michaelbiker

Again for bike packing, weight should be the least important thing. Get something that is well within your total weight limit (bike, human, luggage) - that might even mean an mtb wheel. Don’t go exotic - in other words how easy is it to source spares. Make sure it’s compatible with as wide tires as you can safely fit in your frame. The tires will make more diff on corrugations than the wheels. Oh and make sure sealant is topped up and tire pressure is checked at the start of every day. Most sh*t happens when you ignore maintenance. I just did 8 days through Northern Laos and it was a ritual for our group to do maintenance every evening. Clean and lube chain, clean off mud, check pressures, check brake pads etc. There are no spares in Laos and the roads were atrocious, if your bike breaks and you can’t fix it you’ll need to get on the next bakkie / train / flight home.

Weight with all those bags and equiiment should be the least of your concern. Steel or titanium FTW. Plus you don’t need to worry about wrapping everything in tape. Particularly on a raw ti frame. You can just polish the scuffs out.

Riding next to the highest mountain in Thailand. Such a hard but beautiful route.

Yeah Silca stuff isn't easy to get in SA. Merlin stocks quite a lot and their prices are pretty good - including their shipping: https://www.merlincycles.com/silca-tattico-mini-pump-105218.html

I have a Silca Tattico pump. It’s expensive but I will never need another. Beautifully made and makes short work of pumping up tires. It doesn’t use a screw on head and has a built in hose. Apart from the thread on annoyance, lezyne pumps have that bump on the top, if you have a bad day and need to pump a tire multiple times, the pain from that bump in your palm gets pretty bad and stays with you for a few days after. A good, more reasonably priced alternative are the topeak pumps. I think the one I had was the Pocket Rocket.

Lycra tigers. Lol! The market is small, but it's also go to do with land rights (not many places that will build trails like this) and the cost of getting into the sport. This vid of one of the black trails in Tremp, Spain makes my palms sweat.

I can’t really speak to the level of difficulty of trails in Jonkershoek but in general I’ve ridden many different trails in Europe. Blue trails should be treated with caution, probably up there in difficulty with our black trails maybe harder. In Spain, for example, blue is barely rideable on an XC bike. Steep, narrow with some features like drops, gap jumps etc. I remember launching into some blue trails near Tremp and having to get off the bike and walk it down some sections. You can see one of the technical sections in the distance in this pic. Red in Portugal was to be avoided unless you had body armour, an FF helmet and 160mm of travel. In some places in Sintra it wasn’t even worth trying. Black was basically just a bunch of massive step downs and drops through a pine/bluegum forest. It was hard to walk it. I haven’t seen anything like this in SA.

Back on the smooth tar of Northern Thailand. Almost feels like cheating.

Stunning stretch of road along the Nam Pa river between Phonxai and Luang Prabang, Laos

Some fun with an Insta360 on really rough gravel roads.

Yes, thanks for the clarification, I was referencing finding this stuff online.

The rice is nearly ready to be harvested here in Luang Prabang

Bummer.

Time to take matters into your own hands… https://dialedrunner.com/simple-fix-for-your-sticky-garmin-fenix-buttons/

Shimano spares for derailleurs and shifters. Also fork and shock service kits are almost always out of stock when I need them.

Yip. Just did a week on the worst roads I have ever ridden in Laos (some days were over 6 hours in the saddle) and had two things I think were essential: a shock stop stem and a professional bike fit and I had zero pain just fatigue. I’m not quite 50 yet but getting there at 44.

Top of the world. Laos

Mekong ferry, Luang Prabang, Laos

It's been quite dry this week and the water has dropped a lot, so we didn't have to ride through too much mud. Vientiane is underwater at the moment though.

Somewhere in a rice paddy in Northern Laos

I have the MX238s in leather. Fit hasn’t changed apart from the insoles. Not sure how it would with such stiff carbon soles. You do have to look after the leather. I clean my shoes when they get really muddy and treat them with some leather cream.