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Riniken to UK Cycle Tour 2012 - Equipment

This page describes the equipment which Kari and I took on our cycle ride to England in June, 2012.

For the return flight, we repacked our kit to both reduce the number of bags, and to make one of the rear panniers as near to 7 kg, the weight-limit on Swiss Airlines for items of hand baggage, as possible. We took this rear pannier and the handlebar bag onto the plane as hand baggage. We had to pay about EUR 60 per bicycle for the flight.


David's Equipment

David had 6 items of baggage, viz:
  • 2 front panniers
  • 2 rear panniers
  • 1 handlebar bag
  • 1 tent
In addition, he had:
  • 2 drink bottles with a combined capacity of 1.5 litres.
The tent loaded onto the top of the rear pannier carrier and was fastened with elastic straps and big cable ties.
 
 David's Bicycle:  Make   Villiger
                   Model: Ottawa
                   Price: ca. CHF 1700 in Year 2000
David's bicycle Click photo to enlarge.

A pdf version of David's packing lists is available at:
www.maden.ch/2012a-uk/equipment/packListDavidUK.pdf.
The two columns, "On Tour" and "Post Tour", indicate the location of items during the tour and for the return flight, respectively. Note that one of the front panniers was folded up and carried in a rear pannier for the flight.


Kari's Equipment

Kari had 6 items of baggage, viz:
  • 2 front panniers
  • 2 rear panniers
  • 1 handlebar bag
  • 1 mattress
In addition, she had:
  • 1 drink bottle with a capacity of 0.75 litres.
Since it was in a waterproof bag, the mattress was loaded onto the top of the rear pannier carrier to give more room in the bags for extra things such as food.
 
 Kari's Bicycle:  Make   Mondeo
                  Model: Sahara
                  Price: ca. CHF 1500 in Year 2004
Kari's bicycle Click photo to enlarge.

A pdf version of Kari's packing lists is available at:
www.maden.ch/2012a-uk/equipment/packListKariUK.pdf.
Kari's lists do not make it clear how she re-organised her kit for flight check-in, but she also folded up a front pannier so that it could be carried in a rear pannier.


Our packing lists were based very heavily on Jon Houseago's excellent Web site:

    http://www.cycletourer.co.uk/