I was thinking that too ir_bandito…..

Good luck Ian, yours has been a very inspiring journey before you even start.

It has?

wouldn’t of been easier to buy say somthing like a fargo thats already set up to do this kind of trip and proven?. anyway have a good trip hope you raise some money

Thank you for everyones kind words.

OK, just to clear this up because certain people are still telling lies because they don’t really have a proper life.

Every penny this trip has cost I have paid for myself. Every single one.

Ir – bandito I know it’s not the best bike for the journey, it is one that I will enjoy riding, and I’m a bit of a brand whore. I ordered the frame before I entered the trip. The frame took so long to come I did actually have a deposit down on a fargo just incase this one didn’t turn up. The thud buster is only for the off road sections, the road sections will be done with a Thompson.

And TJ is right, it’s just a big holiday punctuated with a bit of riding, just a eenie weenie tiny bit of riding.

iDave, I have got 3 different thickness slicks ranging from 32-50. If its a strong headwind i will flip the stem and reduce the risers. Due to an american football injury I can not bend my elbow correctly for try bars.

It has?

I think IP has lost a brazillian kilos

I’ve lost around 40 in total, including adding 12kg of lean body weight, meaning I’ve probably lost about 50kg in total, and dropped by BF% by around 25%

Ian – When is your Nicolai with the pinion due to land?

nice bike Ian, and good luck on your trip mate………. 8)

TBH we did a similar thing when we road from England to Ethiopia a few years ago. We had two fundraising streams that were very clear and well defined. One to pay for us to do the trip (mainly car boot sales, selling bike kit, saving money whilst working, help from a few family members, equipment sponsors etc) and the other was to raise money for our chosen charity (the school at which our ride ended). We raised £12K for the charity before the proliferation of give now websites / blogs / facebook etc which we were pretty proud of. I have no issues with what we did – we’d have done the ride anyway (and sought money to do it), we just raised an extra chunk for a charity.

Ian, enjoy the ride. Say hello to Midhat in Sudan from Paul and Kate (if he’s still guiding that leg). He gave me his rear wheel after mine popped 100k out of Khartoum. It cost more to post the replacement to him than it did to buy itin the UK! I think the 400K offroad through the desert from Wadi Halfa was one of the hardest / best experiences I’ve ever had. Unsupported, it was very tough, though.

Gotama – the gear boxes themselves are not landing at nicolai until april so providing they do not get delayed, then perhaps june time…. just in time for when i get back.

7500 MILES?
Makes mental note never to buy used kit from Ian 😀

FS: Nicolai Hardtail, light use…

just run-in for a Nicolai is it not? 🙂

The forks will be the weak point. Though mojo assure me they will last.

Ian – not telling lies at all. anyone can read your original threads.

I am glad you have ended up paying for it all yourself as that is the right thing to do. I do wish you would stop pretending there is a charitable objective to it tho. If you really wanted to do something for charity you could have just given your entry fee to a charity or gone out to Africa and worked there.

Define ‘last’ – they’ll be pretty wrecked I’d wager, even if you do keep up the wiper seal service!

TJ, isn’t this kind of excursion with the charity bit stuck on the end just to alleviate the guilt felt by the rider as he pedals in the poorest country in the world on one of the most expensive bikes in the world… Not having a go Ian, good luck to you, enjoy it.

TJ – I never said it was you telling lies, but since you replied….. A few points.

You know I am paying for it all myself. You have been told before, you have even linked to the threads where it says this.

You pop up on every single one of my threads spouting shit, see page 1 of this thread.

I am also spending time working for a charity if you actually bothered reading any of the posts about it with your eyes open you will know it’s a two part thing. Raise the money to build the school. Then as a civil engineer go and build it.

Also there is useful exposure for Build Africa, a relatively unknown charity, in local press, both printed and on the radio, and building working relationships with the ICE, large UK construction companies, which would not have happened if i decided not to support them.

I don’t care if you agree with my methods or not just sod off.

Edit: Soulwood,

Kind off, well except for going to build the school afterwards. it’s more like I was helping building the school, and doing the tour D’Afrique as separate entities. Then we decided that it would be good to combine the two.

Also one off the most expensive bikes in the world…. I think not.

