I mentioned last weekend that I would be featured in the June/July edition of Cycling UK’s Cycle Magazine. The editor, Dan Joyce, asked me to contribute to a piece he was putting together about the different syles of cycle tourer. He has described me as a ‘European-style tourer’ which seems fair enough. If you are a member of Cycling UK, hopefully you will enjoy the read. I encouraged you in that initial post to look out for the kit lists. Dan Joyce has just sent through a copy of the full article and it is indeed interesting comparing the four kit lists.
The other contributors to the article are Susanna Thornton – a ‘Bromption tourer’, Cass Gilbert – an ‘off-road adventurer’ and Josh Reid – a ‘bike packer and adventurer racer’. Dan asked us to provide a list of about 10 things that we would recommend. He wasn’t asking for an exhaustive list and below is a comparison of what we sent him. I’ve added some more entries of my own (in CAPITALS) which don’t appear in the magazine list.
| Andrew P. Sykes | Susanna Thornton | Cass Gilbert | Josh Reid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bike | Koga WorldTraveller Signature | Brompton P Line 3-Speed | Jones Titanium plus LWB Spaceframe (for his dog!) | Giant Revolt X Advanced Pro 0 |
| Tent | MSR Hubba Hubba 2-Person | Hilleberg Akto | ||
| Furniture | Alite Mayfly chair | Hellinox Zero chair / Thermarest Trekker chair | ||
| Straps | Voile straps | Restart Fast straps | ||
| Bell | Japanese Crane Bell | |||
| Navigation | Handlebar-mounted compass | Mapout app | ||
| Mounts | Quad Lock | Quad Lock | ||
| Map holder | Topeak tablet dry bag | |||
| Drinking | Mocha coffee pot / UNIVERSITY OF YORK PLASTIC MUG | Coffee funnel / Thermos flask | GSI Java Drip coffee maker / Hydro Flask 16z Thermos | |
| Cooking | Sea-to-Summit collapsible cooking pot | Trangia stove / Trangia Multidisc | GSI Pot scraper | |
| Eating | SEA-TO-SUMMIT BOWL | Military collapsible bowl | Emergency Clif Nut Butter bar | |
| Eyewear | Prescription sunglasses secured with a Sinner string cord | Generic eye-mask | ||
| Sleeping | VANGO | Pillowcase | Earplugs | |
| Lighting | PETZ HEAD LAMP | UCO Mini candle lantern | Exposure Lights six pack | |
| Pedals | SHIMANO EH500 SPD | Pedalling Innovations Catalyst pedals | ||
| Footwear | MERREL SANDALS | Bedrock Cairn Evo Pro sandals | ||
| Tyre-related | SCWALBE MARATHON PLUS | Flextail Tiny Pump 2X | Restart tyre boot kit / Topeak Mountain Morph pump | |
| Sounds | APPLE EARPHONES WITH CABLE | Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 headphones | Rode Shotgun mic | |
| Camera | IPHONE / GOPRO HERO / DJI MINI 2 DRONE | Canon EOS R6 Mark II / DJI Mini 4 Pro drone | ||
| Clothing | ENDURA PADDED UNDER SHORTS | Café du Cycliste Edith windproof jacket | ||
| Medical | LIFESYSTEMS FIRST AID KIT | Chamois Butt’r Ultra Balm |
I wonder how Susanna, Cass and josh would fill their gaps.
Here’s the ‘tech’ kit I carried with me in the summer of 2022 on my ‘Grand Tour’. More details in this post.
More general kit info below:
Here are a selection of pages from the magazine that are available online:
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Le Grand Tour on a Bike Called Wanda, was published in May 2024 and recounts Andrew P. Sykes’ journey around France, into the Alps and down the Rhine in the summer of 2022. It is available as a paperback and as and eBook from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com (and other international Amazon sites). The paperback is also available from Waterstones or Foyles and the eBook from Apple iBooks.
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