Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

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djskinner
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Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by djskinner »

Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

I’ve got the ferry booked for 10th September from Plymouth to Santander and two and a bit weeks to explore the Spanish Pyrenees. I’m keen to do as much of the journey on trails/caminos/senderos as me and my bike are capable of. Despite having a tendency to just keep riding rather than stopping to take photos I’ll try not to rush, take a more leisurely pace and want to explore the area (including towns) along the way. As I’ve been trying to teach myself Spanish for the last couple of years another key objective for me is to get some speaking practice in. Granted this might conflict with the first objective of riding the more remote trails! Ah well, biking comes first.

This trip has been built around advice and knowledge found in this forum so thanks in advance to those who have been forthcoming with their advice and experience. I hope these posts will be of use to someone in the future and would also appreciate any last-minute advice!

More details to follow!
djskinner
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by djskinner »

Toolkit

I’ll start with the toolkit because this is the most thought through. It needed to be since my mechanical experience is currently lacking. The toolkit has taken a while to put together. I think it strikes the right balance of being able to get myself out of basic/common scenarios whilst still travelling light. The whole thing fits in a Kreiga US-05.
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  • Kreiga Tool Roll
  • 3/8 Ratchet with extension
  • Ring Spanners 17, 14, 13.
  • Hex Bits: 17, 13
  • Various Torx keys T40-T9
  • Various Torx bits T50-T10
  • Toolkit from under passenger seat: 8mm, 14mm spanner, screwdriver + oil cap removal tool
  • Axle removal tool
  • Loctite Blue
  • Various tie wraps
  • Super glue
  • Dynaplug Pro tubeless tyre repair kit
  • QuikSteel
  • Leatherman Wave
  • Sewing Awl
  • Gorilla Tape
  • Electrical Tape
  • Motion Pro Nitro Tape
  • Generic Lube/Oil (Lucas Oil Tool Box Buddy)
  • Hand/CO2 pump with 3x CO2 bulbs
  • Motion Pro Bead Prop bead breakers / tyre levers
  • Foldable Shovel
  • Multi-Purpose Cord / Tow Rope
There seems to be a bit of duplication with the torx/hex/spanners and possibly tape. Perhaps I’ll cut it down further to remove this duplication.
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References:
RandG
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by RandG »

Shovel :geek:
halfpint
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by halfpint »

get rid of the shovel and take a tube
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AlanHolt
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by AlanHolt »

You don't need to bury your shit in Spain, the flies and ants will have reduced it to nothing quicker than you can cook a paella
Current bike is a Yamaha T7
micksea
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by micksea »

Bin the shovel,the electrical tape,the motion pro tape and the tool roll.take a mountain bike pump instead of the co2 canisters,wrap what's left in a micro fibre cloth and stuff it in the kriega bag with a spare tube.
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by PHILinFRANCE »

We all learn by our mistakes and experiences , yes the shovel needs to go but if you feel you need any of the other stuff and can carry it , take it !!!
djskinner
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by djskinner »

Haha, I guess its unanimous on the shovel then. Consider it gone.
halfpint wrote: Tue Aug 29, 2017 10:34 pm get rid of the shovel and take a tube
This takes me nicely onto the next post...
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by djskinner »

Spares/Repairs/Recovery

I’ve thought about this long and hard and the combination of EU location, duration of trip, limited mechanical knowledge and lack of space has lead me to the decision not to carry much on this front. If worst comes to worst I’ll have to ditch the bike and walk till I find some local hombres who are willing to help. The plus side of this is that it’ll probably be a great language learning experience!

  • Broken levers –> barkbusters and/or limp to civilisation
  • Puncture –> Dynaplug
  • Unpluggable puncture –> Inner tube
  • Drowned bike/wrecked clutch/major failure –> screwed (or just turn around and go a different route before it happens)
  • Wear and tear items –> bike serviced before leaving, short trip
Inner Tube

I was in two minds about the necessity of tyre levers and inner tube but I guess a torn sidewall is not beyond the realms of possibility and whilst expensive, the tyre levers can be considered a long-term investment. I’m toying with getting an air compressor too but surely a couple of CO2 bulbs and a hand pump will be sufficient for 2 weeks.

The plan was to go for a UHD 18” inner tube. I’ve read in various places that this should suffice for both wheels as last resort although there are potential problems with off-centre valves. I’ll have changed one tubeless tyre by the time I start this trip and have no experience messing about with inner tubes, valves, valve stems and valve stem removal tools. As much as I’m keen to learn more about that stuff I’m hoping not to have to do so alone on the trail.

However, the UHD 18” inner tube has arrived today and it’s absolutely massive, so big that I don’t think I’ll have the room to carry it securely. Naively I had a picture of a bicycle inner tube in my mind!
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Would a not-so-UHD tube + puncture repair kit be considerably smaller in size?

References:
Recovery

What happens if I dump the bike in a ditch or somehow get past the point of no return and am faced with an impossible uphill? I can easily lift and drag the bike but hauling it out of a ditch alone would present a huge problem. I was tempted to take some kind of pulley system or tirfor winch. Whilst the pulley system looked like it would be compact enough I just can’t see any amount mechanical advantage that would be gained would help a single person haul a motorbike on its side with handlebars or other extremities digging in to the dirt. The suggestion of a trifor came more recently on the TET Facebook page but they look bulky and frankly I don’t have enough time left to think it through properly.

In the end it came down to accepting that I need to ride according to the environment (i.e. solo rider on extremely heavy loaded bike) so I just need to be sensible enough to bear that in mind when making the decision to proceed or find and alternative route. That sounds much easier than it’s going to be for me…

References:
redbikejohn
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Re: Spain Trans-Pyrenees Sept 2017 - Trip Planning and Ride Report

Post by redbikejohn »

I take it the bike has tubeless tyres? If so then don't carry a ultra heavy duty tube. Those things are massive. In the event you suffer a puncture too large to plug then a normal tube will get you back to town. Those sets of three mini levers are fine on the trail but you will most likely need to use the stand to break the bead on the tyre/wheel. CO2 canisters are not much cop. One is enough for a bicycle tyre so three will not inflate a motorbike tyre. I carry three of the bigger type and a mini pump. They are quite small and work ok but are slow. When trail riding in the past I used to just carry a full size bicycle hand pump. They work surprisingly quickly when infatting an enduro tyre.
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