Thanks Ian! 😊

​@@RollingExistence Great video but you should be putting a mirror on that bike. That's a 100% fact I almost got hit from behind several times and other people died without their mirrors so please put a mirror on that bike. You're gonna be traveling the world even if you're just going down the street? Anyway cool video thank you so much

​​@@RollingExistence Also what is your budget for your whole trip so far i'm gon to guess, 30k?

Yeah, but everything sucks now compared to the early 90's.

Thank you, glad the video was helpful!

Thank you, glad the gear video was helpful!

Awesome! Agreed, it's a very versatile bike!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it 😊

Thank you, glad the video was helpful!

We forgot to mention the rear racks, sorry about that! Jenny has a Tubus Logo Classic and Andrew has a Tubus Cargo Evo. The Logo Classic has more tire clearance and lets the panniers ride lower, giving the bicycle a lower center of gravity and better handling. The Cargo Evo isn't as nice - the rack stays are slightly offset causing the pannier to fit awkwardly, and Andrew will have to switch out to a different rack to run 29x2.6s (probably the Tubus Vega).

Thanks yes I’ve got the Tubus logo classic as well. Great rack.

@@RollingExistence I use the Tubus Cargo, and have loved it for over 15 years. I do not know what you mean by "the pannier stays are slightly off-set". My panniers fit fine and I like that the Bikepacker Classic panniers sit a bit higher, forming a valley on top between the two panniers where I often load my pair of Keen Nelson sandals, or a MSR Dromedary 6L waterbag, under the rack bag.

@@petesig93 I actually do the valley thing as well, I keep my Fuji X-T4 camera bag in the valley between the panniers. Regarding the offset stay issue, I took a couple pictures to show you what I'm talking about: imgur.com/a/moXfyLd . In the picture of the Cargo Evo, I labeled the three stays off the rack as 1, 2, and 3 going from the front of the bike to the back. Stays 1 and 2 are where I connect the bottom hooks on the Ortlieb, and you can see that they are slightly inside of stay 3. This causes stay 3 to rub on the material of my pannier instead of the hard plastic that is designed to take the abrasion. I've reinforced the wear area with some Aquaseal and it's holding up fine, so it's not a big deal, but it does make the pannier a little bit harder to attach. The Logo Classic actually has the same issue, but the pannier sits in a different place so the abrasion isn't as bad. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong but I've experimented with all of the ways to configure the top and bottom hooks and I can't avoid the rub. I've used the same setup for 6 six years and 30,000km and the abrasion hasn't worn a hole in the pannier yet. I've also tried a Tubus Vega and I prefer the lower weight, extra tire clearance, and two stay design so I'll be switching to it when we ride the GDMBR and have less weight in our panniers.

That's awesome! Hope it's been a good ride for you too!

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you, glad you found it helpful!

Yes, they are stupidly heavy and we noticed as soon as we put them on. We've gotten 5,000 miles out of them so far with not a single puncture between the two of us, so that's a benefit. Also they hardly look worn in at all, I bet they will last even longer than our mondials did.

We ended up stabbing a hole in both to get them to drain. Ideally, frame bags would be waterproof considering they are meant to be used on bikepacking trips outdoors, but that doesn't seem to be a priority for most manufacturers. Ortlieb and Rockgeist now both make frame bags that are waterproof but we haven't tried them.

Rivendells are gorgeous! Glad you enjoyed the video.

@@RollingExistence Agreed.. I also have a Rivendell Cheviot.

The biggest downside to our setup is that it's extremely heavy, a more lightweight setup would be nice. We plan to ride the Baja Divide on these bikes, and a 40c tire would struggle in the deep sand there. We'll be on 29x2.6s for that section.

Could have carried a spare hose, weighs less than a cable, almost nothing. Fluid can be obtained from any motorcycle shop in the world. Even 3rd world countries have those, be fixed at the next village.

I tried hybrid brakes (cable over hydro) and honestly in THIS application it is the best of both world (fluid is only in the caliper)

@@garyking508 the piston was leaking , it was an old set of avid codes , they worked great for years , even here in Australia it's not a part that would be stocked at a well stocked bike shop , I couldn't get the part in mumbai and they have some high end bike shops there , my pads are the standard shimano pad and any brake cable will do , I use the same cable on my rhollof hub

Awesome! We have considered suspension seatposts and stems and might switch to them at some point. Jenny has been having some wrist issues, so a bit of extra cushion might help. Thanks for the recommendations!

Haha that's how most Americans seem to butcher the word.

Glad you're enjoying the videos! All the best to you 😊

We looked at the TRP brakes before going with the BB7 but talking with people who had used both locally convinced us that the BB7s were more reliable long term despite the admittedly stupid design where only one pad moves. We aren't exactly happy with the BB7s, but they're consistently reliable at least. Also they are quite a bit cheaper than the TRP brakes. We may go to the TRPs in the future if we ever have issues with our BB7s, but at the time we were struggling to keep our builds on budget and every little bit helps.

