too right! you are an inspiration for the rest of us.

Did you hear back from them yet…

If ur successful in the next trip…everyone will love to air that…lol…

I would really like to see the full video and how our sport drinks helped you guys survived the adventure…

Just kidding, you know I dream about giving it a go myself and want to get as much info as possible.

thanks for sharing

Alex

Thanks for the comments.

1. We used regular sized 26″ mtb wheels, we wanted to do the trip without specialist equipment to keep the price down and to be honest they worked just great! A note on rims though. I have Sun DS2-XC rims which are awesome for XC shredding on the weekend but not so good for Gulf2Gulf type trips. They can be a very difficult rim to work with when removing tyres, the beading is just so tight on the rim that it takes 2 bent levers and a litre of precious sweat to get the things off!

So, I rang up Favourite Cycles in Manly and got some advice from Leyton, he knows the kind of cycling I do and suggested a Mavic 317 would be a better choice. Removing the tyre should be pain free with these puppies. It sounds daft, but removing a tyre can be a relatively pain free or heart breaking exercise in 40 degree heat with no shade – rim choice is super important. I’m still learning all this on the job!

2. As for tyres, I used Hutchinson Scorpions which I found to be just the ticket, great for the hard pack we came across in the Strzelecki Desert and not bad at all when hitting deeper sand at 9 pm in the dark! Again, stock standard 26″ mountain bike stuff, nothing fancy here. We took a couple of spares as the rocks in the Sturt Stoney desert can be very sharp, I had to change my tyre once.

3. As for the Bob trailer. I see where you’re going on this one. Tim and I mulled over this question many times before making the best decision of the trip.

Water carrying capacity
I would say we could not have done the trip unsupported without the Bob. In fact, the first thing Tim said when we reached the end of the trip in Karumba was “Well done Bob“. We were carrying about 60 litres of water at one stage, 40 of which was in the Bob! The chances are you may well see traffic and the people of the outback are super friendly and will always offer water. But, you can’t count on it and I would advise planning for the worst. To give you an idea, we rolled in to Birdsville with about 5 litres of water spare each.

Taking the weight off the wheels
I realised the benefit of a trailer in Mongolia, when i didn’t have one! I loaded the bike up and it was so heavy I could hardly lift the back wheel, but I pressed on nonetheless. Two days later my spokes began to ping, see this video for what can go wrong with an overloaded back wheel. The pannier rack was fine, super strong Old Man Mountain Sherpas are pretty bomb proof but the wheel just couldn’t handle it. I’d go the Bob each time now. Adventure Cycling is a bit more demanding on the bike than Touring. Often we need to take all our own tools, spares, food, water to see us through many days if not weeks on our own. We therefore carry lots more and although panniers are great for sleeping bags, tents and clothing, the Bob is perfect for your heavier gear.

Something to bare in mind though. Depending on your frame, you may not be able to fit the Bob and Old Man Mountain racks as they both use a rear skewer system to connect to the bike.

I’ll email you so I can grab your postal address for the DVD, this will give you a better idea of the trailer use for sure.

Hope this helps Rob,

Dave

Thanks for the kind words, I’ll email you so I can get a copy over to you at Dirtworks. Loving the Dirtworks products this year btw!

Cheers,

Dave

i stumbled across the youtube footage of Gulf2Gulf and was amazed by the footage.

I’d LOVE a copy of the DVD.

What do I need to give you?

Money? – first born child?

Wayne.