review: Token saddlepost clamp

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

Token is a sort of middle-end broker of fairly lightweight parts.  They occasionally have a very light item such as this saddlepost clamp, which weighs 8g. Unfortunately, middle-end quality is not compatible with exceptionally light parts. The manufacturer's sense of 31,8mm is far different from the SI standard -- more like 32,5mm. I had to use four layers of aluminum can to get this clamp to work. I snapped the head off of the titanium bolt before getting this far, though (which prompted me to buy a torque wrench; this bolt is supposed to be tightened to no more than a measly 5Nm). Titanium bolts will stretch and stretch until they snap. Lesson learned. 

The threading on this clamp is not typical of bicycles, so I replaced the ti bolt with whatever I could find. Which was a Phillips-head screw that, like all Phillips-head screws, soon stripped at the head. I took an extra (23g) clamp with me to France in case I wouldn't be able to re-tighten this clamp sufficiently when we re-assembled our bikes at the airport. It became immediately clear that this would be the case. I put on the old clamp and sent the Token back to the US. 

My girlfriend's bike has the silver version of this clamp. I put a steel bolt on hers. I hadn't shimmed it enough, though, so on bumpy ground her post slipped. 

By the time one is done shimming this clamp and putting in a steel screw or bolt, it weighs 13g. I doubt 5Nm is enough to hold a saddlepost that is used on anything but smooth asphalt. There are other clamps in the 8g - 11g range, such as those by ExtraLite and KCNC, that work without shims and with bolts able to handle higher loads. I would spend a few more dollars to get one of those clamps in future.

review: paper towel (rag)

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

This may be the most valuable item I didn't think to bring with me. I got this one from a public library bathroom on the Atlantic coast. They wouldn't let us use the internet so I stole this crummy paper towel instead. Taught them a lesson.

I used this for cleaning all manner of things related to the bicycle, from the chain to the brake tracks to the frame. At this late date it's a collection of shredded paper held together by will power and bicycle grease, but it still was great to have even in its degraded condition. In future I would probably hit up a paper towel dispenser at the airport before heading out, then replace as needed. This towel lasted over 35 days through some hard usage, so it wouldn't take more than a 25cm by 20cm piece of towel to go a long way. As it is, the towel won't register on my scale, just the sort of item I like in my chargement. 

review: CatEye Strada RD100W bicycle computer

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

Just about every account of cycletourists refers to the value of having a bicycle computer, particularly for the assistance it renders as a navigation tool. I bought into the hype. I found the lightest computer I could find, the CatEye Strada RD100W (37g).

It was good to have the time readily available and fun to have our top speed and to be able to track our daily distance. As suggested by others, we used the computers as a navigation tool. But then it rained and they began to work only intermittently. Then they finally stopped working altogether. We sent them back to the US in the hopes that they would dry out and be usable by the time we returned. One recovered and one did not. A non-weather-resistant bicycle computer isn't much use, though, so I put the one that recovered on the bicycle of a fair-weather cyclist who won't face this limitation.

When the computers stopped working, I was concerned that we would have difficulty with navigation but the French, no doubt following the example of the Romans (whose distance markers still stand here and there along the roads), have a thorough route infrastructure. With the exception of C roads (uncommon) and Z roads (rare), nearly every kilometer of every road we traveled on was marked in some recognizable fashion. Some included a smorgasborg of information (the basics + elevation, percent grade, distance to next town, distance from last town), others were simply a white number on the road. Even in barest form, these markers were more useful as navigation guides than our computers had been.

Once we decided to dismount the computers, we got to each lose a free 37g off of our bikes with no loss in functionality. Bravo!

review: primary clothing

my daily getty-up, here pulling recycling duty in Carcasonne

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of products that we used during that tour.

