36,000 km: how the bike and equipment performed
The final assessment
36,000 kilometers and 212,000 meters of climbing on the bike, from a cold -5 to a scorching 42 ° C, from sketchy forest paths to multi-lane highways, from dry sandstorms to continuous rain, and all with a total weight (bike + luggage + driver) of approx 145 kg: the bike and all the clutter in the panniers had to endure a lot. Here I will give a brief overview of what breakdowns and wear and tear occurred.
Together with the previous cycling trips, the bike and most of the equipment have now covered a total of around 40,000 kilometers. First of all: The bike performed very well. Almost every component was selected for maximum durability and low maintenance, which paid off.
Frame and racks
The most important thing: There was no frame breakage or any luggage rack breakage. As described in the previous article, in the first 10,000 kilometers there was a break in a rear rack retaining screw. Fortunately, this problem did not reoccur after the repair. With the help of the abrasion protection rollers, the surfaces of the luggage racks could be protected against wear. The plastic rollers themselves are so durable that they are still in very good shape.
Hubs and axles
In this category, after the first 10,000 kilometers (fishing string in the gear hub on Sonja's bike and a broken front axle on my bike, see previous article), there were no new incidents either. The Rohloff Speedhub and the SON hub dynamo have not caused any problems and are still running perfectly. There was also not a single broken shift cable and no problems with the cables and contacts of the hub dynamo.
Tires and tubes
The answer to probably the most common question: I had a flat tire a total of 15 times on my trip around the world. The rear wheel was affected 12 times and the front wheel 3 times. Incidentally, six of the flat tires occurred in Arizona and Texas, where spiked seeds (“goatheads”) can make life on the bike difficult.
In total I used three pairs of tires (Schwalbe Marathon Mondial, 26”). I changed the first pair after just over 9,000 kilometers in Cyprus so that I could travel to Asia with fresh tires. The second pair of tires lasted 14,600 kilometers, although after about 9,000 kilometers I swapped the tires on the front and rear wheels because the tire on the rear wheel experiences more wear than the one in the front. The third pair of tires had traveled around 12,000 kilometers by the end of the round-the-world trip and will now need to be replaced again soon.
Brakes and wheels
In total I changed the brake pads on one of the wheels 9 times because they were too worn (Magura “7.S” pads on “MDR-C” discs (front wheel) or on the Rohloff-compatible discs (rear wheel, disc diameter 180 mm each)). At one point I also had to replace almost new pads because they were contaminated with oil. I only had to readjust the rear brake caliper once. Bleeding the brakes was never necessary. Since they are disc brakes, there was of course no wear of the rim sides.
The wheels proved to be rock-solid: both the front and rear wheels did not show a single broken spoke or broken rim over 40,000 total kilometers (rims: Ryde Andra 30). Both wheels are still in the same condition as when they were delivered!
Drivetrain
The sprocket, chainring and chain each come from the “10,000km+” range from the manufacturer KMC. I already suggested in the previous article that the “plus” could be quite generous. And the service life of these comparatively massive components was really more than impressive: I changed the sprocket, chainring and chain once after 23,900 kilometers (!), which means that this chain system can have the service life of a belt drive.
The Hope Tech bottom bracket was also particularly durable, having been installed for 36,000 kilometers and still running perfectly. During this time I have only dismantled, cleaned and re-greased it once.
Panniers
As described in the 10,000 kilometer article, the wire rope on the handlebar bag holder broke once. A replacement part could be found in Istanbul. This problem no longer occurred as the trip progressed. Screws on the back of the front panniers kept coming loose, but this problem was always solved by checking the screws regularly and carrying a few spare screws with me.
Miscellaneous
Unfortunately, the Cycle2Charge charger, which is connected to the hub dynamo, broke at some point after the entire equipment was exposed to constant salt spray for several days on the western sea coast of Sumatra. The Brooks leather saddle has reached a service life of 40,000 kilometers but is now in poor condition and cannot be used for much longer. The Ergon grips on the handlebars and the handlebar twist shifter of the Rohloff gear are also now very worn, but this is completely within expectations. Two weld seams on the Cinq Expedition Cage bottle cage broke, but this was fixed with cable ties.
There were not many problems with the other equipment. The pants had to be sewn every now and then and the sleeping mat had to be patched once. From Mumbai on I was traveling with a lighter Decathlon tent, which leaked once. The light laptop was very easy to transport in a slightly stronger sleeve in one of the panniers. Since modern laptop hard drives no longer have any moving parts (solid state drive, SSD), it survived the shocks well.
Flying with the bicycle
I packed the touring bike for a flight a total of six times. To do this, I always dismantled the front wheel, front mudguard, front luggage rack, headlight, handlebars, saddle and pedals and attached them to the bike with cable ties. In the bicycle box, which I always got from local bicycle shops, I then padded the frame tubes with a jacket and fleece jacket, the rear wheel with the sleeping mat and the front part of the bike with the sleeping bag. I always put a plastic spacer in the fork and the front brake caliper. I was lucky and the bike packaged in this way always arrived safely at its destination.