I’d been using my trusty “RJays Vortex” helmet for a good four or five years but over the last twelve months or so had been wanting to change it out due to the helmet starting to slide back while I was wearing it due to wear and tear of the fit mechanism.

I was going to retire the helmet at the end of the year but after a ride around a few months ago I was inspecting the straps of the helmet when I noticed that the rear plastic securing frame had actually snapped off clean on one side and was close to buggered on the other:

Almost guiltily I hit the internet in search of a replacement, finally settling on a 2012 K-10 helmet from Kask. After a few months of riding around with it on, here’s my review.

Made entirely in Italy, the first thing that struck me about the Kask was the build quality, although I suppose that’s to be expected when you go from a $60 helmet to something far more expensive.

The straps are reflective and a great deal “thinner” then my RJay helmet ones.

I hope in the long-term this doesn’t mean they’ll fray easier but for now they seem sturdy enough.

For the chin area there’s a godsend of a leather strap which is infinitely more comfortable then just having a regular strap there.

A bit stiff at first but after a month or so it’s softened and now I literally don’t even feel it’s there when wearing the helmet.

Fit wise the rear has a bracket that you just slide down a bit before putting the helmet on and then pop your head in:

There’s a dial on the rear for tightness but I haven’t had to fiddle with it since I set the original fit. Adjusting strap length is a relatively straight forward affair with plastic clamps on either side:

Aesthetics wise I prefer the minimalist look so the Kask logos on the side of the helmet took a bit of getting used to but I think they don’t stand out too much.

Not when you consider that the rest of the helmet is entirely black.

Weightwise the Kask K-10 is just 280gr (vs the RJays Vortex’s 338g) and has plenty of air vents to keep your head cool. I’ve worn the helmet for hours at a time and have absolutely no complaints about the fit and feel of the helmet on my head.

There’s no front visor so be advised if you’re riding in the sun that sunglasses are a must (I always wear them anyway so this wasn’t a consideration for me).

Coming in at just under $200 USD (or from the looks of it much cheaper than that on Amazon grumble grumble…) the Kask K-10 is easily one of the more expensive pieces of bicycle kit I’ve purchased recently but figuring the amount of time a helmet sits on my head and that I’ve spent the last year grumbling about my old Vortex helmet fit, I decided it was money well spent.

I highly recommend the K-10 if you’re in the market for a new bicycle helmet!

It rains a lot in Taiwan. Coming from drought stricken Australia at first it was quite the shock but after a few months of torrential rains it wasn’t long before I was swimming it up with the locals.

Needless to say in the face of typhoons, 24/7 rain for days at a time and a constant afternoon barrage of mist as moisture descends from Taiwan’s mountainous terrain, if you’re going to cycle you need some serious heavy-duty water protection.

That’s where Ground Effect’s Storm Trooper waterproof jacket came in.

Clocking in at over $200 the Storm Trooper was one of the most expensive pieces of bicycle kit I’d ever purchased (I only recently eclipsed it with the purchase of a Kask K-10 helmet), but when it came down to it to be honest I didn’t care how much I spent… so long as it kept me dry.

I bought myself a medium-sized Storm Trooper and it fits pretty snugly, which is great. The jacket is tapered down the rear to provide extra length protection from the rain. The front zips up and has a velcro overtab and the waist line is adjusted with lockable cord tabs:

Up top you’ve got a retractable hood:

And when you’re not using it, this hood conveniently zips back into the Storm Trooper’s collar:

This hood fits like a skullcap, which is great for not taking up space under your helmet, but leaves you looking utterly ridiculous in any other situation (think Buzz Lightyear without his helmet).

Unless you’re a fan of the human head condom look, don’t count on using the Storm Trooper’s hood off the bike!

The rear of the Storm Trooper holds a single long pocket which pretty much runs the length widthwise of the jacket:

Inside the rear pocket is a buckle which turns the Storm Trooper’s rear pocket into a bumbag (the jacket rolls into itself:

Personally I think bumbags are the height of dorkiness so I’ve never actually tried this!

I was worried about the cuffs loosing their elasticity due to the winter waterproof gloves that usually get worn with the Storm Trooper but so far so good. They’re not as clingy as they were when I bought the jacket but they still hold fast around the big chunky winter gloves I wear so that’s all good.

Each cuff has an elastic loop inside designed to keep the cuffs around your gloves should they slide off:

I find using these loops stretches the cuffs even more so I don’t use them. No need thus far, even in Taiwan’s strongest winds.

As for keeping me dry, in the near two years I’ve been wearing the Storm Trooper through Taiwan’s harshest weather, I’m happy to report it’s kept me bone dry.

The Storm Trooper is rated as breathable but unfortunately with Taiwan’s ridiculously high humidity if I’m going to wear the jacket I need to make sure I’ve got something extremely light on underneath. Even with breathability if it’s >20 degrees C you still get that ‘I’m wearing a tent’ feeling and start to sweat.

The Storm Trooper does have some air conditioning zips under the armpits to help you cope with this:

But I’ve found these zips have to remain closed if its raining otherwise water trickles down your arms (and then into your gloves!).

That said if it’s raining, the rain itself falling on the jacket is usually enough to cool you down, it’s when it’s not raining (or stops after you put on the jacket) that I’ve mostly had issues overheating underneath it.

I suppose that’s mostly due to me being lazy and not wanting to pull over and take off my waterproof kit.

At the end of the day though I bought the Storm Trooper jacket to keep me dry and it does precisely that. Top marks to Ground Effect for that and despite the initial financial outlay, would still highly recommend the Storm Trooper for anyone looking to waterproof themselves on the bike.

Having lived in cities for most of my life I’m completely comfortable mixing it up with speeding taxis, overbearing buses trying to run you down and crazy scooters who have all the patience of a raging bull. That said, I appreciate why most people balk at the idea of commuting around by bicycle in Taipei for anything more than a few hundred meters.

Riding around pretty much all over the place to gather ideas and photos for the blog, I get around a bit and frequently find myself using Dunhua North and South road as a major north/south arterial route to get around Taipei.

There’s no MRT stations on the road and as it stands it’s the only road in Taipei City with a designated bicycle lane.

Not that that means much mind you.

One of the biggest problems with Dunhua Road’s green bicycle lanes is that more often than not, rather than serve as a bicycle lane they function as a parking strip for cars.

As such I, and anyone else using Dunhua Road to get around by bicycle, will usually just ignore the lanes and take up the whole outer lane on the road itself.

After two and a half years of this nonsense, finally someone over at Taipei City government seems to have taken some initiative and late last week a single sign was erected on the northbound 4.6km route.

Aimed at educating drivers on how to park their cars, the top square demonstrates the usage of the designate parking spots that exist along the road (which are usually all full with blue trucks all day), whereas the bottom square demonstrates that parking in the bicycle lane itself is bad.

Before I get ahead of myself, I’d first like to address that this parking concept itself is flawed. Consider that when drivers park in the designated parking bays,  their passengers run the risk of dooring any passing cyclists. And what’s worse is that should this happen, the cyclists have nowhere to go as they’re stuck between the offending door and a curb.

This of course is just one of many of the functional problems with the bicycle lanes on Dunhua Road but I’ll go over the lanes themselves in more detail in a future post.

That aside, after erecting the lone sign (I took a detour from my route and canvassed the entire stretch of Dunhua Road for any more signs but found none) and most likely considering the matter of parking in Dunhua Road’s bicycle lanes closed, here’s how Taipei City’s drivers reacted to the reminder:

Business as usual and just another day on Dunhua Road’s bicycle lanes…

After the failure of the Kalloy SP-248D seatpost that came with my Surly Long Haul Trucker, I had to set about researching my options for a replacement.

In reality, this vigorous research was nothing more than a trip down to the local bicycle store where they promptly fitted my bike with a Giant “Sports” seatpost:

Not entirely enthusiastic with the black color of the Giant Sports post, I hit the internet for some actual research and finally decided on a Velo Orange Grand Cru seatpost.

In total, there were three things I really liked when considering the Grand Cru. The first was that the seatpost came in silver. My Long Haul Trucker already has a lot of silver on it and I find that it contrasts nicely with the dark green and black color scheme that make up the rest of the bike.

Secondly the Grand Cru featured a two bolt saddle adjustment design, rather than the one bolt design that had failed on my Kalloy seatpost. Having seen the one bolt design fail first-hand, I figured a two bolt adjustment system would hopefully be much stronger, that and it made tilt adjustment much more precise.

Finally there was the look. Whereas my Kalloy seatpost was a dull silver, the Velo Orange really “popped”.

Props to the guys over at Velo Orange for really delivering a retro looking design that just works. From the curvature of the rear of the seatpost to the easily visible but at the same time subtle Velo Orange logo stamp on the post, the Grand Cru aethestics are top-notch.

After ordering my Grand Cru from Velo Orange, delivery took about two weeks. When the seatpost arrived it came in a big bright orange box:

Inside the orange box was the Grand Cru seatpost:

Note the distinctive ‘MADE IN TAIWAN’ labelling on the plastic bag… despite being made here, I evidently wasn’t able to purchase the Grand Cru anywhere in Taiwan.

