Bicycle Touring Pro » Tents

How Much Does It Cost To Gear Up For A Bicycle Tour?

Darren Alff — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 09:53:04 +0000

Bicycle touring can be an extremely inexpensive means of transportation, holiday, fun and more! But purchasing all the gear you need in order to conduct a long-distance bicycle tour can be a major drain on your bank account.

The question is: How much does all this bicycle touring gear really cost?

Well, I never really knew the answer… until I sat down a couple days ago and figured it all out (and the answer might surprise you)!

What I’ve done with this article is written out the basic equipment you might need to purchase for a long-distance bicycle tour. Next to each item listed I’ve recorded an estimated price (in US Dollars) for that particular item and displayed a sample photo of that piece of gear underneath its price.

For example: The first item you are going to need to purchase for your bike trip is a touring bicycle. There are hundreds of touring bicycles to choose from, but for the purpose of this article, I chose one of the most popular and least expensive touring bikes available (the Surly Long Haul Trucker) and displayed it for you below with it’s average estimated price of $1,095 USD.

Now, as you continue down the list, you will see a number of additional bicycle touring items you will likely need for your travels – everything from racks and panniers, to tents and sleeping bags, to camp stoves and sporks, and everything in between. Each item is displayed with its average estimated price and a photo of one such piece of gear.

While you could certainly go on a bicycle tour without every single one of the items listed on this page, the items displayed here are what your average long-distance bicycle tourist (who plans to camp and cook his or her own food) might be carrying. Additional items, like a camera, underwear, off-the-bike clothing, food, toiletries, and pretty much everything else, has not been included. Only the basics/essentials have been covered.

Finally, at the bottom of this article, the cost of all these items has been totaled up for you. The purpose of which is to give you a good estimate as to how much all of this gear would cost you if you were to purchase it all at its full retail price (minus additional taxes, shipping costs, etc).

GRAND TOTAL: $3,083 USD

If you were to purchase every single one of the items on this page, your grand total would be right around the $3,000 mark (plus any additional taxes and shipping charges, etc).

For many people reading this now, the cost of all these items might be a bit shocking. For others, you might be thinking “That’s not too bad”. Whatever the case, at least you now have a general idea of how much it might cost to fully-equip yourself for a long-distance bicycle touring adventure.

And remember: You can certainly equip yourself for a whole lot less than this. Finding these items used, on sale, or eliminating them all together will save you a lot of money. Plus, if you so choose, you can select other gear that costs a whole lot more than this! The choice (and the price of your bicycle touring gear) is ultimately up to you!

For those of you who have traveled by bike in the past, how much did it cost you to equip yourself for your bicycle touring adventures? Leave a comment below and let me know!

Mehler Adventure Trans-Alp Bicycle Tent

Darren Alff — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 11:49:48 +0000

The Mehler Trans-Alp tent is a compact, lightweight tent designed to be held in place with the assistance of a mountain bike. Because the tent does not have poles, it is supported by a mountain bike which is pushed into the center of the tent and held in place with three staked-down guidelines.

Watch the video below to get my thoughts on this unique tent:

Benefits Of This Tent:

The Mehler Trans-Alp has a lot of things going for it. First of all, the tent is extremely compact and lightweight when compared with most other tents of the same size. The size and weight of this tent is decreased by 1) removing the need for poles and 2) removing the external rainfly found on most modern tents. What this means, however, is that the bicycle MUST be used in order to hold the tent in place, and condensation can be a main concern, as the lack of a rainfly means there is a high-chance of condensation build up when you get inside the tent.

The other big benefit of this tent is it’s spaciousness. While the tent is rather small when inside it’s stuff sack, the Trans-Alp is quite large once it is set up. You could easily fit two people inside this tent, or have one person sleeping on one side of the tent and a whole lot of gear on the other side. The tent is long enough to fit someone who measures at least 6 feet 6 inches in length and even a tall person like myself (I’m 6 foot 1 inch tall) could sit up inside the tent and feel totally comfortable. This is a feature not seen in many other lightweight tents of this size.

Drawbacks Of This Tent:

My main concern with this tent is the material it is made out of. It doesn’t appear to be the most high-quality fabric, nor does the sewing seem all that high-end. When placing the tent back in it’s stuff sack for the very first time, I ripped the stitching on the stuff sack and instantly ruined it. Since the stuff-sack is made out of the same fabric as the tent itself, this worries me.

