Ornaments for the LHT

List of various items purchased for the LHT

March 19, 2019 - In anticipation of the Darjeeling trip, I pulled the trigger on a pair of Kool Stop brake pads also.  The online reviews of the model are very reassuring. Bums on The Saddle, Bangalore is the preferred supplier at Rs 1200 each pair plus Rs 100 for shipping. So a total damage of Rs 2500. I was a little confused about which brake pads to opt for. I had thought I could just change the rubber on the stock Tektro that everyone online says are pretty useless. BOTS's Gautam told me the Kool Stop upgrade demands you change the holder and the rubber both. Kool Stop rubber may not fit the Tektro holder (I am assuming they are called holders).

Kool Stop has various types of brake pads. My brakes are called Cantilever Threaded Post type. Gautam advised me to go for Kool Stop V-Type Holder W/Dual Compound Inserts. That's the official name of the model I opted for. The dual compound is supposed to work great in both dry and wet conditions. We shall see how true that is in the hills. But they are certainly bigger than the Tektros.

I intend to carry the Tektro brakes that came stock with my bike as a back up. Jyotisko Biswas, who has done a marathon trans-Himalayan bike ride last year told me that it is possible to burn the brake pads if you don't stop frequently during the sharp descents.

I have to see how good I am at changing the brake pads. Have seen all the videos that are there on youtube on the subject. Let the pads arrive and then I shall see how good they are. Otherwise will have to call Someswar.

March 18, 2019 - Pulled the trigger on the Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour tyres. Two of them. For the front and the back. From Bums on The Saddle, Bangalore Size 26x175. Supplier is BOTS at Rs 4020 each. So a straight Rs 8040 debited from the credit card. Actually I always aspired to have them, given the rave reviews I have read about them from actual users and world tourers. But I deferred the decision so far thinking they are too expensive for me. They are practically puncture proof, with a special coating inside. These are perhaps heavier and slower than normal tyres. But I would prefer not to replace a tyre on the roadside in the mountains over going a bit slower than the others.

I don't mind replacing tyres. It takes a few minutes and a little dirtied hands. But inflating a 26x1.75 tube on the roadside with a small pump is a punishment that I would hate to go through. Even after pumping for half an hour I would be damned if I could reach 30 psi. Perhaps a better pump would be a good upgrade to make some time in future.

The more the journey date for the Darjeeling trip comes forward the more I am getting worried about various thing. Somehow, Monisha said, if you think they are necessary you should go for them. So I did.

Let's see when they arrive. Will fit them to the bike and see how they feel. Will write a report after the journey.


March 3, 2019 - Rear carrier and Two Bottle Cages - Decathlon. Bought these to make my bike road trip worthy. Installed the bottle cages. They look fine on the bike, being black. More importantly, they can take in 1 litre water bottles. These are the really cheap bottle cages, if not the cheapest available in India. Decathlon had the other smarter looking ones like my Elite. But I am more than certain they wouldn't have been capable of holding the 1 lit bottles - a problem I have with the Elite cage as well. I think I will buy a third one too. The bottles fit in tight and I doubt if they will come off just like that due to road rattle.

I am yet to install the carrier. Possibly tonight. It's a small and compact carrier. But it should be able to do the job of carrying my 20 lit Deuter. As I realised, carrying the sack on the shoulder on mountain roads will not be feasible. It's a stupid thing to attempt really. I will have to do the assembly in Siliguri, which is fine. I don't think it's anything more than turning a few bolts. We have one full day in Siliguri.

February 14, 2019 - Bluemels SKS Commuter mudguards (26 1.6 to 2.1) and Axiom Elastic Cargo Net - Happy Earth -  Rs 2294 + Rs 4437. Bought these in preparation for the upcoming trip to Mirik. Was very disappointed with the way the box was packed and wrote a stinker to the shop. Lucky that nothing fell off. Also the fenders were imported (they are made in Germany) long ago and were obviously gathering dust on the shelves somewhere in their warehouse. I will try to install these on this Sunday and see how it goes. I found the fenders are imported by a company called Ozone Ventures in Pune.

The mudguards are made of a combination of materials - aluminium and plastic. It's a shiny black in colour and are very very light.