That aside, I was just happy it’d finally arrived.

Fitting the Grand Cru to my Long Haul Trucker was a straight forward affair, with the seatpost being the same diameter (27.2mm) and length (300mm) as the Long Haul Trucker stock Kalloy post.

Another nice feature of the Grand Cru is the generous 30.2mm of setback it has:

Brooks saddles have notoriously short adjustment rails so this setback really extends your adjustment range as opposed to a seatpost with no setback, where you run a much higher risk of not being able to seat yourself back far enough.

Whilst my initial impressions of the Grand Cru seat post were positive (particularly in that my saddle was no longer tilting on its own), after a few weeks or so I noticed that my seatpost was slipping.

Despite the clamp problems I had with the Kalloy, slipping was never a problem with it and given the Grand Cru was supposed to be the same width as the Kalloy, I can only assume that for whatever reason, my Grand Cru is slightly smaller than 27.2mm and this is causing the slippage.

As a temporary measure I fitted a cut out coke can to act as a sleeve around the post for a week, but eventually settled for a more permanent option of fitting the FSA SL-280 seatpost my girlfriend’s Pinaccle bike came with.

The setback on the FSA was too much for her even with the saddle pushed all the way forward so I’d since swapped it with the Giant Sports seatpost the local bike shop had fitted to my bike which had no setback at all.

As much as I love the Grand Cru, the post slipping is what I can only describe as a major design flaw and as such I’ve had the seatpost back in its orange box sitting in storage ever since.

I do plan on purchasing a Surly Constrictor seatpost to try with it at some point but if that’s not enough to hold the post in place, then I guess it’ll remain in storage as a spare.

Kind of disappointing really. I know the Grand Cru isn’t the most expensive of seatposts ($48 plus shipping) but I at least expected something that worked.

I don’t know if my Velo Cru slipping is a once-off problem or something specific to Long Haul Truckers but given that I’ve had a total of four seatposts fitted to the Long Haul Trucker now and only the Grand Cru has slipped, it’s definitely not a problem with my seatpost clamp or the Trucker itself.

I’ll be sure to update this article when I get my hands on a Surly Constrictor clamp, but till then I’d advise trying a Grand Cru and testing for slippage first before purchasing one. Especially if you’re going to be fitting it onto a Long Haul Trucker like I did.

When we first found Leela in the mountains of Miaoli County she was small and cuddly and fitted nicely inside a bicycle pannier.

And then she grew…and grew… and grew.

At around 11kg I decided she was getting too big for my bicycle pannier and constructed a bucket DIY pannier for her that gave her a bit more room.

This worked well and allowed me to get on with the job with exploring Taiwan by bike.

Unfortunately for me, Leela continued to grow… and grow… and grow.

At around 15kg, it was obvious that whilst she still easily fitted into the bucket pannier, her body weight was having too much of an adverse effect on the handling of my Long Haul Trucker.

Despite being tightly and securely hooked to my rear rack, I could feel the back tire occasionally sliding around under her weight (700×37 tires) and the sway of so much weight on one side was beginning to ruin my rides.

Finally I got home the other weekend and after complaining to my ever-patient girlfriend about how I was sick and tired of having Leela ruin my ride quality the entire ride home, decided it was time to kick it up a notch and buy a bicycle trailer.

Knowing nothing about them I hit the internet to do some research. What I quickly found was that there’s pretty much no information online in English about bicycle trailers in Taiwan.

There’s a bunch of manufacturers, but as for actually buying them retail here… well that’s another story.

Most of the factories are down south as such you’ve got to head down to Kaohsiung and Taichung to look  at the trailers these guys make. With Taiwan being so small you’d think it’d be straightforward shipping some dealers your product but that’s not the case.

My girlfriend found that most people were ordering their bicycle trailers overseas (wtf?) but she eventually found one company that had a few distributors in Taipei, ChengYi – or AiBike as I believe they’re more commonly known as (?).

Calling up every distributor in Taipei we kept getting the same story, they were happy to order a trailer for us… but they didn’t have one we could look at first.

Having never used a bicycle trailer before or even seen one up close… I wasn’t prepared to buy a bicycle trailer blind. And mind you, at this point I didn’t even know what AiBike’s trailers looked like – let alone how they functioned.

I believe my girlfriend tracked these trailers down via text forums… and we didn’t find out the actual brand name until after we’d bought it and saw the warranty card.

As we made our way through the store list… it wasn’t until we called the last store in Danshui that after a few weeks of searching we finally got a break.

They had a trailer we could not only go and see… bu they were willing to give us a discount if we bought it.

Saddling up our bicycles we headed out and three or four hours later… were the owners of a new bicycle trailer (I’ll do a writeup on the store at a later date and link to it here incase anyone else is trying to track down a bicycle trailer and doesn’t live down south).

Pretty much upon arriving at the store I’d decided that if the trailer wasn’t total crap I was just going to buy it anyway. After two weeks of stuffing around and trying to find anyone who even sold a bicycle trailer and had viewable stock… whatever this store had was probably going to be good enough for me.

That said, we really scored a break and the ChengYi trailer was bigger then we’d hoped for and super light.

I’d read that the mechanism to secure the bicycle was super important and was more than happy to see a big beefy rubber-covered clamp that attaches to the left rear chainstay.

One of the things I wasn’t looking forward to was having to remove the rear axle everytime we went for a ride to explore (I don’t use quick-release).

With the trailer attaching to the chainstay, this potential hassle was completely avoided and the trailer can be attached and re-attached within minutes.

Tire wise you’ve got 20″ wheels on there which functionally appear to the be the same as your basic foldable bike wheels. The stock tires seem good enough for now but when they wear I’ll replace them with the widest and most bulletproof tires I can fit.

As for storage, the trailer is easily folds down upon removal of three clamped pins:

Once collapsed, being super light the trailer is easy to carry around and store.

All in all we only paid $4500 TWD for the trailer and I couldn’t be happier. I’ll do a future writeup on how the trailer handles and some other stuff as this is all new to me and I’m still getting used to riding around with a trailer.

I’ve lost count of the times my heart has stopped as I’ve sailed through a gap only to realise I’ve got a wide trailer behind me that’s probably going to get snagged and send me flying – thankfully that hasn’t happened yet!

Leela is also adjusting to the trailer too but seems happy enough:

You’ll have to excuse the pink towel thing. It’s the only “rag” we don’t mind getting trashed and stinking like dog as neither of us use it. It does tend to fuel the “wow that dog is so lucky” and “princess dog!” comments we keep getting though, so might have to do something about that at some point.

Expecting to pay $7000+ TWD, the ChengYi AiBike trailer is pretty much a steal at $4500. Highly recommended.

When I first saw the SealSkinz Winter handlebar mittens (yes, that is the product’s actual name) the idea of pairing your non-thumb fingers made sense.

Fingers generate warmth so why not let your fingers contribute to warming themselves up? Couples with a nice warm and waterproof shell, surely that was the way to go?

Well, kinda.

I’ve been using the SealSkinz handlebar mittens (really, where else am I going to put my hands guys?)  for a few months now and decided it was time for a review.

First and foremost, I bought the mittens primarily as a winter glove because my Netti Winter Pro gloves aren’t waterproof. With that sole criteria in mind the Sealskinz handlebar mittens perform superbly.

Even on the scooter flying along at 80-100km/h the Sealskinzs keep my hands warm and they are completely waterproof.

Unfortunately, practically speaking the “lobster fingers” concept (which is one of the main selling points of the glove, sorry “mittens”) has turned out to be my biggest fault with them.

You see, once you don the handlebar mittens, your hands become functionally useless. And I don’t mean, oh hey I can’t perform precise brain surgery because I’ve got my gloves on… I’m talking you can’t do anything except grip the handlebars when you’ve got these gloves on.

Perhaps that’s why SealSkinz named them “handlebar” mittens.

Seriously, with two fingers bundled together it’s impossible to do anything. Clipping your helmet strap together, pushing your on-board computer button, flicking your dynamo on because it’s dark, adjusting your freaking sunglasses?

FORGET IT!

Hell even something as simple as pulling the sleeves of my Ground Effect Storm Trooper over the mittens cuffs (which are plentiful long enough) becomes a delicate 5 minute job. I mean I could get rough and just pinch and shove the sleeves over but being elasticized, I don’t think I should ruin the sleeves of a near $300 jacket over some poorly designed $30 gloves.

Perhaps the icing on the cake is even getting the gloves on themselves. The first is easy enough but even trying to secure the wrist tightening strap on the second glove is a PITA.

Seriously I can’t stress how useless your hands become once you’ve got these gloves on. And there’s nothing worse than having to remove your gloves when it’s pouring rain just to perform the most rudimentary of tasks while you’re cycling.

As such, despite being winter gloves I’ve settled for using the Netti Winter Pro gloves if it’s cold and only break out the SealSkinz mittens if it’s raining.

Ideally I’d get rid of both gloves and continue the search for some proper all-purpose water and windproof gloves that don’t leave your hands useless (I can do nearly everything in my Winter Pro gloves I can do with my half-finger summer gloves), but I can’t justify getting rid of gloves that haven’t fallen apart yet so I’ll see them through.

