I had to search for photos of the bikes we took on our first really big tour together, in 1992 (a tour I plan to post here, one day) and then photograph the prints.  No photographic record of previous bikes...

Here's the bike I acquired in 2014, a custom-sized Co-Motion Pangea.  Very comfortable to ride, but kinda heavy:

And my newest ride, obtained to give me a better chance to keep up with Al on his titanium bike, a custom titanium "adventure" bike built by Sam Whittingham of Naked Bikes on Quadra Island.  I wanted this in 2014 but didn't want to wait over a year, but when Al said he was getting a ti bike, I had to get one too.

The Western Flyer crossing the Cowlitz river near Mt Saint Helen, WA 2014. It started life out as a near state of the art Bianchi cross bike but today, some 80,000 Km later, seems hopelessly dated as am I.

First the Surly LHT

A 2007 model from memory in the days when a Surly was really value for your money. XT hubs and shadow rear derailleur which meant that both shifters moved in the same direction for up shifts and down shifts. The front panniers were Australian made, not waterproof but very robust and with a very secure fixing system. Sadly no longer in production.

Our first tandem, an entry level Indi. This was on our first over nighter.

The Thorn Twin Raven with Rohloff. Notice that Rear Admiral's cockpit is much more spacious than the Indi!

The Thorn Mercury with Rohloff. Thorn describe this as a multi use bike. Light (credit card) tourer, Audax bike, fast day bike, (fast presumably if there is a stronger rider than I on board.) Anyway a fun bike to ride. When the original tyres wore out I replaced them with Schwalbe marathon supremes in 36X622, a very comfortable ride.

Here's our Bike Friday Tandem Traveler XL, complete with passionate pink Selle Anatomica seats!

Well, my first tour was a two day/one nighter - 1oo miles out and back to Montauk Point on the end of Long Island as a 15 year old back in 1973, on a borrowed Schwinn Varsity that must have looked something like this:

No more touring for many years but in 1995 or so I convinced three friends to start doing self-supported/credit card-style week-long tours. I may have done the first one on a Schwinn hybrid, but I bought a Trek 520 that became the touring workhorse.

I did use that Schwinn Hybrid when my wife and I did the C&O Canal Towpath over 3 days for our 15th anniversary.

In 2019, I decided to do a N+1-2 and buy what these days is called a gravel bike to be my touring/dirt/crushed rock/ride with my wife bike. I never quite did get to the -2 part: I donated the Schwinn to World Bicycle Relief, but the 520 now lives on an indoor trainer in our basement as my Zwift bike.

For the type of touring I do now, I wanted to go with a 1X drive train and ended up with a Jamis Renegade Escapade and bikepacking style bags.

I like that Jamis, but one a day ride on the C&O Towpath the carbon seat post fractured, not fun - would have been even less fun on a tour. That is now a metal seat post, not sure why on a steel bike they had a carbon seat post anyway.

While I've yet to do any extended touring, I have done numerous overnights. All of them so far have been on my 2016 Salsa Vaya, which is classified as a gravel/light touring bike. It's outfitted with Arkel Dry-Lite panniers, an Axiom trunk bag, and a Banjo Brothers top tube bag. 

Just a few months ago, I managed to pick up a Salsa Fargo with the hope of doing more gravel road/off-road touring. My plan is to set this up with bikepacking style bags. That's a Revelate Designs seat bag on there, and I'll be adding a handlebar bag soon. Since it's a small frame, I'm not convinced I can fit a frame bag big enough to be useful. It wouldn't surprise me if I ultimately decide to put a rack on the back and go back to panniers. 

 Sadly, neither of my bikes have names, other than 'the Vaya' or 'the Fargo'. 

Only one of mine has a name, mostly because it's weird to me to say, "I think I'll take my Naked today."

Thanks Kelly - fun trip down memory lane, sharing photos and stories with others

My first tour was in 1972 - a 5 day trip around central Ohio on a Peugot. I have no idea of the model but it looked something like the one pictured below. Gear included a tube tent and a New Zealand down sleeping bag recommended by the Whole Earth Catalog. 

I didn’t tour again until 2015, when I lived 6 months in Paris. I started slowly with 3-7 day tours on my 1990 Trek 520, mostly along European rivers. I celebrated my retirement in 2017 with the purchase of a Moots Routt 45, a Ti gravel bike that I modified a bit for touring. She’s taken me all over France and we’re looking forward to starting our post-pandemic adventures. I do name my bikes, but not my cars.

Oh my gosh, is Rachael's nickname Rocky? That was mine in college!

Rachel

Wow, that’s amazing, says Rachael (with an A)!  We’ll have to arrange a Rocky meetup one of these years.