Personal setups » Liricooli Riding Across Israel Bike Setup

by liricooli

 

 

 

Introduction and Ride Info

In april 2012 I’ve completed a ride across Israel, starting from Mt Hermon at the north, finishing 18 Days and 1200 Km Later in the southmost point, Eilat city.

I was riding with a friend. this equipment list reflects my gear list for the ride.
I was carrying some more food as my friend had a small 2 person pot. In the desert we’ve given up on eating cooked meals to save some weighet on the pot and water needed for cooking.

It’s the end of winter and the begining of the spring at this time, meaning that the days will not be too hot, but nights may be cold and windy. We were not expecting rain but you’d never know if it’s gonna rain in april. The mornings are usually damp and on most days we’d wake up and the earth around us would be quite wet.

Other than that, the weather across Israel is diverese although it’s quite a small country. The Golan area at the north is cold, and the routes are muddy with deep mud-water mixture ponds, and the top of Mt. Hermon has a decent amount of snow. On the other hand, the desert is hot and dry.

My sleeping system contained of a light and thin sleeping pad and a syntethic sleeping bag warm enough for the season. We didn’t need a tarp tent or bivvy for this weather.

Other than that, most of the country is settled mening we’d have no problem re-filling our water, and buying groceries and food. The desert is not setteled and dry, which means we’d have to carry a lot more water and food.

We usually carrie about 3-4 meals and 3 liters of water in settled areas, and about 7 liters of water and food for 3 days in the desert.

These are most of the considerations we’d have to put into accound when packing.

The Bike:

 

I was riding my Orange p7 bike, Complete XT Drivetrain except the shifters and brakes which are Deore. the fork is a RockShox Revelation Team adjusted at 140 MM. I use Azonic Outlaw rims and Hubs (Heavy but bombproof) and am riding Maxxis High Roller 2.35 on the front and Maxxis Advantage 2.1 on the back wheel. The saddle is a WTB Pure V on a BBB seat post. The headset an the bar are Sunline’s.
Along with the rack the bike weighs 15.5 KGs.

Packing System Explained:

 

 

As you can see in the pictures, my carrying system was as follows:
two panniers on a rack – carrying most of the equipment
A frame bag which contained the mechanical spares, working tools and chain lube.
a Sleeping bag attached to the handlebar
A small seatpost bag for some accessible food – power bars and nuts.
DSLR Camera bag attached to the frame.

As I don’t like carrying a backpack while riding, I was taking along a small 11-liter backpack with a 3 Liter hydration pack, but most of the time it was inside the pannier.
I was carrying 2 Liters of water on the bike in hydrtion bottles. When needed, I was carrying on my back in my riding shirt’s backpockets some more water.

Weights and equipment used (all weights include the bag own weight):

Canon EOS 400d with a 18-135 Lens – 1.8 Kg.
The sleeping bag and the sleeping pad is 1.3 Kg

(The sleeping bag attached to the handlebar)

the frame bag 770 Gr – contained:

1 Swiss army knife
1 Leatherman Wave
A spare derailleur hanger
spare pieces of quick changing chain
Dry Chain Lube
a Cube Multitool
a pump
a spare tube filled with joe’s.
Some extra tools for tighetning the racks
Patch Kit
Tire Lever
Compass

The two panniers contained:

first aid kit – 180 Gr
Eating/cooking kit – Including a plastic cup, some olive oil, and different spices – 500 Gr
Sandels – 750 Gr
Camera Charger, Extra Camera Battery Pack, notepad, headlight, some maps,toothbrush, toielet paper,sunscreen,cellphone – additional 800 Gr

Clothing – Including the riding clothes I was wearing during the ride (3.5 Kg):

one pair of riding tights – short
one pair of riding pants – short
one riding shirt with 3 backpockets for water bottles
one long sleeved Columbia Omni-Heat base layer
one long sleeved Thermal Fleece shirt
one Columbia Thick Fleece Sweatwhirt
a light poncho
one pair of Long Fleece thermal Pants
one pair of leg warmers
one pair of riding socks
one pair of thick wool socks
two Boxer shorts
one traveller’s small fast-drying towel
one ong pair of pants
a set of Fox short riding gloves
Hat
helmet
buff
A Headband
A warm fleece beanie

Overall with the 3 liter hyration pack full and some food every pannier weighed around 4 Kg, including the 750 Grams of the pannier own weight.

Overall I was carrying 15.5 Kgs (the bike) + 4.5 (Camera, Frame Bag, Cycling Shoes) + 8 Kgs (two panniers, with their own weight and all the equipment inside including food) + 2.2 Kgs (Water + 2 bottles)
So overall I carried a maximum of 15 Kgs of equipment and another 15 Kgs of the bike.

(the bike in one of the stops, assorted equipment all over the place)

What equipment did or didn’t I use:
I used all my equipment on a daily basis, Including the warm clothes as we’ve had a lot of cold, damp and windy nights.
As we didn’t take so many showers along the way I could’ve given up the towel.

What would I do different next time:
1. I really want to try and minimize the warm clothes section. Usually I carry only a long sleeved thermal fleece, and a long thick sweatshirt.

This time I was trying to have a long base layer, a long sleeved thermal fleece and to give up the heavy thick sweatshirt and instead to wear a light compact fleece and add the poncho.

I was trying this idea while camping with my family the night before the ride, but after about an hour outside it was too cold for me and I decided to pack my thick fleece and leave the light fleece sweatshirt at the campsite with my family.

2. If I had more time to orgainze for this ride, I would have tried to leave the panniers and the rack at home and get myself a decent seatpost and frame bags. I would really like to try and go bikepacking without the rack and the panniers.

3. I’d change my seatpost bag to a top tube bag. much easier access to everything needed.

 

I’d be happy to get comments for this gear list. any ideas on how going lighter would be appreciated 🙂

Liron.