February 6, 2019 - Trek n Ride Cycle Carrying Sack (MTB version with wheels) - Amazon (Cloudtail) - Rs 3990. I bought this cycle carrying bag for the upcoming, planned tour to the Darjeeling hills with Rana. Our plan is to go to Siliguri by bus (ticket booked already). This will be needed for the journey to and from Silguri. In Siliguri I plan to leave this at the Exide office, to be collected back when I return.

There are other similar soft bags available with Btwin. Perhaps a little cheaper. I found the reviews bad. This bag has a plastic stiffener for the three sides - basically a strip of plastic that you insert into the sleeve pockets on the three sides (the fourth side has the chain). There are two wheels in a corner for easy pulling on level roads. There are two pockets on either side of the bag for the wheels. However, there is no padding as such on those pockets. I will have to cover the delicate parts separately and use foam tubes for the frame.

The bag seems fairly large but the material may not be very strong. I think it's larger than the cardboard boxes in which my cycles came. Haven't measured it precisely. It can be somewhat rolled up to make it slightly smaller and compact for storage (pic on the right - the way it arrived from Amazon) but nothing so small that you could carry it with your cycle. I don't think I want to store it in my flat here. I would prefer to keep it in our house in Metro Park and bring it over before a trip. But then that has its own risks again.

I will add more once I have done a practise loading of the bike into the bag and then after I come back from the trip. I have half a mind to get a couple of bags, rather sleeves with foam padding inside, made for the wheels.

The bag's features can be described here. Two pockets on either side for the wheels. Large enough for even 29 inch wheels I guess. There is a large pocket inside for keeping this and that. Then there is that stiffener (which will need to be taken out if you want to roll it like the picture above). There are two wheels for pulling along. There are handles for hanging the bag on your shoulder.

December 17, 2018 - Ice Toolz Trousers Clip - Amazon - Rs 290 - if you want to cycle with full pants or trousers, as one has to in winter, you need these clips. They are a safety precaution. I remember my uncles in Shantiniketan used to use them. Those days, these things used to be made of thin steel.

This one is plastic with a nice 3M reflector pasted. I checked it out with my office trousers. They fit just fine. I love the orange colour of IceToolz. It's their signature colour it seems, much like the KTM brand. The plastic looks and feels sturdy. What is important, and it cannot be judged right away, is for how long it remains tight enough. It might eventually get loose and wide with use and then start slipping away. How soon or late that happens is the question and the real test.

November 27/2018 - Pro Bike Gear Griffon Anatomic Fit Saddle - BOTS - Rs 7650 - pulled the trigger on the Griffon. Yet to pay because I ordered cash on delivery. I had always wanted to get for myself a Brooks. But there are mixed reports on that. Also getting a Brooks in India is such a difficult task. The reports on Griffon seem good. The brand is owned by Shimano.

Buying a saddle without riding it is always going to be taking a chance. Let me see how it goes. I went to the saddle selector that they have on their site. I declared myself as less flexible and they suggested the Griffon. They define flexibility as the ability to touch your toes from a sitting position with the legs extended. I can quite easily do that. But I chose less flexible because on the bike I prefer a more upright position. But I also prefer resting the arms in the middle of the handlebar, like in triathlon events. For that you need flexibility and strength of the core. Let me see how the saddle turns out. I have a feeling I will adjust my bum to it.

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The price is on the higher side for a saddle. But I found BOTS was charging us same as Amazon US. That is when I pulled the trigger. Brooks is more expensive than this. But then it is an iconic brand and is loved by many in the touring community. The reasons why I didn't choose the Brooks are like this a. price b. availability c. uncertainty about its suitability for me.

I have never consciously chosen a saddle. Whatever my cycle came with, I made do with it. In fact in our childhood we didn't know that there were options and the seat could be changed :-) Those were very innocent times.

The stock saddle from Surly is not comfortable at all. The Merida stock, in comparison, has never caused a problem for me. Let me see how this goes.

There aren't too many online reviews by independent users on the internet. Whatever little is there seems to be endorsing it for less flexible riders. I have to wait and see whether I am a flexible rider. I saw a review by a long distance tourer. He is heavily in favour of Specialised Phenom. That is also available on BOTS and in fact cheaper than Griffon.