If I’m lucky my girlfriend is with me when it starts to rain and she can help pull my jacket sleeves over… and if I’m on my own I just suck it up and accept I’m going to lose ~10 minutes of my time changing gloves.

Thankfully I don’t get caught out in the rain too much so I only find myself having to pull on the mittens perhaps once or twice a month. The rest of the time the Winter Pro gloves suffice.

Palmwise the Sealskinz mittens aren’t anything to write home about.

There’s no padding but that’s offset a little by the overall thickness and clunkiness of the gloves themselves.

How the hell Sealskinz mittens passed quality assurance and functionality testing on a bicycle I have no idea. I’ll certainly never be buying a lobster type mitten ever again!

After using 700×28 Continental Ultra Gatorskins on my Surly Long Haul Trucker for 6,000kms, I started to carry heavier loads and decided to switch back to the 700×37 Continental Contact tires that came with my Trucker.

Here’s how they’re holding up 10,000 kms later.

Front Tire

The front tire has less weight on it (I don’t use front panniers) so the tread has a lot more life in it than the rear.

There is no serious damage to the tire other than some glass cuts running along the tread. The tire still rolls as good as the day I first fitted it.

Rear Tire

The rear tire carries most of the load and sits under a rack and 99.9% of the time at least one loaded pannier. On occasion I also haul around a 15kg or so dog too.

As you can see, the rear has much more tread wear than the front but is still holding up well. I know there are supposed to be tread-wear indicators on the Continental Contact but to be honest I’m not sure where they are. I found a triangle and ‘TR’ on the sidewall but it doesn’t appear to point to anything.

I guess I’ll keep running the flat till it starts getting flats or the insides start to wear through, whichever comes first. I figure I’ve still got a few thousand kms in the rear tire yet.

Punctures

Puncture wise I’ve only ever got three flats. One was a metal wire on a country road and two were glass punctures.

3 flats in 10,000 kms comes in at one every 3,333 which isn’t too bad. I never pick out any glass and leave the tires as is, so in terms of letting crud through over time I think the Continental Contacts do a pretty good job.

Conclusion

Overall I’m happy with the mileage wear of the Continental Contacts however the dynamo tread is kinda crappy (doesn’t work in the rain well at all) so I will replace the front with something else when the rear is worn and I swap the front tire over.

Still, after 10,000 kms they’ve served me well and perform solidly as an all-round tire. If you’re buying a new Surly Long Haul Trucker complete I don’t really see why you’d want to replace the Continental Contacts as a first tire (unless perhaps you do a lot of night riding in the rain and have a bottle dynamo).

There’s nothing worse than getting to your destination and having to run your hands under a warm tap for five minutes because your fingers have frozen solid due to water seeping into your gloves.

Netti bill their ‘Winter Pro’ gloves as ‘waterproof and windproof gloves’ designed to tackle the ‘harshest of winter weather‘.

When I got the gloves they were initially waterproof but throughout the first winter season they started to let rain water in…

Just to be clear, I don’t wash my waterproof gear. I know that a thorough submerged-in-water wash can damage the waterproof coverings used on these garments so I instead air them out when I can to dry them and keep them from smelling.

That said within a few months of use my Netti Winter Pro gloves started to let rainwater in as a I was riding and this became a huge problem. Not that it rained much but when it did, whatever is inside the Netti glove absorbed water and left my fingers submerged in fabric that was like a sponge of freezing cold water.

When I got to my destination I could literally wring out a cup of water from each glove (after I’d warmed my hands and fingers up to the point they could move freely again).

With waterproofness being the single most important deciding factor in my purchase of Netti Winter Pro gloves, sadly I’m going to have to look elsewhere for a replacement.

It’s a bit of a shame though as otherwise the gloves are quite nice to wear. The inside fits snugly and I can do most things I can do with half-finger gloves (even click in my helmet strap).

Windproof wise the Netti gloves are superwarm on the bicycle, although they do have their limits on a scooter. Anymore than 30 mins or so of ice-cold wind and my hands start to go numb, never had this problem on the bicycle though.

Design wise the gloves aren’t too out there, using a black and white template. One niggling fault I have with the wrist portion of the Winter Pros is that I felt the gloves could have benefited from a longer wrist cuff.

My winter gloves are almost always worn with one of my Ground Effect winter jackets and a few times a ride the glove cuff will pop out from the sleeve as it’s not all that long.

The Winter Pros can also be a bit difficult to take off after you’ve been wearing them for a while as the inner glove shell fits your hand quite snugly. This I believe is the tradeoff for having a nice fitted glove in that you need to spend a bit of extra time getting them off.

On the bottom of the Winter Pro glove you’ve got one gel padded area with the rest of the glove being unsupported.

Comfort wise the Winter Pros are a bit thicker than my fingerless gloves and the Long Haul Trucker absorbs a lot of the road bumps anyway, so I haven’t had an issue with numb palms despite the lack of padding.

If you’re after a winter glove to keep your hands warm and have a great fit, then the Netti Winter Pro gloves will do the job. Anything more than that however and they fall short.

Not being waterproof, I’m going to have to try another pair of winter gloves for use in the rain. For now my Netti Winter Pro gloves are being used when it’s cold but dry.

Unfortunately the SP-248D seatpost has a one bolt design to hold the saddle it’s attached to in place.

When you ride a Brooks saddle the position of the saddle is extremely important as even the slightest movement out of alignment can cause the saddle to feel remarkably different.

If you’ve worn in the saddle, such a movement almost universally feels worse.

My problem?

For the longest time I had to keep adjusting my Kalloy seatpost clamp. I originally thought that this was due to the continual wearing in of my Brooks saddle. As the saddle wore in more I had to level the nose downwards more to compensate.

Around every 2-3 months I’d whip out the hex key and carefully tilt the nose every so downward before tightening up the seat clamp bolt up again.

I accepted this for as long as I can remember. The saddle was super comfy and if that meant a gradual tilt change every so often then so be it.

Well, that was until I realised it was the seatpost clamp itself that was slipping.

As I mentioned before the Kalloy seatpost only uses one bolt to secure the clamp to the top of the seatpost. What was happening with my seatpost clamp was that every 2 or three months it’d gradually slide back.

Feeling the nose of the Brooks push into my groin, I’d then adjust the nose down a bit – only to be back at square one again two months or so later.

Of course I only realised this when the seatpost itself finally failed permanently. I was riding along one day when I heard a sort of tearing crack and the sensation of a wobbly saddle.

Jumping off the bike I had a look and found out that the bolt securing the saddle  and seatpost to the clamp had sheared right through its thread.

Although tight to the touch, if I reset the saddle to its proper tilt:

a few pedal strokes and the saddle would lurch back again:

The long and the short of it is the Kalloy seatpost was buggered.

Looking at the seatpost itself, I have to say it’s a pretty crappy design.

Whilst most seat posts cradle a clamp in a ‘U’ shape, the Kalloy SP-248D does so with an upside-down ‘U’.

I have no doubt this design over time warped the seatpost which caused the clamp to slide backwards until the bolt holding everything together eventually failed under stress.

Mileage wise although the actual failure was after 10,000kms or so, I’d say the post started gradually slipping somewhere around the 6,000km mark.

Definitely something to keep an eye on if you own a Long Haul Trucker Complete and still have the original Kalloy seatpost on it.

Deciding to upgrade to something more robust, in the interim I fitted a readily available Giant ‘Sports’ seatpost in the black.

Unfortunately I found the setback with the Giant lacking (in that it didn’t have any setback). That and I thought a black seatpost stood out too much what with all the other silver/chrome on the Trucker’s design.

Still, I needed something to ride around on so the Giant did the trick until my shiny Velo Orange Grand Cru seatpost arrived from the US (made in Taiwan, shipped from the US – sigh).

Having gone from the single bolt design with the Kalloy SP-248D to a two-bolt design with the Grand Cru, I can honestly say the switch was definitely worth it. If I was Surly I’d definitely look at changing the stock Kalloy saddle that comes with the Long Haul Trucker Complete for a more robust post.

I haven’t so much had a peep of trouble from my Grand Cru and I haven’t had to adjust anything saddle wise after once I bolted it onto the Trucker.

Here’s to saddles that stay in place!


Update 15th April 2012 – Since writing this review I’ve discovered my Grand Cru has a slipping problem.

Consequently I’ve had to remove the Grand Cru from the bike.

Brilliantly simple and wonderfully comfy.

Unfortunately with this simplicity and use of natural material comes a price.

Late last year after over three years of use my Brooks saddle began to creak.

Sometimes it was a clicking noise and sometimes a creak… but it would only happen when I pedaled and it as someone who likes to ride a silent bicycle, it was driving me bonkers.

Here’s a video of the Brooks saddle creak (in the video it sounds more like a loud clicking) in action:


I’m not sure specifically where the saddle was creaking from, but armed with some Proofide (Brooks recommended treatment for the leather of the saddle), I rubbed it into a few places which seems to have thus far done the trick.