Other smaller problems with the tent include its need for so many tent stakes (11 to be exact), it’s lack of a rain-fly and internal ventilation, the fact that you have to lower your bicycle’s seat post ever single day in order to use the tent, and the fact that bicycle pedals need tent to whack you when you do finally crawl inside the tent. These are all small problems, however, and some users may be willing to put up with these small inconveniences.

My Overall Rating: 6 Out Of 10

Final Notes: I don’t know how much this tent costs, where you can purchase one, or where you can get more information.

Review Status: This tent was sent to BicycleTouringPro.com at no cost for the purpose of this review.

Katy Trail Packing List

Darren Alff — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:57:07 +0000

You don’t have to travel around the world or live on the road for months on end to call yourself a bicycle traveler. Conducting short trips by bike in your local area (or even in your home country) is a great way to get out and experience the joys of bicycle travel.

Yesterday I flew from my home in Park City, Utah (USA) to Kansas City, Missouri. Now that I’m in the great state of Missouri, the plan over the next 10 days is for my friend Josh and I to ride our bikes across the state on the famous Katy Trail.

I’ll be sure to share photos, video and stories from the trip in a future article, but for now, here is the packing list for my 11-day trip to Missouri.

Hopefully this article will help you in preparing your packing lists for shorter trips by bike.

Bike Gear

Bike Friday New World Tourist folding bicycle
Toe clips and pedals
Folding bicycle suitcase
2 water bottle cages
Cable bike lock
Axiom Enforce Air Pro Road bike pump
2 Axiom Typhoon Double DLX waterproof panniers
Pedal wrench
12 rack screws
Multi-tool
Planet Bike 20” fenders
2 water bottles
Rear light
Pant leg protector
2 Bungee Cords
Mirrycle Bellini bicycle bell
2 spare tubes
CycleAware Reflex bicycle mirror
Giro Xen bike helmet

Electronics

Axiom Laptop Case
Sony Vaio Laptop and charger
Wrist Watch
Cell phone and charger
Canon 50D digital camera and lens and filter
2 Canon lithium batteries
Sandisk 16GB Compact Flash memory card
Canon CG-580 battery charger
Lowepro Cirrus TLZ 15 toploading camera case
Canon PowerShot SD 1100 digital camera
2 Sandisk 4GB SD cards
2 Canon NB-4L batteries
Canon CB-2LV battery charger
LowePro Ridge 10 camera case
Flip Mino HD video camera
Digipower mini tripod
Pedco UltraClamp camera mount
USD mini cable
Backpack

Camping & Cooking Gear

Pacific Outdoor Equipment Peak Oyl Elite sleeping pad
MSR Whisperlight Internationale camp stove and fuel bottle
Stainless Steel cook pot
MSR Zoid 2 Tent
Sleeping Bag
Spork
Knife

Clothing & Toiletries

Eddie Bauer 3-in-1 Rain Jacket
2 Pairs of Jeans
Baseball cap
2 Pairs of shorts
Sweat pants
3 T-shirts
Fox Racing jersey
Fox Racing shorts 2 Pairs of black anklet socks
2 Pairs of long socks
Underwear
Nike tennis shoes
Toiletry Kit
Road ID wrist

Paperwork

Wallet
Business cards
2 reading books
Journal
3 Pens

You should note that 1) I only brought a rear rack and two panniers with me because I don’t plan to use front panniers on this particular trip. I won’t need them because I am carrying less clothes and gear than I would typically carry on a longer trip by bike. 2) I am also carrying a whole lot more camera gear than your typical bicycle traveler might carry. I have all this camera gear because I plan to bring you back a ton of great photos from my travels… and I’ll be working while I’m out on the road. So, this gear is necessary for me to continue running this website.

181 Free Articles About Bicycle Touring, World Travel And Lifestyle Design

Darren Alff — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:22:03 +0000

2009 was one hell of a year!

At this time last year I was emerging from my apartment in downtown Luzern, Switzerland and celebrating the first of what would become 254 days of bike travel in 16 different European countries.

Since that time, I have covered thousands of miles on my bicycle (and on foot); written nearly two-hundred different articles on the topics of world travel, bicycle touring and lifestyle design; and I’ve been able to support myself while traveling about (despite the so-called “recession”).