Vivo Barefoot Ultra shoes. 28cm; 215g

Castelli Rosso Corsa Endurance shorts. medium; 145g

Nike N.E.T. tennis shorts. large; 161g

Castelli Rosso Corsa UltraLeggera jersey. large; 96g

Castelli Rosso Corsa gloves. large; 33g

Giro ProLight helmet [no longer made]. large; 195g


I had one set of clothing that I used daily. Gross as this sounds, it worked very well so long as I kept on top of the washing routine. Given the de-luxe accomodation at French campgrounds, this was easy to do. Two items, the over-shorts and shoes, were not designed for cycling. The bicycle-specific items were all in the ultra-light category.

The Vivo Barefoot Ultra shoes were the least cycling-appropriate item in my kit. They lack the sole quality that makes a cycling shoe -- stiffness. The attraction for me of the Ultras was their weight and the flexibility they afforded me. At 215g for the pair, they are 50% of the weight of the typical road racing shoe and 30% of the weight of cycling shoes. Despite heavier platform pedals -- 25g heavier than my clipless pedals -- I saved an aggregate 570g by using these shoes (this includes an additional 50g savings from not having to carry the jury-rigged flip-flops I had planned to bring)

The whole shoe is made from ethylene vinyl acetate, the mid-sole material of nearly every running shoe made since c'a 1980. By the middle of the first training ride, my satanic pedals had wormed into a corner of the outsole (see photo). But that's where it stopped. For the thousands of kilometers left in the trip, the pedal barely made any more impact on the outsole. I wore these any time I was outside of the tent, in the rain and cold, in the shower, through dessicating heat, on training runs (a grand total of four for the whole trip, but still....), up and down every mountain. They were far less efficient on the bike than a stiff-soled shoe, no doubt, but they left a bitchin' tan on my foot (see below) and they were truly an all-in-one shoe.

The Nike N.E.T. shorts were a last-second find. I needed something with secure pockets so that I could house my passport and debit card on my person. Mountain bike shorts are heavy (350g) & iRule, a New Zealand company that makes a pocketed bike short, failed to respond to my inquiries. Because I thought I could find a pocketed rip-stop nylon short in the 100g range, I didn't pursue purchasing the obvious option -- Bellwether UltraLight shorts (270g). Pocketed rip-stop nylon shorts don't seem to exist. All I could find was a pair of tennis shorts weighing 161g. Though I was disappointed in the weight, they are what I found on short notice. Outside of showers and clothes washing (in which case I wore my rain gear -- and that's it), I wore these every minute of the trip, from the plane ride over to the plane ride back. They had hundreds of hours of direct saddle time, but only a few seams came out. These shorts don't have a 2nd zippable pocket, which would have been nice, but the front pockets were deep and airy. The shorts dried quickly. In future I will custom make a pair of shorts out of ultra-lite rip-stop.

Castelli Rosso Corsa gear is very light and ridiculously expensive. I found deals on these items, though, so it was only expensive.

I've had the Rosso Corsa shorts for years. They are indescribably tough. I've had three major accidents -- each of which shredded the other clothes I was wearing and which eventually destroyed my helmet and left shoulder -- but they have survived without so much as abrasion to show for it. A bit disappointing. Where's the war story in that? More important than that, they are comfortable, even on my minimalist saddle. Light, too (145g).

The R.C. jersey is basically crepe paper. One of my major accidents was on this shirt. It is sufficient to say that they are not as tough as the shorts (see photo above right). To its great credit, any day we rode our bikes, I wore this shirt, yet the areas of abrasion never got worse. The shirt is so light that the rear pockets are good only for 50g each; more than that and they sag. Still, they can each hold a micro-pump or a small energy bar.

The R.C. gloves were solely to protect my hands. I did not mean to advertise for Cervelo. Not being a road biker, I thought that that gargantuan "e" was just a cool graphic design. But, no, when we got to the Tour de France we saw it everywhere -- it's a billboard. Shoot. Nonetheless, these gloves functioned as I hoped. They are super light (33g) and have no padding beyond that provided by the material, which is how I prefer it. One major accident was on these, too. The nylon upper shredded, but, as with the jersey, the tears did not get worse. Except, near the end, a 4mm by 1mm tear force marched across the whole top of the glove. It was easy to repair, but not until I got back (see photo above left for my Ma's brilliant repair job).