I don’t know exactly which area rubbing the Proofide into worked, so I’m just going to show you all the places I rubbed Proofide into:

Starting with the big bolt at the front, I pretty much moved onto anywhere where metal made contact with the leather.

After letting the saddle sit overnight I whacked it back onto my Long Haul Trucker’s seatpost and tentatively went for a ride.

No more creaking or clicking Brooks saddle for me!

I’ve got no idea why the saddle started to creak or how long this fix will last (touch wood a long time) but I’ll update with a rough timeline should the saddle start to creak or click again.

Typically this means that even when tightened, a saddle’s railings (the metal tubes underneath a saddle) are not large enough in diameter for the saddle clamp to grip properly.

When this happens, in the most extreme of cases a saddle will freely slide up and down a seatpost clamp with ease. More likely however is that a saddle’s railings are only ever so slightly undersized and this in turn causes the saddle to ever so slightly move up and down a clamp.

This subtle movement can cause a rider no end of frustration as these subtle movements can gradually throw out a bicycle fit and cause a rider large amounts of frustration as the problem is not immediately diagnosable.

After working out a saddle is moving, it’s usually much more common to writing off a possible undersized saddle rail problem as the seatpost clamp itself moving on the seatpost.

Diagnosing a bicycle saddle sliding on its rails

To determine if a bicycle saddle is infact moving along its rails when fitted into a seatpost clamp, a simple check is all that is required.

All you need to do is mark the railings and observe them over a short period.

There are a few ways to do this but the easiest involves either some white-out (white correction fluid) or tape.


Using white-out

With the bicycle saddle fitted into the seatpost clamp, carefully mark both the outer positions of the saddle’s railings with whiteout as shown below:


Using tape

If you don’t want to mark your saddle railings, an alternative is tape. Duct tape, electrical tape, masking tape – any will do so long as you can see it clearly.

Using a ruler, place the tape roughly 1cm (or any easily measurable distance, again on the outer sides of the railings.

When using tape, it’s important not to place the tape too close the seatpost clamp itself. If the saddle is indeed slipping along its rails, placing the tape too close to the clamp might stop the saddle slipping and falsely cause you to rule out railing slippage as the problem.

To gauge whether the saddle is sliding along its rails, go on a few rides and then remeasure the position of the tape relative to the seatpost clamp, or if using white-out have a look at where the whiteout markings are.

If the distance of the white-out markings or tape has increased or decreased, you’ve accurately established that the seatpost saddle sliding along its rails is the culprit.

Fixing a seatpost that slides along its rails

The easiest solution to a bicycle saddle sliding along its rails in a seatpost clamp is to either replace the saddle or the seatpost to get a better fit.

Unfortunately this is also the most expensive option and unless you can sell the part you’re replacing, also leaves you with a useless spare (unless you have multiple bikes).

Before you go down this route, with a bit of cheap DIY it should be possible to stop your saddle slipping.

By cutting some old tyre tubing to size,

you can wrap the saddle’s rails with the tubing and then secure it with some tape.

Note that in the photo above I’ve wrapped both rails with the same bit of tape and then secured it with tape. For a more snug fit, you’d probably be better off individually wrapping both rails with separate bits of tubing and then securing them with tape.

When wrapping the railings it’s important to note that you don’t need much tubing at all to create a snug fit in the clamp and that the tubing should be wrapped tightly, free of any looseness.

One drawback of the tubing is that it can be more difficult to adjust the saddle along its railings against the clamp (you’ll need to loosen the clamp more than normal when doing fine adjustments) – to get around this simply put some whiteout on either side of the tubing to use as reference points.

After a few rides the rubber tubing will naturally compress in the clamp so you’ll probably want to slightly tighten the clamp too.

For railings that are more drastically undersized another approach is to take an aluminum can and cut off the top and bottom of the can.

Then, again cut the can vertically so that you have a sheet of aluminum can just large enough to wrap around the railings to increase their size. Note that this is a bit more fiddly as, even if secured with tape, the aluminum wrapping is more likely to move and throw out your adjustment.

Be very careful when tightening up the seatpost clamp to make sure the aluminum wrap doesn’t move along the rails. If you can, get another person to hold the saddle in place while you tighten the clamp and watch the railings.

Both of the above methods should work for most bicycle saddle and seatpost combinations out there, if they don’t – unfortunately there just might be no way around the size difference between the railings and seatpost clamp.

In this case if your happy with the saddle and comfortable in it, it’s advisable to change the seatpost and clamp rather than the saddle itself.

As I habitually do with most bicycles I see out and about I’d glanced over at this one as I walked past. I continued past it but had someone been observing me the slight tilt in my head would have betrayed my afterthought that something wasn’t quite right about this particular bicycle.

Shrugging it off I tried to continue only to stop a few paces from where the thought originally struck.

‘Wait, the saddle…something was wrong with the saddle!’

I turned around and then there infront of me it hit me… this particular bicycle appeared to be using a bar stool as a seat.

‘Now the hell does that even work?’ I thought to myself as I got closer to the bike, wondering how a round bar stool seat could be in any way remotely more comfortable to sit on then even the cheapest of quality traditional bicycle saddles available.

Looking around to see if there was anyone around who might come screaming at me if I touched the bike and seeing the coast clear, I put my hand down on the seat with the intention of having a sit… and that’s when I realised the bar stool seat wasn’t bolted down at all.

Rather, the seat was just being used as a weight to hold down the plastic bag covering the actual bicycle seat from the rain.

‘Thank god’ I thought to myself, relieved that I’d just inadvertently spared myself from an evening of trying to get my head around why someone would bolt a round bar stool seat onto their bicycle.

Meanwhile I don’t know what worries me more, the fact that someone somewhere might indeed find a giant round seat more comfortable to sit on or that I’d just readily accepted that someone here in Taiwan had done the modification and skipped over to wondering why they’d done it.

I dread to think what the next phase in this cultural evolutionary ‘nothing surprises me anymore’ process might be…

Next thing you know I’ll be looking back at half my ‘WTF?’ photos wondering why I took them in the first place.

Missing a seat, deflated tyres, rustbucket rims and spokes (and probably frame), half a handlebar and from the looks of it, no chain.

Apparently this bike is being dutifully held together by the bucket of set cement it’s propped up against. Note that whoever owns it though is still security conscious – the bike appears to have a lock attached near the front basket.

Spotted in Banciao District of Taipei County, I think whoever the owner is really needs to let this one go…

I’ve seen some pretty bust up bicycles riding around Taiwan just crying out for retirement – but I’m pretty sure this one easily takes the cake.

I’ve had my Long Haul Trucker for just over 3 years now and just recently ticked over 15,000 kms on the odometer. By some standards this might not be monumental mileage but I believe it’s more than enough to gauge the componentry of the Long Haul Trucker Complete.

Ride wise my Long Haul Trucker has been as dreamy as when I first got it. Three years later with 15,000kms on the clock and I still wouldn’t replace it for any other bike in the world.

Surly offer the Long Haul Trucker either as a frame or as a complete bike, aptly named the ‘Long Haul Trucker Complete’. Not wanting to fuss around deciding each and every component for my bike, I put my trust in Surly and let them decide on the componentry.

For the most part these components have held up well and by and large I’m still using the original components that came with the bike. Some however have not fared well and have had to be replaced.

Rather than give you a ride quality review (which I can only really describe as excellent anyway), I figured it’d probably be of more use to review the components Surly chose to build the Long Haul Trucker with.

The Bike

My Long Haul Trucker is a 2008 model in the ‘olive green’. Not the 2012 dark green Surly are using, but a few shades lighter.

First and foremost my bike is treated for what it is, a workhorse utility bike. Once of the deciding factors in purchasing my Long Haul Trucker was that I didn’t want a fragile carbon bike with sissy (but expensive) components I had to baby.

Basically if I had to worry about taking bike through the equivalent of a car wash everytime someone sneezed on it… it wasn’t a bike I was interested in.

That said my Long Haul Trucker has only ever been kept outside (under cover) for about 3-4 months of its life and otherwise has always been kept indoors. I do ride my Trucker in the rain but never wipe it down after a ride, it’s always left to air dry.

Finally the bike is taken to a bike shop roughly every six months or so and I get them to strip and clean the drive train. I know how to do this but I’m lazy and it’s just easier to pay someone $10-$15 to do it and not have to worry about it.

Other than that, what you see is what you get with my Long Haul Trucker.

For the purposes of this review, the drive train is due its annual clean sometime in January or so and the bike itself has never been washed or wiped down (other than being ridden in the rain).

The Frame

Surly Long Haul Trucker, 100% Surly 4130 CroMoly steel. Main triangle double butted. TIG-welded.

Can’t say I’ve had any complaints with my Long Haul Trucker frame. Despite not cleaning it once since I bought the bike, there’s no muck build up (thankyou fenders!), no paint bubbling and no visible signs of rust.

All in all, apart from some minor scratches the paint job and frame look as good as the day I bought it and has stood up to any load I’ve thrown at it.

I think the heaviest load to date was when I used the bike to do some runs when I last moved house. Even with a top-heavy load the frame rides like a sturdy rock.

