtracycle extension
with the adventure kit, to extend the length of the bike and to have
the bags only in the back, which should be more easy to ride. Does the
extension might brake on a bumpy road? Is the chain of the bike jumping
between the gears when riding on a bumpy road since the length of it is
much longer? How much weight would you put in the bags? Is the bike
still stable at high speed? Did you use it on a carbon frame? With a
strong overload, would the extension frame bend or one of the attach
will brake? Is it stable at high speed? It weights a bit more than 3kg…
My wish is to buy a bike that I will use as my new racing MTB in Switzerland so it would be a carbon frame with disc brakes… But Simon and Ollie would certainly get a aluminum frame bike. So any special recommendations for a carbon frame bike?
Do you have any experiences about traveling with any of those “styles”? Please leave us a comment, it would be much appreciated!