The ProLight helmet is a wonder. It ventilates exceptionally well and is very light. My previous helmet, a Giro Monza, weighed 270g. After 2h in the saddle that helmet's weight caused my neck to ache. After three -- no, five -- major accidents on the Monza, it was finally destroyed. I replaced it with the ProLight to see if it would help with the neck pain. Mission accomplished. Really.

review: ZPacks Zero cuben fiber 24 liter backpack

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of products that we used during that tour.

Using a backpack is, for most cyclotourists, a prima facie bad idea. The accounts of those who have tried, including my partner, end with the tourer buying panniers at the earliest opportunity. After several long training rides with a light pack, though, I decided to give it a go, but only so long as I could keep the weight of my base gear below 4kg. After repeated applications of an increasingly deep scalpel, the total weight of my gear (including the backpack itself) was 3,15kg.  I usually had 300g of food with me and, on a day above 300° K, an additional 2kg in water (on cooler days I carried 1,5 liters). So long as the base weight + food & water added up to less than 6kg, I could go all day without discomfort. Besides the light weight, using a backpack enabled me to enjoy a bicycle without changed steering or climbing characteristics.

The ZPacks Zero backpack is made from 50g/square meter cuben fiber. I had the company add a water sleeve and shock cord lashing and reduce the size a bit (see below). The total weight was 95g. The water sleeve was great to have despite the additional 9g. My 2,5 liter bag was a tight fit when I put over 2 liters in it, but with enough patience I could always squeeze it in. I eventually sent the shock cord back to the US -- I rarely used it. Unfortunately, I didn't think to seam seal my pack before I left, so it was nearly useless in a hard rain. The straps were on-the-fly adjustable and the padding was excellent. I didn't have ZPacks add any support straps

Though it is not such a fan of chafing, cuben fiber, a polyethylene filament buttressed by cross fibers of other esters (Kevlar, Vectran, Zylon, carbon), is very tough. This is the material of choice for the weight weenie with an unlimited budget, a limited conscience (who knows the environmental consequences of a material like this?), and/or a need to save his/her back from undue stress. I prefer to think myself in the latter-most category but the middle-most is more like it. Certainly not the former-most. Cuben fiber is water proof (but needs to be seam sealed) and not breathable. This made for a sweaty back, but even my ultra-breathable REI Stoke backpack, which has a breathless combination of breathable design and material, isn't much better.

I requested that ZPacks make the pack a bit less tall than the standard model. This was to avoid the backpack hitting the back of my helmet, an annoyance similar in effect to severe tooth pain or kidney stones, and because I did not need the extra room. Still, this pack held 24 liters, of which I used 16 liters for base gear. Even with 2 liters of water and a liter of food I had plenty of room left over. The material color I chose -- white -- was actually semi-translucent. This made finding gear much easier. And it made the backpack a hot-house. Any meltables melted. No chocolate in this bag!

ZPacks was a champ to deal with. They customized the pack and, when the seamstress made a small error, offered to make another one. I felt guilty enough as it was using cuben fiber, so I told them not to bother and, anyway, I have yet to find the error. Whatever the error, it certainly didn't affect the functioning or look of the pack.

At no extra charge and despite it being my fault, ZPacks expedited shipping so that it would arrive before we flew out. It arrived the day before we jetted off, which could have been disastrous if my little experiment with touring by back-pack hadn't worked. It did work, though, and the incredibly light weight of cuben fiber coupled with the flexibility and excellent workmanship of ZPacks made it so.

review: back-up clothing

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of products that we used during that tour.

Patagonia Capilene 1 long-sleeve shirt. Size small; 142g

Patagonia Capilene 1 long-johns. Size large; 145g

WrightSock CoolMesh socks. Size large; 29g

ExOfficio Trip'r short-sleeve shirt. Size small; 138g

RainShield O2 rain pants. Size medium; 115g

RainShield O2 rain jacket. Size large; 141g

Sheila Moon insulated Dri-Fit cycling cap. Size medium; 37g

total: 747g

I had a basic daily costume: bicycle shorts, pocketed over-shorts, bicycle jersey, bicycle gloves, shoes and helmet. If it was cold, I added the Capilene 1 long-sleeve. If it was colder, I also wore the rain jacket.
Only if it was raining hard would I put on the rain jacket and rain pants and cycling cap. I never wore the socks, short-sleeve shirt, mittens or long johns except to keep warm at night.