I did notice the rear chain stay on the drivetrain end was getting a bit scratched from the chain slapping the metal, but after whacking on a chain stay protector and since have had no problems.

Fork

Surly Long Haul Trucker, 100% CroMoly, lugged and brazed. 1-1/8″ threadless steer tube uncut.

I’ll admit I don’t know what most of the above description of my Long Haul Trucker fork means… but use wise like the rest of the frame my fork has been perfect.

Looks as good as new and there’s only slight hints of rust.

As you can see not much and as far as I can tell nothing to worry about (I’m aware that rust can form on the inside of tubes but I don’t believe this is happening based on inspection).

Crankset

Surly aren’t using them anymore but I believe my 2008 Trucker is fitted with a Sugino XD 600 (48-36-26t) crankset.

Again, absolutely no complaints here. The gear range of the crankset hasn’t let me down and wear wise I think they’ve got another few years in them yet.

I primarily ride around in the middle chainring so I imagine when the time comes that’ll be all I’ll have to replace once it’s worn down and start slipping.

Bottom Bracket

No photo of the Shimano UN-53 (Surly now use UN-54) Square taper interface. 68 x 118mm as it’s something I’ve never had to pull out.

This Shimano bottom bracket runs as smooth as the day I got my Trucker and I’ve had no problems with it.

Front Derailleur

My 2008 Trucker is equipped with a Shimano Tiagra triple front derailleur but Surly have since downgraded this on the Long Haul Trucker Complete to a ‘Shimano Sora , FD-3403. Silver’.

I can’t comment on the Sora but the Tiagra my Trucker came with hasn’t caused me any dramas. Adjustment wise due to the fact that the front derailleur is on friction selection rather than indexed, I’ve only had to adjust the cable tension once in the three years I’ve been riding the bike.

Rear Derailleur

Again, Surly are currently using a ” whereas my bike is equipped with a ‘Shimano Deore XT RD-M761′ rear derailleur.

This has obviously needed more adjustment than the front derailleur but that’s to be expected. Use wise I haven’t had any problems and imagine I’ll get at least another few years good use out of this derailleur at which point I’d be happy fitting the same model (or equivalent) back on.

Cog Cassette

Running a Shimano Deore XT CS-M770 9-speed (Surly now use the Shimano HG-50) as you can see I spend most of my time in the midrange cogs (who doesn’t).

Performance wise when I changed my chain last a few months ago, I did notice some initial slipping climbing hills on the 26T cog. This is the cog I use to kick off from a standing start and to climb mountains/hills with in the granny gear at the front so wear is expected here.

The slipping seems to have gone now as the chain has worn into the cassette but I’m thinking the next chain change I might have to get this cog swapped out.

I tried hunting around for one online but didn’t turn up much, hopefully it’s easily sourced locally as it seems a bit of a waste to change the entire cassette out if it’s just the one cog that’s worn.

Chain

Surly are using a Shimano chain now but my bike came equipped with a SRAM PC971 chain. I got about 4000km or so out of it from memory before it needed a change.

Not too bad but I replaced it with a Wipperman 908 9 speed chain and am getting a few thousand km more mileage out of the chain. I’ve changed the chain again since replacing the SRAM and stuck with Wipperman, I plan on sticking with them as I’ve been happy with the performance of these chains.

I could probably get even more mileage out of it if I wasn’t getting the chain cleaned only every 6 months or so, but them’s the breaks… I’m lazy when it comes to chain cleaning so I’m not going to pretend that’s going to change anytime soon!

Headset

Surly are currently using a ‘Cane Creek 40 , 1-1/8″ threadless’ headset in the black, but my Long Haul Trucker is equipped with a ”Ritchey Logic Comp1-1/8″ threadless’ one.

Not much to say about the Ritchey other than it hasn’t caused me any problems and does the job well.

Brakes

My bike is fitted with Tektro Oryx cantilevers whereas Surly are now using ‘Tektro CR720′ brakes.

Dunno much about the difference between these two but the Oryx are a pain in the arse. Thankfully the tradeoff is I only seem to have to need to adjust them every 6 months or so but they tend to go off-centre long before that and whilst there’s no rim rubbing, it means one pad wears out faster than the other.

The components used on the Tektro brakes appears to be pretty crappy quality too, as you can see below it’s the only part of my Long Haul Trucker where rust has visibly taken over.

When these brakes eventually fail I’m going to definitely replace them with something else that’s a little easier to adjust. If I’ve learnt anything from my Tektro Oryx experience it’s how much I miss my 5 second adjust with a screwdriver ritual of my Shimano Tiagra caliper brakes I had on my Gitane Mach 1600 bike before the Trucker.

…those were the days. Can somebody please invent caliper brakes that fit wider tires… PLEEEEEAAAAAASE.

Brake Levers

Unlike the crappy brakes themselves, the Tektro R200A levers have been pretty decent (note Shimano are currently using Tektro RL340 levers).

If I had one complaint about the design it’s that I have larger hands and I do find the brake hoods rather small to grip at times. Coming from my large Tiagra hoods on my Gitane, these Tektro hoods were comparatively tiny.

That said I spend most of my time cruising on the flat of the handlebar so it hasn’t been much of an issue. If the levers ever buggered up though I’d definitely be replacing them with something more ergonomically comfortable though.

Note the cut above on the hood was my own fault (lifting another bike over my LHT when the chainring caught on my handlebar), and whilst I initially thought the hood would need replacing, it’d help up pretty well. They might be cheap but at least the Tektro levers are sturdy.

Shifters

Shimano bar-end , SL-BS77 2/3 x 9-speed.

I was worried about using bar shifters initially but can honestly say now that after three years of using them it’s like driving a manual car, something that’s comes completely naturally to me.

Performance wise can’t say I’ve had any dramas with the SL-BS77 levers. They do the job of shifting well and it’s nice to know that if the rear indexing ever buggered up, I can always just flick it over to friction mode and be on my way.

If either of these levers broke I’d have no problems replacing them with the same (or Shimano Dura-Ace 7700 equivalent) and have no desire to go back to brifters (integrated brakes with gear levers).

Stem

Kalloy AS-009 , 26.0mm bar clamp. Aluminum. 4-bolt face. Silver.

No problems with the Kalloy stem, it looks good as new and shows no signs of fatigue or rust. I haven’t cleaned it once and it’s still shiny!

Handlebars

PMT , Silver

Other than what Surly says above I have no idea about the handlebars I’m running. Comfort wise they’re thick enough for my hands to grip comfortably and I especially like the long flats towards the bar ends. These come in quite handy when climbing long hills under load.

The bar tape Surly use, which they describe only as ‘pretty sweet & comfy cork tape’ is starting to noticeably wear on the left hand side of the bars.

Looks to me like it’s just stretched out a bit and needs a re-wrap. I’ve never done this before and haven’t really looked into it. If I can be arsed I’ll google some Youtube videos on how it’s done or just the shop to do it next time I’m in.

The right side tape is fine so whatever bar tape Surly are using it appears to be pretty durable.

Saddle

WTB SST Comp , Steel rails. Black vinyl.

I can’t really comment on the WTB SST. I swapped mine out pretty soon after getting my Trucker and bought myself a Brooks B-17 saddle.

I’m still using the B-17 saddle and will probably do a writeup at 20,000kms on how it’s going. I can’t really see myself using any other saddle and would gladly replace it with another B-17 should it fail.

Seatpost

Kalloy SP-248D, 27.2mm. 300mm. Silver.

Can’t say I’m too happy with the Kalloy seatpost. It’s a one bolt design which is its weakness and for the longest time I was riding it around having to adjust it every 4-5 months or so.

I initially thought this was due to my Brooks saddle gradually wearing in more but turns out the post bolt itself was wearing out and slipping back each time I adjusted it.

After 2.5 years of service and roughly 10,000 or so km’s one day the bolt sheered right through and the clamp and post itself was ruined.

Wanting a two-bolt design, I replaced the broken Kalloy with a Velo Orange Grand Cru seatpost and love it. It’s been on there for a good six months now or so and hasn’t caused me any dramas.

Seatpost clamp

Shortly before my Kalloy seatpost failed, so did my Surly stainless steel  seatpost clamp. Surly were kind enough to send a replacement and thus far it’s worked as good as my old clamp did before it failed.

In the back of my mind is the worry that this one will also eventually fail and should that happen I’m going to replace it with a Surly Constrictor and see how that goes.

Rims (700c) and spokes

Alex Adventurer, 36h. Double wall. Eyeletted. Black.

I’d never heard of the Alex Adventurer brand till I bought my Long Haul Trucker but I can only say good things about them.

To date I’ve never had to true my rims once. Despite some nasty knocks and potholes hit  under load the rims have remained relatively true over the past three years.

They aren’t perfectly straight but pretty damn close to. I like to keep adjust my brake pads real close to the rims and I never have issues with rim rubbing.

The 14g DT Swiss spokes Surly use haven’t caused me and troubles either. Rust free and they get the job done. I haven’t lost one yet.

Hubs

My Trucker is fitted with Shimano Deore XT 770 hubs on the front (HB-M770) and rear (FH-770, which looks to be superceded by the LX T660).