We have had good luck with the phones mounted on the handlebars, they haven't had any issues despite thousands of miles of vibrations. We're both using cheapish refurbished Samsung Galaxy phones (s9 and s10) and they've been great, the waterproofing holds up in downpours and if we do have to replace them it won't be terribly expensive. We do make sure they aren't charging on particularly bumpy sections because the biggest wear point is the charging port and the cable bumping around could damage it.

Andrew found it on the AT about 8 years ago and Jenny's been wearing it ever since! Super light and so warm!

No, we have Bedrock Bags Hermosa Panniers on the front racks. We decided against the Ortlieb bags up front because we weren't sure how they would connect to the Tubus Duo.

The rohloff needs some way to tension the chain, so it's a problem that all bicycles that achieve rohloff compatibility via a sliding rear dropout will have. Other bicycle frames use an eccentric bottom bracket or some other method to allow for chain tensioning and they won't have the same problem.

@@RollingExistence Thank you for the detailed answer, this is really helpful for me as I make decisions. All the best.

I was having a few issues with my B17. It broke in slightly warped, either due to asymmetrical hip issues, or due to a crash in Japan where my loaded bike flipped and landed on the saddle. Also, the tension bolt broke after about 12,000 miles on the saddle. Unfortunately Brooks didn't use a stainless bolt and it had rusted through and snapped. Apparently it's a fairly common problem as many on the internet report the same thing happening. They may have rectified the issue on more recent models but I don't know. I replaced it with a nut and bolt from a hardware store but they didn't hold as well as the original, which led to the need for adjustments every month or so to the saddle tension. The nose of the saddle had begun to tear away from the rivets probably due to making too large of adjustments to saddle tension in a short timeframe. Additionally, I was starting to develop pretty serious pain in my perineum area due to the lack of a cutout. I considered switching to the Brooks B17 Imperial with the cutout, but research on that saddle led me to believe that it is even more likely to sag and need adjustment because of the smaller amount of material holding tension. The last few issues that led me to switch away from the Brooks were the saddle rail design and the weather resistance. The saddle rails on the B17 have a shorter usable area than most modern saddles. With my stem and handlebar setup, I found that a normal seatpost did not allow me to position the saddle far enough back for comfort. I fixed the issue by buying a VO setback seatpost with an extra setback of 30mm, but this caused my knee over pedal measurement to become too far back, leading to knee pain. The B17, like any leather product, really shouldn't get wet. Even with Proofide applications, an expensive nylon saddle cover, and a plastic bag backup, the saddle still would get soaked frequently on our trip. During heavy downpours the saddle would get soaked even when I was sitting on it and it was covered by the nylon rain cover. Leaving the bikes out overnight for months on end, eventually even double bagging the saddle wasn't enough. Also, when it's an on and off rain storm the saddle cover becomes an annoyance, anytime I stop to take a break and get off the saddle I have to worry about whether rain is suddenly going to start. So for all of those reasons, I decided the B17 had to go. In the past I tried the C19 and had horrible saddle sores from it, so the cambium series wasn't an option for me, although I have heard many people rave about them and they fix almost all of the issues I have with the leather Brooks variants. I switched to a Thomson seatpost with less setback and the Ergon SMC Core. So far it is just as comfortable as the broken in B17, with no perineum pain and no issues getting wet. My knees are now in a better position as well thanks to the new seatpost. Overall I really loved the look and the basic comfort of the B17, and I will eventually own another one, but dealing with the relative high maintenance of leather and the weird saddle rails just isn't for me on a long tour.

Jenny is 5'9" and has a medium. Andrew is 6' and has a large. We're both happy with those choices.

We only use Schrader tubes, but we carry a couple of the adapters in the event we can only find presta tubes. Schrader valves are just better all around, on a long tour presta is a liability and offers no advantage in a wide mountain bike rim.

Early on in the trip we stabbed each bag about a dozen times with a screwdriver but they're still slow to drain, the holes get clogged up. We need to put in proper grommets at some point.

The brakes we have, Avid BB7s, are designed so that only one pad moves, pushing the rotor into the other pad. Unfortunately, the design makes it so that one pad always wears out a little faster than the other, so that has contributed to the amount of pads we have gone through. We also went through pads quickly during the rainy winter in the Mediterranean, going up and down the steep mountains of Greece with all day downpours really went through the pads quick.

Surly's recommended minimum for the Ogre is 2.0", any lower than that and you risk pedal strikes because the bottom bracket is too low. You might be able to get away with 1.75s but the weight and rolling resistance difference between a 1.75 and a 2.0 isn't worth the risk. For long distance touring, you just can't beat the 29x2.0 marathon mondial. Incredibly long lasting, great puncture protection, decent performance on both gravel and pavement, just an all around fantastic tire.

@@RollingExistence Wow, thanks for the fast reply. Yes, it makes sense what you say about ground clearance and rolling resistance. I still think my 30mm inner rim wheels are a bit too wide for 2" tyres, so I will look into some narrower wheels. Many thanks.

We're using a Hilleberg Anjan 2 tent, an MSR Dragonfly and a bushbuddy wood burning stove, and we use enlightened equipment 20f quilts. We'll be doing a video on our other gear soon.