The primary purpose of the ExOfficio shirt was to have something to relax in after cycling or on days off. It was breathable, light, and comfortable. In a pinch (see below), it added a welcome layer of insulation.

The Capilene 1 gear is very light, compact, comfortable and barely sufficient for staying warm. If you are prone to cold, get Capilene 2 or its equivalent.

The RainShield gear breathes better than any rain gear I've had and it kept me dry in several bouts of sustained, harsh wet weather. Its drawback is tear resistance, particularly at the seams. As with any tear, getting on top of it quickly goes a long way to minimizing damage. A little duct tape did the trick in stanching the damage. When I lost my duct tape, tears went untreated and they steadily worsened (for the worst of the (later repaired) damage, see left photo). Despite this, the gear did not spring any leaks.

Though I only rarely used the pants on the bike, I began to wear my over-shorts over them to save the seams. I looked like a fashion-challenged US'er (no small deal in France!), but it lessened wear. Though the pants fit me fairly well, the leg bottoms must have dragged a bit; they show damage (see right photo).

I could have found lighter socks, I think, but these were the lightest in my collection, even lighter than any of my racing socks. The double layering of these socks makes them great insulators. I only used them on cool nights and never wore them outside of the tent. My feet did not get cold regardless of how cold the rest of me was. Not bad!

The cycling cap was a disappointment in the rain, a wonder in the sack. I somehow expected that the tiny bill would protect my glasses from rain and road spray. I somehow expected that it would keep me warm and dry even in the rain. I somehow expected that it would only rain when it was cold. Ha, ha and ha. The hat kept me warm at night, nearly always to excess. The problem was on the road. It offered little protection from water, it was too warm for most rain storms and, when it got wet on rainy mountain days, it would cause a chill. In future, I will take a water-proof cap and an insulated cap. More weight, perhaps, but this system was unworkable. Unfortunately, I lost this hat around day 50. I missed it on cold nights, even resorting to breaking a taboo: borrowing gear -- a Castelli Risvolto hat -- from my partner.

Basically I was carrying 747g of back-up gear, mostly there to keep me warm at night if the temperature dipped below 280° K or so (8° C). If that was the case, I put everything on, including the socks, the mittens and, if it was dry, my towel. All of this did the trick down to 275° K or so. Below that it was going to be a cold night. With two exceptions, I stayed warm and, more typically, shed layers as the night went on.

review: HCC Medical Insurance Services travel insurance

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

As with the insurance industry in general, the travel insurance industry is pock-marked with charlatans, obfuscations and lies. Possibly more so, if that is possible. But I was losing my health insurance, such as it was, and my partner had only crappy insurance she paid for herself. So I went to insuremytrip.com and used their handy finder tool to assist me in hoping for the best. I have only slight faith that the insurance would have been of any use if I needed it, but I'm always happy to play the test case to hold an insurance company's toes to the fire.

We decided on Atlas International, some division or other of HCC Medical Insurance Services. Note that this is not Atlas Travel Insurance, which is most definitely a company of charlatans, obfuscations and lies. For 220USD each, Atlas International guaranteed 1 000 000USD for medical (including dental), 5 000USD for interrupted travel, 500 000USD evacuation, 0USD deductible, 50 000USD accidental death, 15 000USD pre-existing.

I never got to find out how slippery Atlas International is so I can't complain or commend. May all travelers be so lucky.

review: SKS tire levers

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

The day my front tube split down the middle, it was already on its third flat for the day. I had brought along a couple of levers from the Pedro's ICM tool I have. They were compact and light. And they didn't work for crap. The 2nd flat for the day was actually caused by one of the levers pinching the tube while I levered it back on. OK. My fault. But the lever design wasn't helping anything. 