Surly are currently using LX T660 hubs on the front and rear so I can’t comment on them, but my hubs have performed flawlessly.

I’d definitely be happy about fitting them again (or the current equivalent) should something go wrong.

Tires

Continental Contact , 700c x 37mm. Wire bead. Blackwall.

I originally swapped out the Continental Contact tires to use my old 700×28 Gatorskins which I then again swapped out and went back to the Contacts after around 6000km’s.

I’m currently about 600km short of hitting 10,000km’s on my Contact tires at which point I’ll do a separate review and link to it here.

The general feelings I have towards the Continental Contact tires is positive though. Punctures have been far and few between (2 or 3 in total from memory) and wear wise I think I’ll get another 2000km at least out of the rear.

Not too shabby at all considering these tires are almost exclusively ridden with some kind of load on the rear, even if it’s just a single half full pannier bag carrying some random crap.

Conclusion

All in all weighing up Surly’s choice of components over the headache of building a Long Haul Trucker up myself and having to pick out every little part, I’d say Surly have done a pretty good job. The brakes and seatpost are obviously the weak points in the component choice but overall I’m happy with how the parts have held up.

Even now retrospectively I’d still buy a Long Haul Trucker complete knowing which parts are likely to fail over building one up myself (and let’s face it, I’d be using Surly’s component choice as a guide anyway).

Looking forward I have no plans to get rid of my Long Haul Trucker so I’ll do another review like this after the next 15,000 kms rolls around. It’ll be interesting to see which parts are still original and which have been swapped out. And also if any of the swapped out parts have failed too.

Either way, unless you find tediously selecting each and every component for your bicycle exciting, I can highly recommend Surly’s choice of components in their Long Haul Trucker Complete build as a great starting point. And value for money wise, even building one up yourself you’re not going to do much better than the complete model anyway.

Swap out the saddle, maybe change the brakes, whack on some fenders and off you go!

When we found Leela the in the mountains of Miaoli County, one of the things I knew I had to accept was that sooner or later she was going to grow too large for my regular Deuter Rack Pack bicycle panniers.

Enjoying her time as a small puppy being carted around in one of my pannier bags, once Leela hit about 10kg or so last month sure enough I had to make the difficult decision to start leaving Leela at home.

After a few trips without our dog I realised that I had to come up with a solution to carry her. I was willing to invest in a dog trailer if need be, but having a Surly Long Haul Trucker, a touring bike designed for carrying heavy loads, a figured there must be some way to carry her along.

My first attempt at a medium-sized dog pannier involved a lot of chain and one of those metal baskets you use to hang garden pots off a balcony railing or some such.

The idea here was that the metal frame would be strong enough to carry the dog and the chain adequate enough to tie the basket to the rear rack.

Unfortunately upon rigging up the basket I soon realised that it was just too long in design to offer a stable platform for Leela to sit or lie down on. The metal frame was having trouble coping with her 11kg body weight and as such was bending towards the rear. The chain offered little support here due to the basket running past the length of the rear rack by a good 5-6 inches or so.

Additionally having the weight so high up resulted in quite a wobbly ride and the bike was nowhere near stable being wheeled around.

I realised that a ‘flat’ design wasn’t going to work and I had to go for a much deeper basket. Wanting to stick with metal for strength, I searched high and low for a deep metal basket but couldn’t find anything. At least nothing strong enough to withstand carting 10+ kg of dog around.

Giving up on a metal basket I decided to see what I could find in plastic and that first led me to laundry baskets. Plastic laundry baskets were the perfect size and depth for the dog pannier project but unfortunately being for laundry, every basket we found had holes in the exterior making the walls of the basket way too weak.

Any attempt at rigging up one of these baskets to the rear rack and placing Leela inside would inevitably lead to a collapse in the basket wall.

Kitchen bins were also another idea but again the ones we found were not designed to carry weight and had ridiculously thin walls that would also no doubt buckle.

Searching high and low, eventually I stumbled across a perfectly sized plastic tub that felt sturdy enough to carry some weight. It’s a storage tub and set me back around $350 TWD ($11.50 USD)  from Carrefour.

Already having a rear rack compatible with hooks, I hit up Hola hardware store and purchased two hooks along with a T-shaped metal bracket. I felt uneasy about a screw not digging into the plastic and over time slowly enlarging the hole it made in the wall of the tub until the wall cracked under pressure.

The T bracket I felt would take some of the load off the tub wall and prevent the hole in the plastic from cracking or growing.

I didn’t have access to a drill so but thankfully the screws the hooks came with were pointed so I just patiently turned them in with a screw driver until they’d punctured a hole through the tub wall.

Note that before you puncture the sidewall get on your bike and have someone hold up the basket along the rear rack where you want the tub to sit. This is to make sure you have adequate heel clearance when riding.

I decided not to use the pointy screws included with the hooks and instead opted to use 3/16″ x 1/2″ bolts with nuts to secure the basket. The bolts were thicker than the screws and had a flat end. I didn’t like the idea of pointy bits of the hook screws sticking out of the tub.

I had to slightly enlarge the hole with the screwdriver to fit the bolts, but after that they slid easily through.

I used the T brackets on the inside as the base of the hooks themselves acted like a washer on the outside of the basket.

I suppose if you want you could saw off the excess in the hooks for a cleaner design, but I don’t have access to a saw so I just left them as is.

I’ll also mention the design of the hooks themselves. On the rear I used just a standard one prong hook, but for the front I found this nifty two prong hook.

If you place the rack bar between the two prongs of the hook as shown, you can stop the basket sliding back along the rack railing.

Mind you, I’ve tested the tub with the two hooks towards the rear of the rack bar and noted that the tub only slightly inched it’s way back. I have my Kryptonite ‘Fahgettaboudit’ lock strapped to the front of my rack and this provided adequate pressure on the top of the hooks so that they didn’t slide around.

Finally, the last part of the design was a stabilizer around the bottom of the basket to stop it swinging around and/or lifting as I took turns.

The hooks I’ve used are quite ‘open’ in design and whilst they do securely fit the tub to the rear rack, they aren’t as secure as proper pannier hooks on my Deuter panniers. As such there’s plenty of swing movement to be found.

To secure the bottom of the tub I used a simple elasticated flat strap with hooks on either end.

Clipping the hooks onto the rear rack was resulted in adequate enough tension in the strap to keep the tub in place and stop it from rattling around.

The end result?

One very happy 12kg medium-sized dog who can now rejoin me on my travels around Taiwan.

Handling wise due to the deep design of the tub and the fact that it sits low like a pannier, I haven’t had any wobbling or steering trouble.

Even with a much lighter load on the otherside of the rack there aren’t any weight problems and the bike is quite steady to ride, even when coming to a stop at traffic lights and hopping off the seat to stand.

Wheeling the bike with the tub is a bit risky as it’s quite easy to lose the rear wheel if you turn the bike too far in either direction. As such when we stop I simply stop the bike and hop off my seat. After the girlfriend has lifted Leela out of the tub I then swing my leg over to dismount.

This system has thus far worked well and I’m happy to report there was no troubles on the recent 150km test ride we took to the Old Caoling Bikeway and back.

The pannier exceeded my expectations and performed brilliantly.

Luckily for us Leela has pretty much stopped growing and apart from putting on a bit of weight and filling out her frame I don’t see her outgrowing this set up. Weight wise the tub is quite sturdy and I think dogs up to 15kg shouldn’t be a problem. Anything over that and it might be worth thinking about adding an extra hook along the top to help distribute the weight more.

There is notably no rain protection with this setup, although the tub did come with a cover with a small square cut out of it. I suppose I could enlarge the square so that Leela’s head would stick out, but ultimately she’s still going to get wet.

I guess if it did start to bucket down we’d just have to pull over and wait it out. These days I don’t really carry my rain gear around so it’s not too much of a concern.

Total cost for the dog carrying tub setup is as follows;

• Tub – $350 TWD ($11.60 USD)
• Bolts – $30 TWD ($1 USD)
• T brackets (came as a pair) – $50 TWD ($1.65 USD)
• Flat strap – $150 TWD ($5 USD)
• Hooks (2) – $100 TWD each ($6.60 USD total)


Total: $25.85


Considering I was looking at trailers coming in at a few hundred USD… I think this solution was quite economic.

As a final note I’ll mention that this set up isn’t going to work on just any bike. For starters heel clearance is going to be an issue on smaller frames. The Long Haul Trucker has long rear chainstays so it wasn’t an issue for me.

Additionally the Trucker is built from steel and being a touring bike, is built for hauling around heavy loads like this whilst still providing the rider a steady ride to get around on.

If you have any handling issues with a single loaded pannier (load it up past 10kg to check) on your bike, this tub probably won’t work too well on your bike and will compromise the ride quality.

Here’s a roadtest video of the dog pannier in action;


If you’ve got any questions about the design or parts used, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Happy riding!

A fortnight ago I read enthusiastically about the newly renovated Old Caoling Bikeway.

Opened on October 30th with a 9am inauguration ride organised by Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Old Caoling Bikway (舊草嶺自行車道) starts off at Fulong train station and after entering the Old Caoling Tunnel, pulls a u-turn and runs along the beautifully scenic east coast of Gongliao District in Taipei County.

