Equipment list

March 29th, 2009

Camping:

  1. MSR Hubba Hubba HP tent - see pictures below - Strange but fantastic, You can see where the cost goes, Its about the aluminium poles, the quality of shock cord, the engineering. Smaller than I imagined but incredibly light. Expensive, but it seems to be a designed and developed tent with evidence of experience. I’ll let you know how it performs.
  2. MSR patch repair kit - seems sensible!
  3. MSR Footprint- Its an extra ground sheet for the tent, for rough ground. The wrong size but Im sure it will be fine when Ive changed it. Also recommended by Chris Scott as he crossed the Sahara for changing tyres on and avoiding sand in your bushes…Ill leave you with that thought for all you non mechanics…(thats me pretending I know what a motorcylce bush might be!) Oh, and thanks Rock Bloc, I found it for free on the net so they threw it in. Thank you!
  4. MSR Dragonfly & 6oz fuel bottle - The only adjustable mountain stove. It runs on any fuel including petrol, so its easy, but its not cheap. Read up and you will find that if you get a stove running on gas or spirit, in some parts of the world you will pay a fortune for what amounts to fuel for a meal. Petrol seems sensible to this use but not for the worlds’ environment.
  5. MSR Sweetwater purification system- I really dont know if Ill need it, but pure water seems important. I cant work out though. Is this is the ‘Bleach clean surfaces brigade’ telling us everything is unclean and we should be careful? Is it just sense? Im am glad Rock Bloc gave me the advise that livivng for more than six weeks on Iodine cleansing will bugger my kidneys though!  So maybe this will be usefull after all. I wont know until I get there, wherever there is.
  6. MSR hydration bag- compatable to sweetwater purifier so you can pump straight from one into the other, then attach a drinking hose to carry the water and drink as you go. I dont understand why its black though, surely this attracts heat…I read in Chris Scotts book that a good idea is to put a small hole in the bag and let it leak. as it does it covers the bag with moisture that wicks away and cools the bag and contents. Not going to try it though as I dont want a leaky bag!
  7. Thermarest Trail Lite - MSR by any other name. Self inflating mattress, open the valve and leave for 15 minutes to get a mattress of 5cm thickness and a thermal resistance against the cold, or equally heat. Also consider that snakes like the warmth of your body at night so maybe insulation from the ground works both ways and the snakes might bugger off elsewhere…
  8. Thermarest travel pillow- same as a rest mattress but much smaller! I thought it would save me from stuffing a sack with old socks and tee shirts as a pillow, Im sure I will be happy I did but I did think it would shrink down smaller…still auseful invention though.
  9. Mountain Equipment Cloud Rest sleeping bag- Interesting neck collar and fill down power of 600, baffels at 125mm and inner smaller than the outer with pockets for valubles and button hoops in the small foot pocket. I want to be warm when its cold but also need to know it will be reliable. I researched a different bag so Im taking this on faith from Richard at Rack Bloc….but will it do the job? Should protect to -15 degrees C - Also thanks to Phil  -my older Bro for telling whats good and bad about bags! I bought one last year for £50 and it fell apart…
  10. Cocoon silk liner bag (anyone got two buttons to donate?) - It lifts the sleeping bag temps by 5 degrees and protects the bag from wear. but doesnt zip down the side so you have to ask….when you get up in the night for a wee…do you have to get kind of undressed? Would be better with a zip. Maybe I give it to Anne for an afternoon to see what she can do. Oh and the two buttons..It buttons into the sleeping bag toe.
  11. Sealine Baja bags - ideal way to keep stuff dry, 2x 30l and 1×20l, tent, foam matress and pillow in one, sleeping bag in another and the thermarest in the final smaller bag, all in bright yellow!
  12. Black Diamond Icon LED headlight - again MSR by any other name. Took two reads of the instructions to get it but its an LED light with 7 power functions - I cant fault it, other than needing 3x aa batteries and Freeloader only charges 2 but…we will work that out. Cant say Im thant happy about a light on my head though. Something just doesnt seem natural about it but I cant put my finger on it…
  13. Pots - Rock Bloc kindly gave me these, they are non stick and they are pots…what else do you wanna know?
  14. Spork -Sounds fun looks funnier but Im not sure how useful it may be. Perhaps good for stirring stew as its temperature stable.
  15. Spigg- More like it ! Fantastic ! Richard at Rock Bloc showed me this Fork Spoon Knife combo and its great it all seperates and the knife is just so cool! search it find it buy it
  16. Freeloader and supercharger- I have to admit that this Photovoltaic charger has me foxed just now. When Ive tryed it for a while I’ll be more appreciative. It has potential as its marketed as just what I need but…I doubt PV have the capacity to endure the travel and the batteries…for this price I doubt they have staying power. I hope they prove me wrong as I have  vested nature in environmentalism. I think the technology is in its infancy though. Very cool idea.
  17. Lifesystems World Traveller First Aid pack- Need an injection? This First Aid pack fills a need but Ill wait to see what extras I add in…Its not comprehensive by any means and Chris Scott suggests Analgesic for  snake bite and Ibupafen for Scorpian…but Im not sure if its that way round…
  18. Lifesystems Mosquito Net - single and a bargain at £5
  19. Lifesystems mug - thermos that you fill with hot water and place a tea bag in the top sealed container. Then later in the day you stop and have a brew! fantastic.
  20. Pac safe - I dont want yet another bag/security device ecause its just one more thing to have to undo, but security of stuff thrown over the bike is an issue. Pac safe do fix the idea but still!!! Any how - one per baja bag.
  21. Foam mattress - old bit of kit from Quencha, only 10mm thick, it will do for the cold ground until its too knackered to use, by which time Ill be into the warmer climes.

