Fellow cyclists have already proven enough that conquering the planet with a budget bike and improvised equipment is possible. This definitely offers some exciting situations and one might get to know the hospitality and helpfulness of natives even more.
I prefer being able to trust my bike. This reduces unnecessary stressful and unpleasant events and may offer me opportunities to help others, instead of requiring help by others.
For my bike I chose components that fellow touring enthusiasts have already tested intensively and deserve their spot on my two-wheeler. I value longliving, low-wear and low-maintenance components. Not having too exotic stuff simplifies the search for replacement parts in less stocked workshops.
I have to admit that this unfortunately did not work out perfectly. See the update below.
Frame: Surly Bridge Club
A solid steel frame that offers many options for attachments and fits 28” x 47mm tires. You can also use this frame with 26” or 27.5” x 3” wheels. If at some point I want to ride wider tires, I could just get new wheels without having to change much more.
Wheels: Ryde Andra 40 rims, Sapim Race Spokes
There aren’t many stronger ones. If these break, every other option would fail too.
Tires: Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour 47-622
Very longliving and puncture proof tires in maximum width for more pleasant offroad experiences.
Gearhub: Rohloff Speedhub 500/14 CC DB OEM2
Hightech on bicycles. No necessity for a bicycle adventure, but pretty welcoming if one is maintenance lazy. Every 5000 km an oil change is required, but the straight chainline reduces wear and tear. Adjustment of derailleurs has always annoyed me. I won’t miss it 🙂
Dynamo hub: SON 28
My own little power plant which reliably lets me feed my electronic devices.
Light in the dark and electric power for camera and smartphone.
Moreover a stable front wheel hub.
Headlight: SON Edelux 2
Excellent illumination for the occasional night ride or long, dark tunnels. Compatible with Forumslader (USB output).
Rear light: B&M Toplight Line Plus
Bright, but simple rear light so that no one accidentally pushes me. I want to use my own muscles otherwise I bought an eBike.
Power supply: Forumslader
USB output and buffer battery for my dynamo hub. Compared to other solutions it produces more power when cycling slowly. Practical when the bike is fully loaded and I climb mountains.
Headset: CaneCreek 40 1⅛ EC34/28,6 | EC34/30
Bottom bracket: Trickstuff Exzentriker
Eccentric bottom bracket which fits normal frames. Uses standard 24mm ball-bearings. (see Update at the bottom)
Pedals: Shimano PD-T8000 > Bearings damaged after only 300km (changed to old platform pedals)
A non-slip hybrid pedal, which consists of one clipless and one flat side. (not as reliable as I hoped)
Crankset: Shimano ZEE FC-M640
A reliable 1x crank. Unfortunately not 100% compatible with Trickstuffs eccentric bottom bracket. A Shimano XT crankset would be better. Since it works, I kept it anyway.
Kette: Connex 808 7-/8-fach
Very longliving chain. Actually not best suited for hubgears, and since I already put on some km, I carry a spar chain with me (Connex 1R8).
Chain guard: Hebie Chainglider (Not yet installed.)
The Chainglider reduces wear and tear heavily. It’ll be annoying to install and adjust.
Fenders: SKS Bluemels 28” 53 Black
Simple fenders, so that I won’t have to shower or wash my clothes.
Seat post: Thomson Elite
Simple and stable seat post with little setback for better ergonomy.
Saddle: Brooks C17 Carved
A comfortable saddle for long days in the saddle. The leather variant B17 may be even more comfortable but needs to be protected from the weather.
Handlebars: Koga Denham
Ein Lenker mit allen für mich wichtigen Griffpositionen. Mitentwickelt von Alee Denham, schau gerne bei ihm vorbei, er macht richtig gute Videos und hat viele informative Artikel auf seinem Blog zum Thema Radreisen.
A handlebar with all grip positions important to me. Designed in cooperation with Alee Denham, check out his blog and youtube channel if you don’t know him.
Stem: Redshift ShockStop
A suspension stem to make rough roads a little more bearable.
Grips: Ergon GP1
Ergonomic grips to prevent numb fingers and pain in the wrists.
Bar tape: Cinelli Cork
Brake levers: Avid FR-5
Simple levers for mechanical disk brakes.
Disk brakes: Avid BB7 MTB
A simple and reliable mechanical disk brake with enough power in the shoes.
Brake pads: Avid organisch
The default brake pads delivered with these brakes suck. Why u do dis Avid?
Disks: Rohloff 180mm / Avid 160mm (default)
Brake cables: Jagwire Mountain Elite Link (only realized that it doesn’t completely fit my frame…now using Jagwire Mountain Pro for my rear brake)
Extremely light running so that I don’t waste any energy when it matters.
Gear cables: Rohloff (default)
Rear rack: Tubus Logo Classic
Lowrider: Tubus Tara
Stable racks which have to withstand all those heavy experiences.
Update:
After a few thousand kilometers I basically am pretty happy with what I produced here. 3 things do bother me:
- Unfortunately the Trickstuff Exzentriker (eccentric bottom bracket) does not convince me. The clamping screws (used to keep the bearing shell in place) always get stuck when I actually want to loosen them. This makes adjusting the chain tension pretty annoying. I hope I won’t have to do it too regularly.
Also both bearing shells have to be aligned separately, and since they have to be aligned perfectly, it’s a bummer that there are no points of reference. - Frame and fork only suit 47mm wide tires for 700c wheels. It might be enough, but if I want to change to 60mm wide tires some day, I’d have to get new wheels.
- The frame doesn’t feature a frame lock. I won’t be able to switch to a belt drive with this frame if I wanted. I can’t completely rule out belt drives for the future of me and my bike.
tldr: I should have gotten a Surly Ogre, ECR or a Salsa Fargo. After at some point I was close to buying a Salsa Fargo TI frame kit, I decided to give my current setup a go. With the other components I am happy and would not choose anything different.