I’m building a tandem for my wife and I to take on a round the world trip starting in 2014.

I think I have selected the bike, an OVO recumbent tandem, but I need to decide on the build.

questions are:

-Which 20″ rims? it will run both disks and back up v-brakes.
-Which mega powerful discs? currently assuming Hope V4s, I have V2 on the current tandem and they are ace.
-to tubeless or not to tubeless, i wonder how long they’ll last, my MTB tyres have not punctured in a year since going TL, and they’ve not been re-filled yet.
-Which HT2 BB, I’m assuming CK ceramic, but maybe hope + spares would be cheaper and more reliable?
-Which led dynamo lights? anyone used the USE/Exposure ones?
-Which coil rear shock, need reliability over everything else
-are titanium chainrings worthwhile or are they crap?
-which tool kit?I have an alien-2, do they do a superlight titanium version?

Then
-Which tent?
-what sat nav?
-what sat phone?
-what vid camera?

ooh it a lot of questions…..

My good lady is in charge of the route, I’m in charge of the kit.

any advice based on experience would be gratefully received.

Thanks

Andy

I don’t know the answer to many of your questions but for brakes personally I’d got with Shimano rather than Hope as spares are more likely to be easily available in different countries and they use mineral oil, not DOT 4 / DOT 5.1 so in an emergency you could use cooking oil to get you to your next scheduled stop (I know someone who did this as a temporary measure a few years ago).

I wouldn’t go near titanium chainrings either. They may be light and ‘strong’ but titanium isn’t a particularly hard material and is likely to distort/hook on the teeth quite quickly compared with a decent hard-coated ali chainring such as Middleburn.

If you’re that concerned about chainrings why not use either steel (heavier but can be bent back into shape easily if they get bent) or go for a Gates Carbon belt drive? Marc Beaumont used one on his record breaking RTW trip and only needed one belt for the whole trip.

It was so good I posted it twice! 😉

WTF? 2 double posts???

oVo recumbent tandem? Interesting choice, interested in your reasons why.

If you’ve not already seen it, this is a useful resource:

http://tomsbiketrip.com/advice-planning/

Check out the four part post on building an exped bike.

I feel duty bound to ask but why a recumbent tandem with 20 inch wheels? Have you toured on a recumbent tandem before. I can think of reasons why its the best option, but I’m curious.

What sort of mileage are you looking at in developing nations? i think that has a huge impact on things like which brakes. When you talk about poweful brakes and tubeless you sound like a mountain biker. In general most tourers talk about reliable and fixable, there must be a reason for that

I would start your tent search here

http://hilleberg.se/?set_lang=1

I’d take a sony rx100 as a combined stills video camera. Assuming you can live without a long zoom

If you’re taking all that leccy stuff don’t forget you’ll need a PSU for them too, so you’ll want to think about some sort of solar PV panels I guess.

Schmidt Edelux would be my first choice for a dynamo powered headlamp and a Busch & Muller Toplight Line Plus rear light.

20 inch wheels on a round the world recumbent tandem? You’ll be needing a steady supply of tyres then. 😀

I’m not any use with the tech questions, but would love to hear what route you are planning to take.

If you’re taking all that leccy stuff don’t forget you’ll need a PSU for them too, so you’ll want to think about some sort of solar PV panels I guess.

Or charge them from the dynamo hub, probably quicker and more reliable than solar.
The B&M IQ2 Luxos light has a USB plug which you can charge from.

I would have thought a set of BB7’s with nice big discs would be better. Cables should be easy to find anywhere. I doubt many bike shops in Turkmenistan stock Shimano hose kits, let alone caliper rebuild kits.
I’m sure recumbents etc, have their place, but why not just get a pair of Kona Utes… 🙂

RTW.. ‘doffs cap’

Which mega powerful discs?

I had a ride along these lines in mind when I built my bikepacker-tourer up. Ride plans have been delayed but the BB7s with old XTR levers I decided on were brilliant brakes on loaded alpine rides. Any reason to stay with hydros, would the BB7 not be powerful enough? BB7s with a larger rotor are more travel-proof imo.

Have a look at this website, really good info and he answers emails to any touring questions. Vastly experienced and helpful guy.http://downtheroad.org

Aha, a topic on here I actually know a bit about 😉

Rims: anything reasonably decent, like the Alex DA16 will be fine. 20″ wheels are so strong anyway that you don’t need ultra-beefy rims.

Brakes: there’s a philosophy thing here – do you go for hydraulics (very powerful, very reliable, but a nightmare if they do go wrong) or cable (cheap, simple, can be fixed anywhere). If hydraulic, then yes I’d go for 4-piston Hopes as well.