Ian, admirable intentions that man, well done if you pull it off. Like I said, I wasn’t having a go at you, just others like you, but not you. If you know what I mean. As for the German hand built frame and Kashima coated forks, pfft, cheap as chips eh?

Not cheap as chips. Adam at Biketart sorted it out at cost price for the trip, s whilst I paid for the bike myself, I guess i did benefit from a discount. 😛

IP – good luck. It’s a wonderful sounding trip. I’ll see if I can get the TdA twitter feed again (if you don’t mind me dropping your name to do it). Actually, if you tweet, that would also be great..!

My friends’ bikes as they started out (they rode the Ethiopia to Cape Town stretch a couple of years ago:

Ethiopia to Cape Town is a good chunk of it. Drop my name all you want. on twitter I am @tda2012 so feel free to follow me. also I’ll be blogging here http://www.tda2012.com

I don’t envy anyone who does it on a rigid cx bike….

Good luck Ian.

As for TJ, you really are a total tool and an obnoxious self righteous ****t.

TJ – are you suggesting that the charity will not benefit whatsoever from Ian’s effort? Surely, even if they get a few quid that they wouldn’t have otherwise got (plus the associated publicity) then why be so negative?

I’m intrigued to know what counts as “off road” – in Ghana, this is a high quality tarmac road:

And this is a relatively smooth minor road:

I’m trying to think what I didn’t take with me but wish I had… Gloves would have been useful – most of me was adequately protected by factor 50 sun cream (which is incidentally unavailable in all the shops I visited!), but my hands just got really sweaty and then burned when I was riding all day.

Take photos of home with you, the local people you meet will be really interested to see what your world looks like.

And yes I am jealous.

GlennG: I can’t think of any appropriate word that’s 5 letters long and ends in “t”. Give us a clue, go on.

not necessarily my choice of bike, but an awesome trip…

if you want a wee bit more publicity, feel free to drop me an email – tom at muchbetteradventures.com

sc-xc – Member

TJ – are you suggesting that the charity will not benefit whatsoever from Ian’s effort? Surely, even if they get a few quid that they wouldn’t have otherwise got (plus the associated publicity) then why be so negative?

What I am saying is he should not be claiming its for charity when actually he is spending a huge amount on costs and when I looked raised a very small amount. Look at the comments from others on the link I posted.

If he was serious about raising the money he would have given the multi thousand entry fee straight to the charity – his doing he ride adds nothing to the money the charity gets.
I am sorry if it offends but people doing trips like this and claiming its for charity annoys me. Its costing a huge amount in cash and in carbon to do this trip its putting very little back

At least he has now paid for the costs himself – originally he was expecting other people to pay for him to do the trip under the guise of charity

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/so-doing-something-for-charity

and when I looked raised a very small amount

Brilliant! Success then!

Glad we agree.. 8)

spending many thousands to raise a hundred or two?

Basically I view it as a con to try to get an amazing trip at reduced cost or for free.

Normally mate I would definitely agree with you – as you know. But if Ian has financed the whole thing, then there’s really no catch.

I have been on the same side as you on many of these threads – dressing exotic and unattainable holidays up as charity….but this is different.

Ok

yes its not as bad as if he had used charitable contributions to pay for it – which is what he intended doing.

He should just be honest tho and say its a great holiday not that he is doing it for charity. If he really wanted to contribute to charity the thousands could have gone to them.

So in your eyes, someone only helps a charity by giving them thousands

No ian – in my eyes to spend thousands on a holiday , claim its for charity and get cheap kit to do it while raiseing a small amount is wrong. You are spending hundreds for every £ the charity gets

You intended to use charity money to pay the whole thing originally.

anyway I have said my piece and more. I do hope you have a great time and if you do go on to volunteer to build a school then that is great and moethan many will do. I just wish you would be honest about your holiday

I have done a few similar things myself – and did not rely on any charity to pay for it.

Well – for the record Ian, best of luck to you mate. I could never do that mileage…looking forward to reading all about it.

Good luck Ian, hope you have a great time. Sounds like it will be hard work but worth it! 😀

Love the look of the bike, which Nicolai model is it?

Nicolai argon cc 29er

Gnnr – That’s made me smile!! 😆

Good luck Ian and enjoy yourself. 8)