Monday December 10, 2018 The saddle finally arrived today at office. Paid by cash on delivery. At home I fitted it to the bike and went for a short spin around the Southern Market block. Perhaps less than 500 meters. This is too short a distance to pass a judgement on a saddle but after overcoming the initial phase of getting adjusted to something new, I felt it somehow improved my speed. Here is a decent unboxing video from the internet. Everything is same except that this does not have a cut out in the middle of the saddle.

I will jot down my initial thoughts and reactions.

• Hey, how is this different from what I have except for the big cut out in the middle? Same softness/hardness, same width, same shape, almost same dimensions
• But it is incredibly light compared to my OE saddle. Possibly 200 gms. 
• The ride is a little uncomfortable with no brief underneath ;-) I doubt if this saddle can be ridden without my Pearl Izumi compression shorts. I had gone out casually in my Slazenger which has a basic brief inside. But today I realised it is no protection at all.
• Could it be a little wider?
• Is it money well spent? Only time will tell me. 

I was a little cheesed off with BOTS for the delayed shipment. I missed two weekends since ordering but I guess it is good that it arrived on a weekday. I will go for short rides during the week before going out on a big one over the weekend. 

There was a little confusion about "what's inside the box". The official website of Pro Bike Gear has a short video featuring the product where they show an attachment under the saddle where you can fix a GoPro camera. I didn't get this. I was mentally very upset about it with BOTS. As it is they were so late and now they send incomplete product. But later in a youtube video (shared earlier) I realised this attachment has to be separately purchased from Pro Bike Gear. In fact they sell three different types of attachments. One for a camera, another for holding a tube and a CO2 cartridge and a third for holding the race bib. I don't need any of these actually :-)

I should be able to give a proper assessment of the saddle only after riding it for at least 500 kilometers. Let me see how long that takes. 

As of now I have fitted the saddle perfectly level with a spirit level. I have a feeling I might want to make it ever so slightly tilted above, so that I can settle on the back of the saddle. I think tonight I will go for a slightly longer test ride to see how the saddle actually feels.

Nov 1/2018 - MKS Sylvan Tourer (Silver colour) - Happy Earth - Rs 2854 - pair of pedals for LHT - Arrived and installed by self on 8th November (you turn wrench on the left pedal clockwise, while holding the other crank arm stable, to loosen it and then move the pedal forward. The pedal comes off. Opposite with right pedal. Push it counter clockwise first and then pedal forward to release.)

The pedals are made in Japan. This was news to me. They look and feel robust and they actually are. Riding them in flip flops might be injurious to the foot. The edges are not sharp but I am just not used to such heavy duty metallic pedals. I hope I never injure myself. I am wondering what to do with the cheap, small, plastic pedals. Guess, will keep them as a pair of spares for one of those very rare occasions when I might need them.

A little warning. I just got a long cut on my skin yesterday (2nd December 2018) when I went cycling to New Town. On EMBypass I had stopped for tea at a stall. The bike was resting with its pedal against the base of a lamp post in front of the shop. When I tried to pull it out to go, it somehow slipped and the pedal brushed against my right food shin bone while the bike fell on its opposite side - a very normal thing to happen when you are cycling or handling a cycle a little casually. I found there was a 2/3 inch long gash. Just the top layer. Micro mili meter perhaps. The pink skin underneath got exposed. No bleeding. I have to be very very careful from now on. It has the potential to seriously injure anyone. 

Nov 5/2018 - SRAM Super Cork Bar Tape (Black) - BOTS - Rs 940 - Handlebar tape - Arrived on 8th November. Installed by Someswar on 9th November 2018.  

I just took it out of the paper box it came in. No idea what they look like on the front side because the side with the plastic tape is visible as they have rolled it with the outside in. I believe the SRAM branding is written all over the tape. Wonder if I would like that aesthetically. The tape is made in Taiwan, as usual. (Added later - the branding is very subtle and hardly visible).

The tape comes with two extra bits to cover the area behind the brake lever. It also has some finishing tape. Someswar will fix it because I am not too sure I can do it the first time. I would love to see how he does it and then take a chance the next time I have to redo the thing. Once it is installed I shall write my first impressions.

Nov 10/2018 - Paid Someswar Rs 500 for checking out the cycle, adjusting the brakes, pedals etc and fixing the bar tape.

Nov 10/2018 - Schawlbe 26" tube - Giant store on Bentinck Street - Rs 400

Nov 10/2018 - KMC master link for 10 speed chain - Giant store on Bentinck Street - Rs 159