Wanting to get out there myself on the 30th, me the and girlfriend got up early on Sunday morning to head out. Unfortunately for us Taiwan’s weather had other ideas and about 20km into the ride, this happened;

Although the rain doesn’t look nearly as bad as it was in the photo, it was enough for me to call it an early day and begrudgingly, we turned around and headed back.

Waiting anxiously through the week itching to get back out there the next weekend, thankfully last Saturday we were blessed with 30+ degrees of pure sunshine and blue skies.

The perfect weather to undertake an epic 150km bike ride through Taiwan’s Old Caoling Bikeway.

Fulong Station

Fulong Station marks the start of the Old Caoling Bikeway and  as you can see is quite busy.

On the right there you’ve got lunchbox places to eat at and there are numerous bike rental places scattered throughout the immediate vicinity of the station.

If you are riding down to Fulong Station or come by car down Route number 2 along the coast, this is the intersection you want to stop at to turn right;

I probably could have taken a better photo of the intersection, but there were tons of cars and bicycles flying around in every direction and for some strange reason the intersection was market with traffic cones everywhere.

One poor traffic cop attempted to try to control the chaos but to little avail.

Fulong Station to the Old Caoling Tunnel

Turning right if you’re just coming out of Fulong Station (or left from the road 2 intersection above), there is a newly paved road starts off the Old Caoling Bikeway and takes you to the Old Caoling Tunnel.

As you can see, this path can get ridiculously busy. Adding to the chaos of inexperienced riders swerving all over the road is also the nonsensical inclusion of cars on the road;

At times, the inclusion of motor traffic on the bikeway can be downright dangerous:

Most of the time however, it’s pretty peaceful and your ride will look something like this;

Apart from the scenery, attractions on the way to the Caoling Tunnel included this group who stopped to play jumprope

and evidently a church,

y’know… just incase you forgot your morning prayers or something.

The Old Caoling Tunnel

Making your way off the paved road, you then briefly descend down into the Old Caoling Tunnel.

There’s some refreshments available around the entrance to the tunnel (the last available for the next 20km’s or so), so stock up if you need a drink.

The tunnel itself is 2km or so long and takes you right into the heart of the mountain it goes through, and then back out again.

Upon exiting the tunnel, riders are greeted with beautiful views of Turtle Island.

Be warned though, the path itself is chaotic and there are bikes and people sprawled out everywhere.

If you’re so inclined, there’s also a bit of grass for you to run around and perhaps eat a packed lunch on or just enjoy the seaside views;

For more detailed information on the Old Caoling Tunnel (including a video of the ride through), please refer to my previous article on it.

The Old Caoling Tunnel back to Fulong Station

After exiting the tunnel, you previously only had the option of turning back around and heading through it again back to Fulong Station.

With the finishing of the refurbishment of the Old Caoling Bikway, you can now enjoy a gloriously scenic ride back to the station along Taiwan’s east coast.

If anything stunned me like a hammer to the head, it was the deeply contrasting spectacle of Taiwan’s gargantuan east coast mountains meeting the wonderfully rich blue ocean roaring on the right of us.

I’m not too sure what this tower thing was, but it certainly stuck out like a sore thumb against the backdrop of mountains and ocean;

Anyone?

Rumbling along there’s plenty more scenic views to take on,

and at some point you come across this not-quite-finished-yet-but-still-very-perculiar-looking ‘Loveheart Lookout‘.

Dunno whose idea that was but I’ll save the rest of the photos of this love heart saturated monument to mushiness for another day.

As you continue, it’s not long before you reach the outskirts of Fulian Village.

Here the path detours off coastal highway 2 and you run through the fishing village.

The views were still quite nice though.

As we left the village, we ran past this funky looking place;

Apparently it’s some kind of local Fulian Village art studio with a series of whacky statues outside situated right on the shoreline.

Lucky them.

The end of Fulian Village was marked with this u-turn in the bikeway

which then lead to a rather steep incline;

Turning the corner after the incline, we then rolled into what I believe was called Maoao Fishery Village.

This descent had a wonderful view of a nearby mountain

Maoao Fishery Villge itself wasn’t all that large but it did extend off the shoreline a bit. We didn’t have time to poke around but I imagine there’d be some refreshments somewhere there.

Leaving the village you then entered this small path

This small path had some nice views, not as epic as the mountains before but more calming and tranquil;

Situated along the path was this randomly erected rainbow stand

A bit of a distance to travel to and not particularly close to anything, but a few people sat on the coloured steps to take a break.

Further down the path you descend once more onto what I can only assume was the outskirts of Maoao Fishery Village;

This tiny little series of houses takes the Old Caoling Bikeway right up to the shoreline and offers some pretty impressive picturesque moments.

We made use of the backdrop and took some photos of ourselves, and to share with you I set up the Long Haul Trucker and snapped a few;

This woman was kind enough to come out and offer to top up our water if we needed it.

The water was of course warm but we got the sense she was a bit lonely and didn’t mind stopping for a bit of a chat (well, my girlfriend did the talking, I just sat outside and watched the waves).

I’m not too sure if these were locals or tourists to the area,

but despite the big white writing on the road warning that the area was under video surveillance and nobody was allowed to fish there, there they were… fishing away.

As you leave the outskirts of Maoao Fishery Village, you pass through a few more houses

before heading back to Fulong Train Station.

For the most part, the path between the outskirts of Maoao Fishery Village and the train station looks pretty much like this;

Note in that second photo the sign posted distance we’d covered on the track. Once you leave Maoao Fishery Village these posts become much more frequent, and I don’t recall seeing too many, if any at all before we left the village.

This stretch of path was definitely a bit of a wind down scenery wise but still decent enough of a view to take in.

Also of note is that whilst the rest of the Old Caoling Bikeway is not lit, this final 4km or so stretch seemed to be the only part of the bikeway that had provisions for lighting;

Finally nearing the end of our trip, we approached the outskirts of Fulong

passing through the Fulong Beach area (a private beach that I’ve marked to visit at a later date)

There weren’t too many temples in the area but this was probably the largest, what I believe to be DongXin Temple;

And finally, the path back towards the intersection,

and the end of the path where we started from;

All in all, quite an eventful and relaxing ride. Note that there is about another 5km of path that extends northward to Aodi, but due to a lack of light we didn’t make it up there. I felt the round trip was good enough in any case, and unless you had nothing better to do there’s no real reason to take the extra 5kms.

The route we took is highlighted below in red and came to about 20-25kms in total (click for Google Maps).

Access to the bikepath can either be via car or bicycle from Taipei City (50-60kms) or via the TRA train line down to Fulong Train Station.

Having ridden up in the morning we did try to catch a train home with the bicycles (we’d done about 80-90km for the day at this point), but we were told we’d have had to of waited two hours or so for an available ticket on the train.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this was due to not too many spots per train for bicycles and a ton of people wanting to take their bicycles back with them. If you’re going to travel by train to Fulong Station and bring your own bicycle, I’d highly recommend booking in advance.

We instead rode back the way we came, coming in at just under 150km in the saddle for the day.

Definitely recommended riding as a weekend getaway or daytrip up in Taiwan’s northern Gongliao District if you find yourself in the area.

Known to most Taiwanese folk through recital of the famous Taiwanese nursery rhyme, ‘Diu Diu Dong’ about a train going into the tunnel and the sound of water dripping inside, the Old Caoling Tunnel (舊草嶺隧道) is a designated ‘old historic site’ by both Yilan and Taipei counties.

Construction on the Old Caoling Tunnel began in 1921 until the project was finished in 1924 and although retired in 1986, the tunnel still serves as an important cultural and historic landmark for Taiwan.

Stretching in at just over 2 kilometers in length (2167 meters), the Caoling Tunnel was the longest tunnel in Taiwan when it was built nearly 100 years ago (I’m not sure how long it remained so).

Re-opened in 2006 as a bikepath, Today instead of trains rumbling through the tunnel one instead can find hordes of bicycles.

Yesterday, I was on one of them.

A short ride from Fulong train station, the entrance to the Caoling tunnel is decorated with many train themed statues (either by association or looking like they were built with train parts) along with an old retired train itself.

Here you had a horse along with little cannon looking things made out what I believe were old train signals.

These man and woman statues were looking their industralist best;

Meanwhile these large blue painted train wheels welcomed riders approaching the tunnel entrance.

On display was also this old orange train;

Note the red ‘no climbing’ sign on the second photo… and the inevitable unsupervised child climbing the train.

The Fulong side entrance of the Caoling tunnel is overgrown with green shrubbery and trees and really looks as if over time that nature itself has reclaimed the surface it was built on.

Note the policeman standing at the entrance to make sure order is kept and nobody is riding dangerously. Although you can’t see it in the photo (getting a clear shot of the tunnel was hard due to the popularity of the site), an inscription on the Fulong side reads: ‘Overcoming obstacles of nature‘.

Given the clear dominance of the greenery around the entrance, I’m not too sure this inscription still rings true.