Tubeless: Does anyone do it for 20″ touring tyres? Even if they do, I wouldn’t bother – the tiny weight saving wouldn’t be worth it.

Lights: Go for SON Delux dynamo and Edelux light – really tough, light and powerful.

Edit: and sounds fantastic – the OVO is great fun to ride and should be well up for that kind of trip.

Brakes – TBH if you are in need of a spare, doesn’t matter whether its easy to get (in the UK) or a wait for hope to make in job, your still in the same boat i.e. in a desert with no hope of getting the part in less than 2-3 weeks. So knock yourself out, having discs & v’s at both ends pretty much covers all bases.
BB7’s are great when they work but a fiddly pain in the ass that you have to ‘adjust’ them every few hundred miles.

Shocks/forks. Coil good, air bad, for obvious reasons.

BB’s. I think I would like to meet you. Seriously. Had at least 3 people in last few months (who go on long international tours) come in and winge about how the cheapest BB in teh shop (£12 deore ht2) has *only* lasted 3000 miles/7 rough plane journeys/4 weeks of bog snorkling in columbia; and they would like a refund + free labour. Wheras you seem to have grasped the concept of you have to pay for a decent BB, and even then, you’ve thought about it, good on you!

Dyno hubs – there is a company who make pretty sweet ones, build quality equiv to hope bulb/pro2. And they have mechanically divorcable (right term?) magnets for zero drag when you don’t want them. Quite pricey at around £180 for the front hub, but if I was building a world tripping bike, that is what I would have on it. Also they have a decent quality invertor that fits inside the steerer tube with a IP rated USB port on the side of the stem cap. Awesome.

Having completed 12000km across Africa, my king bb was faultless, don’t know if I had the ceramic bearings or not I bought it so long ago, I think, knowing me, it probably does.

I would go for avid bb7 with 200mm rotors, I used them with 160mm rotors and even on the long descents they were fine, and before you say they are for a tandem I started the trip at 165kg.

Tent, do you want space, I would use a hilleberg tent. I used the stiaka (bit small for two) and it still looks new (ish) despite pitching it 120 times through the dessert.

As for tires, any schwalbe tires that say plus on

Thanks for the suggestions.

Why the oVo? well having done a fair bit of short touring (1-2 weeks) on our current tandem it is clear that the main problem is posterior comfort.

It has to be a tandem, it is so much more enjoyable and sociable than two separate bikes; we are not evenly matched, and the tandem has completely opened up our ability to cycle together.

So the requirements for a long distance tourer are comfort and reliability. Recumbents are far better for comfort, and I don’t believe they are ‘invisible’.

There are not many recumbent tandems, and most are huge (Azub twin for example). We need to be able to pack it up and travel by train or plane if needed. oVo packs up relatively small.

20″ wheels, yes, not ideal, but that seems a compromise worth making.

Brakes will be hydraulic discs with v-brake back up. I have tried BB7’s and didn’t get on with them due to the faff and the constant rubbing. I want to mix hydraulic and cable.

Also means the V can back up if the discs get a wee bit warm, without causing too much wear on the rims.

It will have coil front and rear, I’ve had too many air shocks blow seals.

I fully expect even the best of kit to have some issues, and I can’t carry all my tools with me, so i will either carry spares, or have them at friends house so they can ship them out if I can’t get stuff locally.

It will have a SON delux dynamo hub, and a power charger thingy to keep stuff charged. I looked at the disengageable ones, but actually the disengaged drag is only marginally less than the power off darg on the SON delux, and there is less to go wrong, plus the SON has the lowest on-power drag.

Ian did you have to keep servicing (re-greasing) the King BB?

Ta

Andy

Have you checked the website crazyguyonabike? Here’s a link to the bike build of a chap I know who does massive long expeditions PQ’s Bike

Going round the world on hydro brakes does not sound good. I would go with the biggest rotors you can fit on a mechanical avid bb7. You can repair these yourself, anywhere in the world. Do hope have a dealer in Uzbekistan ? Or Spain?

Tent go-lite shangri la 3 is my choice, dead light, roomy enough, versatile.

]

As for tires, any schwalbe tires that say plus on

I agree, I like like big apples on my ti Fargo when touring, fast, grippy, good contact area and they appear to never wear out.