We keep them on our helmets most of the time, but when it's really windy we just slide them in the back of a pannier so they don't get bent.

@@RollingExistence Thanks.

We actually purchased ECRs for this trip initially, but after spending some time riding them on shorter trips we decided to sell them and switch to the Ogres. The biggest reason is that the ECR bottom bracket is quite low, making it difficult to run tires smaller than 29x2.5. We really like the 29x2.0 size for road touring, and you'd be getting awfully close to the ground if you went that small on the ECR. There just aren't good long term touring tires in the 29x2.5 size. The best seem to be the Surly Extraterrestrials, but they wear much faster and have worse puncture resistance the Marathon Mondials. A friend rode with us on our initial trip around the Pacific Northwest using an ECR and 29x2.5 Surly ETs and the rear tire was completely done after 2,300 miles, meanwhile our Mondials barely showed any wear at all and lasted another 11,700 miles.

@@RollingExistence You seem to have done a lot more research and know more than I do about the Surly range of bikes. I have learned something new. Many thanks, :@)

Got it on Etsy, I forget the shop name. It was made with a 3D printer so nice and light!

We try to stay on smaller side roads as much as we can, but if we have to ride in traffic we wear high-vis vests and use blinking lights to be as visible as possible.

Before we went on the tour, we had mountain bikes with hydraulic disc brakes. One day we decided to go out on a ride and took our bikes in the car with the front wheel removed, but forgot the little plastic shim to put between the brake pads on one of the bikes. The front brake lever got bumped, the front brake seized, and we had to drive back home and bleed the brake lines to get the bike rideable again. That convinced us that we didn't need the extra power and risk associated with hydraulic fluid and lines, especially when traveling to remote locations like Laos (where we are currently). It's easy to find a brake cable anywhere in the world, not so easy to deal with a leaky brake caliper or finding hydraulic brake fluid or even mineral oil. Yes, we could probably get some from a motorcycle/scooter shop, but that's just not something we have to worry about with our current setup. Andrew worked at a mountain bicycle shop in Moab and issues with hydraulic brakes were definitely not rare. We've had no issues stopping with our mechanical disc brakes, even on 45kg bikes and 2000 meter descents in the Alps.

@@RollingExistence Agree. Hydraulic brakes are more for sports, mechanical brakes are quite enough for tourism. For 3 years with simple Shimano mechanical brakes and no problem!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Both tires we've used on this trip have some sort of Kevlar-like protection but I don't think Schwalbe is allowed to call it 'kevlar' for copyright reasons. The Marathon Mondial (our first set of tires) and the Marathon GT 365 (our current tires) both are rated 6 out of 7 on Schwalbe's puncture protection scale and they claim to have " 2 layers of nylon carcass and 2.5mm flexible special India rubber offers protection of the highest level. " In our experience the only thing that has caused punctures have been large metal spikes and one huge piece of sharp glass.

The front light is a Sinewave Cycles Beacon and our bike frames are Surly Ogres.

We considered carbon belts, but our frames don't have a split and we weren't aware of the belts that don't need a split frame when we put our bikes together. We are definitely interested in switching to a belt setup at some point, though the chain has the advantage of being able to replace anywhere in the world.

We chose Rohloff over Pinion mainly due to price. We were able to get our Ogre frames for $700 each and the Rohloffs for $900 each. The cheapest Pinion and frame combination would be thousands more. Also the Rohloff has a longer record of durability. There are many advantages to the Pinion, but these bikes were a budget compromise.

I just logged into my gmail account and discovered your reply. Thanks so much. Appreciate the insights. Safe travels! -d@@RollingExistence

It is a medium 👍

The biggest issue was dealing with the B-17 in bad weather. Also the saddle was pretty worn out from 30,000kms of riding, not enough Proofide applications, and it was slightly asymmetrical due to a bad crash in Japan, so it was due to get retired just from abuse and poor maintenance. I decided to try the Ergon because the Brooks is a pain to deal with in constant rain, even with a nice raincover it's still just one more thing to worry about. I will definitely own another B-17 at some point though!

@@RollingExistence Thanks for this great feedback. Yeah, I can see a leather saddle becoming a pain in foul weather. Heck, if I leave my bike out under the hot sun for anytime, I cover it, fearing that too much sun exposure could damage the leather, whether or not my concern is justified. Thanks again.

@@FlowJunkie65 concern about sun exposure is a false fear. I have had the Brooks in all sorts of outback and desert sun, and in winter rains. It is easy enough to cover it at night or while parked. A simple plastic bag will do the job if you do not have a specific saddle cover. It only needs to be covered when you are not riding it. Riding in the rain your butt will cover the saddle just fine.

No, it's an internally geared hub that replaces your cassette and derailleur. It has oil inside of it that needs to be changed every 5,000km.

We addressed this in other comments, but the short answer is that our frames do not have a split to allow for regular belt drive and we weren't aware of the belts that can be installed without a split frame. So far we've had great luck with chains, we get 10,000km out of each chain and we're still on our original sprocket and chainring after over 17,000 miles.