When that tube failed, it caused a cascade of events that delayed us for two days. I had sent my back-up tube to the US a few days before my tube split. To save weight and space.  In a rural place. Hahahaha. So we had to wait for a bus from the place of the flat, Chaudes-Aigues, to the place of the new tube, Saint Flour. There, at Cantal Cycles, I got a new tube and the SKS levers. The levers are slim, light (21g) and they have a clever mold that keeps them together. And they work magnificently. 

What Aesop would say: it's great to save weight and space and all, but take stuff that works. 

review: Lezyne CRV-20 multi-tool

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

All multi-tools have tools that I do not use, particularly Torx and box wrenches. They are also often over-built and suffer from poorly designed chain tools and spoke wrenches. The Lezyne CRV-20 has only one completelyuseless tool (a Torx t25), a couple of mostly useless tools (the 10mm box wrench/bottle opener and 8mm box wrench/something or other (I would remove this tool in future)), is missing only one important tool (tire levers), has an excellent chain tool and it has spoke wrenches almost as good as the Park SW series.

The CRV-20 has two killer apps: a 6cm-long bread knife blade and light weight. The knife was great because it allowed me to cut bread, fruit and vegetables while we traveled. Watch out for it, though. While fixing a chain on a training ride before our tour, the knife made a nice, deep gash in my finger. My own fault (I hadn't put a sheath on the knife yet), but watch out. It's sharp. After I removed the Torx t25 (and sold it for a tidy sum on eBay), the tool weighed an incredibly light 155g. Including the two tire levers (21g), all of the tools I carried with me weighed a feathery 176g.

review: Targus DefCon lap-top locks

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

The typical u-lock weighs around 1 300g. A typical 10mm cable lock weighs around 600g. The former slows down a knowledgeable thief by a minute or two, the latter by a few seconds. Almost any lock will stop the casual "thief of opportunity," the jack-ass who steals a bicycle because it's unlocked. In my search for a viable locking mechanism, I stopped looking for strength in favor of a lock that would produce noise, and lots of it. At first blush, lap-top locks, which have 1,5mm - 3mm cables, seem to provide almost no protection. If the cable is cut or if they are jostled, though, all hell breaks loose. My lock gives a warning beep after 4-seconds of movement. At 8-seconds it will scream out 95 deciBells of the things thieves hate most -- noise and attention. My partner's DefCon did the same, but hers went to 11 (Bells).

Though they both weighed around 165g, my DefCon 1 Ultra was different in important ways from my partner's DefCon 1. The Ultra has four permutations, the 1 has three; the Ultra has a 90cm long cable, the 1's is 120cm; the Ultra has a 2,4mm thick cable, the 1's is 1,8mm. The volume of noise was also significantly greater in the 1.

I preferred the 1 to the Ultra. Having a 120cm long cable allows one to lock the front wheel to the frame and to the object being locked to. In order to spool the 120cm of cable in the same size container as the Ultra, it has to be thinner, but this is not a draw back. The cable isn't so much about resistance to cutters as it is about deterrence. The greater volume of the 1 is something I prefer. The only deficiency of the 1 is the number of permutations. These locks are notoriously easy to pick, so anything to add jostling time (which triggers the alarm) to the would-be thief's efforts is important.

Though this lock is an excellent way to provide security without a weight penalty while touring, our locks had trouble. The primary trouble is that they are not weather-proof, particularly the Ultra, so a night or two in the rain and my alarm stopped working. The locking mechanism still worked, and the light still blinked, but that is small solace when the primary deterrent stops functioning. My partner's lock continued to work, but at least once gave off false alarms -- we had the bicycle in view and the lock went off. We thought it might be the wind jostling it, but that proved incorrect. It now works again, but it is troubling that it inexplicably stopped working properly.

review: plastic bags

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of products that we used during that tour.

