Fantastic Thermarest trekker chairs. A simple mechanism for turning your Thermarest sleeping mat into an armchair. So much more comfortable after a day in the saddle to be able to sit and relax with your back against something, rather than cross legged. We only use them on top of a ground sheet if we can help it - you don't want to be having to patch your mattress more than necessary.
These chairs attracted so many comments - for the good - across Europe especially from other cycle tourers.
Disappointing Vango Spirit 200+ tent. Lots of room in the vestibule is what attracted us to this tent but lack of ventilation in the actual inner tent turned us off. Even in an Irish summer this tent would get a bit stuffy. There was also not enough room at the highest point of the tent for two people to sit comfortably during inclement weather. We've never had a tent that took so long to dry out - most mornings the fly was absolutely dripping with condensation. Five weeks of spring camping in this was enough.
Crap Zéfal mini pump. When we had a spate of flat tyres, we wore blisters on our hands trying to get a decent amount of pressure back into the tyres with these pumps. We started out with two of them, one gave up the ghost after the fourth flat and we gave up on the other and invested in the better Topeak Pocket Rocket Master Blaster and the even better...
Amazing Road Morph Master Blaster pump that only takes a few pumps to get your tyres to full pressure.
Only a tiny bit larger that the mini pumps, it also has a foot brace so that you can prop the base on the ground while you pump, making things even easier. And a pressure guage. Wish we'd seen this before we left Dublin.
Crap Blackburn Explorer 2 Rack. Gabby's has been fine, but mine broke after only a week or two on the road. We had read about the racks before we left and the general experience was about 50/50 - half loved it, the other half totally despised it, but as it was about half the price of the higher-level racks, we thought we'd take our chances. In comparison to my new Tubus rack, the welding on the Blackburn is really shoddy and only on one side of the join, not both - this is where mine broke
The other problem I have with Blackburn is that they proclaim their lifetime-no-questions-asked guarantee... that is only valid for US customers, yet they sell them worldwide!
Amazing Brooks B17 Saddle. anyone who's tried one knows how good they are - proper hard leather saddles that wear in over time and can last for years and years, all the while getting more and more comfortable provided you take care of them.
I admit I bought mine with some trepidation, as I'd read about the "fun" breaking in period, but mine was comfortable from day one and has only gotten better since. Anyone going touring has likely already heard about how good Brooks are, so if you're not sure, they are definitely worth it.
Doing well so far Our Trek Bikes (3700 and 3900 models). They are only entry level mountain bikes (Gabby's is a step up from mine) and they aren't recommended for use in off-road downhill riding, just gentle trails and roads, but they have been great so far.
We will be looking to upgrade after this trip (probably Surly LHT's or similar) but these bikes have been great for getting us going, which is really all that matters. It's also been handy spending a bit less on the bikes themselves, allowing more money for better extras like racks and the brooks saddle, as well as more money while we're actually travelling.
The one issue that we've found though, is that because the bikes are entry level, the components are pretty crappy - me destroying part of the crankset is a good example. The guy who bashed it back into shape said the frames were great and solid, but "zis part, he is merde" as he pointed at the crankset (this is not a caricature, the three of us were conversing in Frenglish). On a longer or more hardcore tour involving riding on bad roads or dirt tracks (am thinking Africa or South America) these would be at a definite disadvantage to more expensive bikes and components (duh, who would have thought?!).
But we all have to start somewhere!
Disappointing The Altura Dryline panniers. Constructed of a two layer system to keep the contents dry, we found after a couple of weeks of near constant rain that a couple of the panniers were leaking. There weren't holes (ok, except for the pannier that I had put holes in when I took a tumble) but there seemed to be some sort of leakage through either the Dryline fabric or the taped seams. So now a couple of the panniers are lined with plastic bags.
The outer fabric hasn't worn terribly well either, breaking open where it wears against the (smooth) rack. Another disappointing aspect is the way they hang quite sloppily from the racks - they are neither very compact nor aerodynamic. The top connection is a hook which is not terribly stable, on rough terrain we have both had trouble with front panniers sliding about and partly coming off.
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