The inside of Caoling tunnel is a mostly grey affair with interesting patternwork on the ground detailing the often ignored bicycle lanes riders are supposed to adhere to.

‘Cultural revolution’ style Chinese music was pumped through the length of the tunnel via invisible speakers and placed every 100m or so were also fire hydrants, I guess just incase anyone’s bicycle simultaneously burst into flames…

Here’s a video I took of the entire 2 kilometer ride through;


Upon exiting the tunnel on the Shihcheng side, things are even more chaotic than they were on the Fulong side.

After riding through the tunnel, riders are immediately rewarded with some pretty nice views of Turtle Island.

In the immediate area just past the tunnel entrance there’s also some open space to relax and perhaps eat a packed lunch;

Interestingly enough, whilst the new train line isn’t visible from the Fulong side of the Caoling Tunnel entrance, on the Shihcheng side the train line runs right next to the park area.

If you’re patient enough, it doesn’t take long to witness a TRA train run past at speed on its way down the east coast.

Unfortunately there’s no way to continue down to Shihcheng after exiting the tunnel and this point you’ve got the option of returning through the Caoling Tunnel, or taking the newly opened Caoling Bikeway.

The Caoling Bikeway just opened last weekend and was the main reason I down in Gongliao District of Taipei County.

Unlike the bike paths I’ve cycled on Taiwan’s west coast, the Caoling Bikeway was at times breathtakingly beautiful and picturesque.

Till then, I’ll leave you with this shot of the entrance to the Caoling Tunnel from the Shihcheng side;

Note that like its Fulong counterpart, the Shihcheng entrance also has an inscription that reads: ‘Where white clouds fly’.

Getting to Caoling Tunnel is a relatively easy affair and those wishing to visit either have the option of cycling out to the tunnel from Taipei (what I did) which is a 150km or so round trip, or catching a TRA train to Fulong Station.

After you exit Fulong station, you can either hire a bicycle from one of the many vendors around and head down the newly resurfaced road down to the tunnel (turn right as you exit the station) or walk down (20-30 mins) and hire a bicycle from just outside the tunnel itself.

Caoling Tunnel is situated in Taiwan’s north up in Gongliao District in Taipei County. The tunnel is open daily from 9am to 5pm to visitors but note that on holidays (weekends and public holidays), only bicycles are permitted to enter the tunnel (though I did see some people walking through it). Prams and tricycles are also not permitted to enter the tunnel.

I have no idea where it comes from (perhaps due to the population density of Taiwan, doing whatever it takes to make your vehicle stand out in the crowd), and despite the silliness of it all seems to have taken on a sub-culture of its own.

Now that’s all very well if you’re of age to own your very own scooter or car… but what about the younger generation?

Well, turns out Taiwan’s kids have adopted their elder’s fanaticism with unique automotive styling and adapted it to what they have available… namely bicycles.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold the craziest bicycle fender styling you’ll ever see;

From the looks of it, the owner has bought a bunch of rear plastic detachable fenders and simply bolted them together to create one giant monstrosity.

For me, the beauty of the bicycle fender has always been in it’s simplicty of design and ability to melt into the bicycle’s natural styling. This guy however, clearly has other ideas. I mean cmon, does your fender really have to sit higher then you do on the bicycle. And what’s with the massive tire clearance?

Does this design even work??

Granted it’s just a bog standard dual suspension mountain bike (a favourite of students in Taiwan), but surely this guy realises that adding more fenders onto your rear doesn’t make your bike look any cooler?

Points for effort and creativity sure, but sorely negated by the fact that you look like a complete moron cycling around!

Spotted in Toufen Township in Miaoli County, unfortunately the owner was nowhere in sight so I was unable to ask them about it. Meanwhile, fast forward a few years and I’d love to see what this person does to their first scooter or car…

Often next to footpaths (or combined), Taiwan’s bike paths seem to appear, disappear, merge with roads and take you places you don’t really want to go.

And that’s just the paths! Whilst travelling on them you’ve also got to watch out for random stray dogs, speeding blue trucks and of course my favourite – bloody scooters who think bike paths are a scooter express lane.

Despite the Taiwanese government making some noticeable effort at building more bike paths (that sadly also don’t seem to take you anywhere you want to go and make no sense when integrated into the existing infrastructure), this is how seriously the locals themselves take Taiwanese bike paths;

Spotted on a ride through Jhunan (Zhunan) Township in Miaoli County, it’s an all too common illustration of what could be wonderful cycling infrastructure, but is sadly built in the middle of nowhere not on the way to anything and is subsequently ignored by locals.

A perfect photo summarization of Taiwan’s current bike paths and urban cycling culture if ever there was one.

For now I’ve settled on a cheap yumcha bicycle stand but each day I’m reminded that it’s only a short term solution. When standing the bike isn’t as sturdy as I’d like it to be and due to the cheapness of the stand it probably only has about another year in it before I’ll have to replace it.

In my search for a suitable kickstand for my Long Haul Trucker, the most viable solutions thus far have been the Clickstand and Pletscher twin leg kickstand.

For now I’ve ruled out the clickstand on the basis that it’s annoying to have to flick it out each time and bind my handlebar brakes each time I stop. That in my mind isn’t convenient and kind of negates the reason for getting a kickstand in the first place.

The Pletscher on the other hand worries me as that little area above the bottom bracket on the Long Haul Trucker isn’t designed to house a stand and I’ve read all sorts of things about chainstays collapsing under load.

Surly themselves refuse to address the issue so it’s been left up to Long Haul Trucker fans themselves to come up with a solution.

Recently I was contacted by OzSoapbox reader Claude Rioual and not only had he knocked up his own solution to the Long Haul Trucker kickstand problem – but it looks pretty damn good too!


Foreword: Engineering and knocking things up in the workshop is something I’ve never been good at. For this reason I’ve omitted my own commentary and instead relied on Claude himself.

Truth is I got fed up when everyone told me you can’t successfully install a stand on the Surly. This mount took me around 2 hours to make and install.

4 pieces of 1/4″ lexan glued and stacked. Shape is determined by trial and error. I used paper and then cardboard to get a tight fit.

Depth was established using a crescent wrench (adjustable spanner?) depth corresponds to the width of the chain stays.

Lexan (Poly-carbonate) was cut oversized and pinned and glued with contact cement and small brads (nails).

I used a band saw to cut the pieces as one unit. A saber saw or even a hacksaw will work too. However, a small cabinet or glass shop can cut this for little money.

I then used a belt sander and sanded down the unit until it slipped in and out between the stays. (the sander will create heat and loosen the contact cement, hence the brads/nails. Sand the top until the nails are flush.

IMPORTANT; this block should be slightly smaller than the stays are thick. I used 5 lexan pieces, 1/4″ each; together they are less than 1 1/4″.

If the block is too thick the stand will move around. Rubber gasket material is used to make up the difference and creates a tight fit. See drawing.

Top Plate was made large enough to extend sightly over the centerline of chain stays. It is flush at the front of spacer block and extends only to the cutout. For appearance I chamfered the top edge of the top plate.

Use double sided tape on the spacer block. Hold spacer block in place and line up top plate and press in position. Mark and drill top plate and spacer block.

Remove top plate and slightly enlarge these holes so screws do not bind. In spacer block tap the holds to the thread size of the machine screws used. (I used 3/4″ #8 stainless phillip head screw).

If a tap is unavailable simply use a drill motor with a screw and slowly work the screw in and out until the thread is cut.

Screw the unit together and check the fit between the stays it should be able to wiggle a wee bit. With the unit in place ‘eyeball’ the placement of the kickstand and mark the center line for the mounting hole.

Drill a hole to accept the mounting bolt (the hole needs to be a little larger to allow the bolt to slip through without catching the threads). Countersink the top plate so bolt is flush with top plate.

Gasket material is rubber. Tire tube is cut to the width and length of the base of the kickstand.

The rubber pieces are glued to get the proper thickness. I used 3 pieces glued and stacked below the spacer block and 2 additional pieces between the chain stays and and the first 3. See the drawing for clarification!

The pressure created by the bolt and the kickstand is transferred to the area of the spacer block. The gasket that covers the chain stays creates enough friction so the kickstand will not rotate.

Last bike-packing trip my bike weighted 80# and the stand held firm.


The schematic diagram Claude’s notes reference is included below (click to enlarge);

Despite not understanding half of that – I must say the end result looks freaking awesome!

Here’s the kickstand mount itself;

and here it is mounted on Claude’s Long Haul Trucker;

Unfortunately I myself don’t have the know how to reproduce Claude’s mounting bracket but I’m publishing this in the hope that it benefits those that do. If you’ve got any followup questions feel free to shoot Claude an email over at claude.rioual(AT)gmail.com (published with permission).

Being a touring bike the Long Haul Trucker really needs a kickstand solution as in places like Taiwan it’s just not feasible to rest your bicycle on something or on the ground each and every time you stop.

Sadly for now Surly don’t seem to care but here’s hoping they eventually listen to the people riding their bikes and help us out in the future. If Surly themselves came out with a ready made bracket themselves I’m sure I’m not the only one who would snatch one up in a flash.

Till then, hats off to people like Claude for making it happen!