By my standards, 2009 has been one fantastic year… and I plan on making 2010 even better!

Before we get too far into the New Year, I thought I would take some time to share with you the 181 articles that were published this year FOR FREE on BicycleTouringPro.com. I’ve bolded the articles I believe you should check out first… so scroll on down and see if there is anything that strikes your fancy.

I hope you enjoy what you find… and please stay tuned, as there’s a lot more in store for Bicycle Touring Pro in the New Year!

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Featured home page photo by: jurvetson

Useless Gear: Coming Home With What You Really Need

Darren Alff — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:30:56 +0000

How you start a trip and how you finish are two completely different things.

At the beginning of a long distance bike tour, you have the urge to pack as much on your bike as you possibly can. But as time goes by and the miles/kilometers become more difficult, you quickly realize that some items you are using on almost a daily basis and others are only weighing you down.

The photo below shows every single item I carried with me to the finish of my recent 9-month bike tour through Europe (excluding my bicycle and tent). If you followed me from the beginning of that tour, you will have seen all the items I had with me at the start and read about how I mailed most of my snow gear home after Spring finally reared its head in early April (while I was in Austria).

The items shown below are noteworthy due to the fact that I carried them for an entire 9-months and therefore found them an essential part of my travels through Europe. Hopefully, by sharing this list of clothing, technology and gear with you, you will be better equipped to pack for your own bicycle touring adventure…. and most importantly, know which items to leave at home.

The following is a list of items I used until the very end of my bike tour:

Bike Friday New World Tourist folding bicycle
Two water bottle cages.
Planet Bike 20″ fenders
Rear folding rack
Front lowrider rack
Nike tennis shoes
Shimano Multi-Purpose Cycling Sneaker
Bike lock
Sunglasses & case
Journal
2 reading books
Athletic shorts
5 pairs of boxers
Burton Snow/rain jacket
Fox cycling shorts
Fox cycling jersey
Jeans
3 T-shirts
3 pairs of socks
Exped DownMat 7 Pump sleeping mat
Sony Vaio Laptop Computer
Universal Power Adapter
Sleeping Bag
Camp towel
Eagle Creek toiletry case
Toiletries
2 Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus panniers
2 Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus panniers
Large duffle bag
2 water bottles
Hat
Topeak Harpoon H2 Master Blaster bike pump
Patch kit (containing 2 tire levers)
LED flasher light
Pant leg protector
2 bungee cords
Belt
Wallet
Camera mount
Microphone
Camera battery charger
AA/AAA battery charger
Passport
Knife
Spork
Garmin Legend GPS
Rear light
Mini camera tripod
Flip Mino HD Video Camera
Mini keychain flashlight
Spare change/coins
Lone Peak BR-500 Briefcase Pannier
1 spare tube
8GB USB stick
Multi-Tool
Lip Balm
3 pens
Watch

Bicycle Touring Pro » Tents

How Much Does It Cost To Gear Up For A Bicycle Tour?

Touring Bicycle – $1,095 USD

Rear Rack – $40 USD

Front Rack – $85 USD

2 Rear Panniers – $165 USD

2 Front Panniers – $143 USD

2 Water Bottle Cages – $12 USD

2 Insulated Water Bottles – $22 USD

Front & Rear Fenders – $32 USD

Handlebar Bag (+ Map Case) – $40 USD

2 Bungee Cords – $12 USD

Tent & Tent Footprint – $ 261 USD

Sleeping Bag – $189 USD

Sleeping Pad – $80 USD

Bicycle Computer – $50 USD

Rear Bicycle Light – $15 USD

Headlamp – $38 USD

Helmet – $89 USD

Mirror – $15 USD

Bike Lock – $20 USD

Camp Stove & Fuel Bottle – $110 USD

Cook Pot – $70 USD

Knife -$50 USD

Spork – $9 USD

Jersey – $40 USD

Bicycle Shorts – $70 USD

2 Pairs of Cycling Socks – $18 USD

SPD Cycling Shoes – $75 USD

Rain Jacket – $150 USD

Camp Towel – $13 USD

Bicycle Pump – $22 USD

Patch Kit – $3 USD

2 Tire Levers -$6 USD

Spare Tube – $6 USD

Chain Lube – $12 USD

Multi-Tool -$26 USD