I’ve always fancied one of these for touring

Tyre -shwalbe marathon + with ref sidewalls & puncture protect

brakes – bb7 or shimano deore cable (dual pad adjust) run a dual cable setup to 1 set of levers but has protection if one goes the other will be attatched to the v’s

rims- look at bmx rims for strenth & stiffness ul be wanting a etched sidewall for best back up breaking power

Didn’t touch anything on my bike, except for my spokes……and other wear and tear items. I went through chains and cassettes at a shocking rate…..

When your stuck in the third world tubeless tyres will not be much help. Take tubes – they can be fixed by anyone who uses transport.

Make sure its a steel frame, then it can be repaired easily. Also get some wheels that are a size thats common everywhere, then tubes, tyres and even spokes will be available locally.

When I lived in Africa, Middle East and the Far East I dont remember seeing 20 inch wheels.

Regarding brakes… here’s my tuppence. Most motorised vehicles around the world are glycol-ether based (DOT3/4/5.1). And something that can be bled like motorcycle brakes. That’d be Hopes. I think even the braided hoses themselves are just the same as narrow-bore big-vehicle ones are they not?

You’ve got v-brakes as back-up anyway… so the need of using Avid BB7s (or whatever newer cable model due in 2014 perhaps with metal knob, as some tandemists have melted the plastic red knob on them on large descents…) isn’t really there?

You’re using Hope V2s anyway (on the upright tandem), so you know how reliable they are to you… as it seems with STW, half seem blessed (myself included?) that any and all Hope stuff works for them, the other half seem cursed and don’t have working Hope stuff. Only thing perhaps is maybe look at the M4 rather than V4, if only for the fact they share the same pad as a certain Shimano brake?

Never been further than 20km with panniers etc but…

If your going hydro brakes with V Backup then my money is with Hope packing a seal kit and the bore cap tool. As for the BB again the hope shell with a set of bearings and the numbers for more makes sense. You probably wont find HTII in outer-somewhere-stan but bearings might be easier to get.

Sounds like a great adventure maybe drop hope an e-mail and tell them the plan. They might like to help 🙂

Video GoPro for robustness and mountings

Solar probably sounds like a good way to power if you have surface area to cover?

Why the oVo? well having done a fair bit of short touring (1-2 weeks) on our current tandem it is clear that the main problem is posterior comfort.

I find that after a couple of weeks on tour saddle issues tend to disappear.

I’d be concerned at the ability of 20″ tyres to cope with gravel roads, especially with a touring tandem load. Tyre life will also be shorter on small tyres than big tyres. 20″ tyres will be harder to find. Some RTW tourers argue against 700C wheels because of wheel and tyre availability. 20″ will be even harder to find I would have thought.

I guess it depends on where you are goig as to whether either of these issues matter.

Just to add in another option with enough power to stop the bike when fully loaded – how about magura hydraulic rim brakes instead of cable Vs?

Loads of people have toured around the world on recumbents – small tyres are much easier to take as spares…

Loads of people have toured around the world on recumbents

I didn’t say anything about recumbents. I commented on wheel/tyre size. My comments apply equally to recumbents or DFs. I think big wheels handle better on gravel particularly braking and steering.

Most recumbents have small wheels 😉

As do lots of folders, which people also use a lot for round the world touring. Small wheels are much stronger than big wheels.

Thanks again.

Will take on board the thoughts.

As for saddle pain, sadly my experience is that my bum hurts and whils tit does get better from day 4 to day 10, it still hurts. also being a wuss and trying to make it as enjoyable as possible it is easier on the arms, shoulders and neck too.

We’ll be using a couple of trains and hopefully jumping on some cargo ships between the land bits so smaller wheels are actually an advantage there. Yes I’d prefer a 26″ wheel but i have to compromise somewhere, and carrying a couple of swalbe marathon plus (thought they don’t seem to be availabel as folding) and meeting some friends at points to pick up other spares seems like it’ll suit us better.

Ben are you open this weekend? I’m just round the corner from your shop (at least I think you are the same Ben??). I understand you’ve had an oVo I’d like to pick your thoughts on it and go through some kit discussions, if that is ok?

The moto V2s, have been great, and capable of stopping a fully loaded tandem from 45mph in an emergency going down a steep hill, so they’ve proved themselves, hence my attraction. I’m considering just borrowing them from the current tandem, but I may need to sell it to fund the new one…

anyone know if you can still get rohloff chains, i can’t find them still for sale.

Ta

Andy

I know that rohloff stopped making 8 and 9 speed chains a couple of years ago, and said they were only only going to make single speed chains from now on. I can’t see them for sale anywhere though, I guess they just aren’t making chains any more.

Yup, I’ll be open on Saturday 😉

Rohloff have stopped making chains as far as I know…