Stuff:

  1. Loads of SD cards - 256 or 512 so I can send one back when its full and carry on taking pics.
  2. Pentax Optio W20 - Waterproof, dust proof, true stainless steel, 7MP.
  3. Many Many maps from Stanforths
  4. Must not forget my hat.

Clothing:

  1. Ice Breakers - gloves, two tops and two bottoms and two pairs of socks. Made from Merino wool, supposed to be smell free and natural fibre. the tops are 150 weight and the bottoms 200 weight for no other reason than thats what was in stock.
  2. Balaclava - made from synthetic silk, whats that then? What does that mean? Isnt that just nylon?
  3. Arai Tour X3 - the stars at Pheonix gave me this to match the bike, great helmet with peak and visor, pinlock, spares, spare visor, fog city in each colour….
  4. Frank Thomas textile jacket and trousers - my old bike kit. Comes with removable liner and windstopper.
  5. Boots - I know I should have X boots, but money is becoming a problem so I think my Alpine stars are going to make the trip.

Bike stuff:

  1. Innertubes - 3 front, 3 rear  from Continental. Via Grippers.
  2. Tyres - one front one rear TKX80 from Continental, thanks fellas! They said they would get me the same tyres Ewan used, I said I would prefer new ones! Again via Grippers.
  3. Tubed puncture repair kit - while I do need the patches Im also interested in the CO2 cartridges as a back up to the little compressor I have. Demon Tweaks.
  4. 12v Little compressor - for pumping up the tyres, its quite little! Ebay.
  5. Silva Compass- simple and seems like a good idea, I dont what to lick fir cones or scrape bark off a tree to find north.
  6. Lightweight Motrax Bike Cover - I want someting grey and ugly and this fits the bill. THe plainer the better, I want to distract attention not attract it. Demon Tweaks.
  7. 250mm of Stainless tube at 25mm OD - need a lever to put on a monkey wrench.
  8. 7inch visegrips
  9. 9inch G clamp - to break the seal on the tyres
  10. Torx
  11. Allen keys
  12. Pliers
  13. Screwdrivers
  14. Spanners 10-16mm
  15. Teng mini socket set up
  16. Original toolkit
  17. Buzzetti tyre levers
  18. Assorted bulbs
  19. Assorted Fuses
  20. Autocom - how can you ride without one?
  21. EBC  sintered new pads and spare pads
  22. New Oddysey battery
  23. NGK spark plugs new and spare
  24. Oil filter new and spare
  25. Spare clutch cable
  26. Spare throttle cable
  27. Duct tape
  28. PVC tape
  29. Cable ties
  30. Cable connectors
  31. Bits of tube
  32. Hagon Progressive Front springs -
  33. 10W weight spring oil.
  34. Gaitors
  35. Braided hoses - with remakable hose unions from East Midlands Hydraulics.
  36. Touratech bar risers
  37. K&N Air filter - washable and a finer filter for desert work.
  38. Water pump spares
  39. Loobman - Scottoiler type thing cheap and good for the job
  40. Oxford tank bag - hate oxford stuff but I already had it and it does the job, with no fuel tank and a plastic cover you need a bagalux, Im not paying for that so out came a sewing machine and the velcro.
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