Andys Bike

Käptn Blaubär

This is the bike I used for all my trips until now – and for this trip, it even got a name now: We Proudly Present – Käptn Blaubär!

Before asking: yes, it is not exactly convenient for doing long distance travelling.

There are people who think it is not good to spend a quarter or more of your power to load up the suspension. Because exactly that is what happens when travelling with a Full Suspension Bike in the mountains. Strange thing, physics: for my bike is it easier to put my force into the springs that to use it to pull itself plus luggage plus me up the hill.

On the other hand, very possibily the bike frame never will break because there is no hard vibrations or force peaks, wherever you may ride.

Well, there had been a problem connecting a carrier to this frame.

I didn´t want it to be on side of the sprung mass. Don´t know how a suspension would look like after a few 1000 km being loaded with me and my luggage. Didn´t want to try out also. Plus, I wanted something more stable than the full-suspension-bike rear carriers available at that time.

I ended up with this solution: an old shimano rear shifter acting as parallelogramm giving the carrier enough space to move against the frame, guided and bonded where possible to make the whole system more stable, the carrier itself pivoted to the rear frame (which in the end would not have been necessary – the torsion of the carrier against the rear frame is quite low).

What to do with old Shimano Parts 😉

Also, for the new, long distance trip I realized that I would need some extra space for transporting all of the stuff you need for 6 months of travelling.

The only remaining space for transportation was located above the front wheel.

When reinforcing the front rack for Agatas bike, an idea formed in my mind: Me, having not a lot money because all of our budget had been spent already, deciding to construct a front rack by myself. It must be cheaper than buying one, also I could fit it exactly to my needs, and it would be quite lightweighted because I wanted to make it of Aluminium.

Self made front carrier

Well, at least forget the part about CHEAP. The small parts made of stainless steel alone were as expensive as a low-cost front rack made in China. And the weight? Let´s put it in this way: I can mount my sleeping bag on it at there will be no big difference in the weight, with or without load. But it is stable and fits perfectly.

I made it of three load hooks, some alu square pipes and the four posts are made of aluminium bars.

Well, in the end I know  that the whole bike looks like stolen from Mad Max. But you know, it worked until now on all of the trips. And, well, I like the look 😉