Our Touring Bikes

The Bikes - my bike is evidence that you don't have have to spend a fortune to get a reasonable touring bike. I purchased mine second hand about 7 years ago from a Scandinavian trekker. He sold me the bike, the rear panniers, helmet, tools and pump for a mere $300. It is an Apollo Hybrid, and over the past 7 years has done meritorious service for me from Paris to London, Melbourne to Gold Coast, Townsville to Gold Coast, a circumnavigation of the Mallee in Victoria, plus hundreds of kilometres over various smaller trips.
There is nothing special or expensive about the bike, except it has been faithful and it works. It has needed a number of routine repairs and replacement parts, but that is normal wear and tear. I have always travelled with aero bars on as well, but for the sake of weight I will be leaving them at home this time. The aero bars just add one more option for hand position. It is a standard steel frame, a good 'granny' on the front and a 7 speed cluster on the rear. I have put a narrow racing seat on this time because I found I get massive carnage to the backside on the tourer, but never on my racing bike. The seat is now similar to the racing bike. I am equipped this time with both front and rear panniers - I have never toured with front panniers before, so this will be a new experience for me. The bike has handlegrip shifters, and bar ends for more hand options.

Julie's bike is brand new for this trip. It is a 'SUB' - a Sarah Ullman Brand (a female Kiwi Olympic cyclist) especially designed to fit the finer forms of the female frame. It is manufactured by Avanti. I saw it first in the Australian Cyclist magazine, and then asked my local bike shop to get it in for me. Julie fell in love with it. Julie is not a regular road cyclist, but is nevertheless a very fit bike rider, especially in view of her relatively limited miles on the road. For a bike that cost a smiggen over $1000, it is superbly equipped with relatively high quality equipment. It is designed for touring, so all the lugs are in the right places. Julie will carry her fair share of the load, but will only have rear panniers (which are slightly larger than mine, she keeps reminding me! Both bikes are equipped with 700c wheels and 25c tubes so that we don't have to carry double the spares.

We each carry backpacks, but lay them down on the rear panniers, on the principal that weight should be carried as low as possible. It is certainly not wise to wear back packs while cycle touring. However, this time we will be also carrying a tent which will also sit on the back. We have yet to work out how all this will carry.