Finding loose items in a back pack is a slow process. Unless you get extra lucky, it involves taking the big items out and rummaging around for the item. If it's dark it's better to wait until morning. I say this even though I have a semi-translucent back-pack. If your backpack is opaque, be ready to take everything out.

This problem could be, and often is, solved with internal pockets. These add substantial weight, though, and you still can't take the items out as a unit. My partner bought small, thin Zip-Loc-type bags for a project she was working on. I shamelessly stole four of them, one for my medications, one for bicycle tools, one for toiletries and one for the camera charger and converter. I then got a larger, stronger Zip-Loc bag to carry the small bags. 

In the mad rush of moving from our apartment before we left, we had some food left over. We took the perishables with us to eat on the plane. One of the items was bread. I intended to recycle the bag, which had contained Whole Foods Snappy Sourdough, upon landing, but the French government recycling program is honest: don't waste our time -- plastic bags are not recyclable. I ended up using this bag to the end. I used the bag as a 2nd barrier to food containers in case they leaked. It was a stalwart, tough and trustworthy to the end. 

The small bags were ultimately prone to tears. In the photo above, the bag with the most duct tape was the tools bag. No surprise there. Once I lost my mini-roll of duct tape, I had no way to repair the bags, so the last 30 or so days were stark examples of entropy. Still, they lived through hundreds of pullings and yankings. For the bag that held medications, I glued prescriptions to the inside in case customs officials arched any eyebrows (none did). 

After I failed to fully close my medication bag one fine rainy day, something that essentially ruined the medication, I kept an additional plastic bag that I somehow came across (probably from a boulangerie; the French are great about putting bread into paper, but occasionally...). This kept my medications dry, though it was too late to do any good. 

In all, the bags added 24g to my chargement. I'm not one to say "it was worth the extra weight," but it was worth the extra weight.  

review: books

Between 2011 July and 2011 September, my partner and I did a 3 300km bicycle tour of southern France. The below is a review of a product that we used during that tour.

One can only cycle so many hours in a day. Searching for accommodation and food can take up a couple of hours. Planning the next day's route can soak up some time. One can't afford to read after dark -- battery power is too precious. But there's still down time, particularly in early summer when it is light enough to read until well after 90% of the day is complete (21:36). 

I had impulsively purchased a book at the San Francisco International Airport (Gwynne, Samuel. Empire of the Summer Moon. New York: Simon, 2011). I soaked up as much as I could on the flight but did not finish it. Despite its 400g and 700ml, I decided to take it with me. I quickly finished a first read, then soaked it up again. It had a relevance to our travels -- an important sub-story in the book is the tension between cultural understanding and survival (the decimation of Comanche life ways v. the brutality of the Comanche life ways). This was something not remotely so stark in our travels in France, but we were faced with a version of it every time I opened my mouth. 

Given my focus on saving weight, I have trouble explaining why I carried it around so long. I even lugged it up the cols in the Alps. It got wet more than once, making it even heavier and more voluminous. It occupied my mind and made me think, I guess, but 400g is no small price to pay for such luxuries. I eventually left it at the hostel in Le Puy en Velay. 

By Capbreton 20 days later, I decided life on the road sans a book was more than I could handle. I knew the weight penalty, though, so I looked for something light and compact. I also looked for something in French. I figured my need for entertainment would overcome any aversion to challenging myself. I found a series of books called "Les Essentiels Milan." These are slim, high-interest, low reading-level soft cover mini-books. Perfect for me. Rather than choose weighty issues like L'Afghanistan, Otage de l'Histoire or L'Anarchie, Une Histoire de Revoltes, I chose lighter fare (Ferre, Jean Luc. Le Tour de France: Un Siecle de Legendes. Liguage, France: Aubin, 2003). Mine weighed 79g and took up only 100ml. I struggled my way through once, then a 2nd time with dictionary in hand so I could actually understand what I was reading. It might have been more appropriate to have this book while we were watching the Tour, but it was still entertaining to read about the Tour's history. 

In future, I will not have to worry about taking a book. I will have a wi-fi enabled electronic device with a camera, mapping and dictionary software and pre-loaded e-books.