New Bike: Bacchetta Giro 20

The bike is a Bacchetta Giro 20 short wheelbase recumbent. I bought the bike last year after the frame broke on my previous recumbent. This is my first long tour with the bike but I did a 7-day shakedown tour with the new bike July 5-11, 2008 in southwestern Oregon.

As you can see in the photo I have 4 panniers. Wide Arkel RT-40 "recumbent" panniers on the Bacchetta underseat rack. Tall Madden Buzzard panniers on the Blackburn Mountain rack. Almost all of my stuff fits inside the 4 large bags. I seldom haul anything on top of the rear rack. Here's a rough summary of what goes in each bag.

Left underseat pannier: stove, fuel, cookset, food, toiletries, water filter.

Right underseat pannier: fanny pack (containing valuables), map case, sandals, overflow items.

Left rear pannier: tent, clothes

Right rear pannier: sleeping bag, mattress pad, pillow.

On the back of the seat is a zippered pouch which holds spare tubes and tools. A pump is attached to the frame, so the bike repair stuff stays on the bike even when panniers are removed. The bike has fenders and 4 bottle cages (2 in front and 2 behind the seat).

Close up view of the racks, plus the water bottles and tool pouch behind the seat.

On the front of the bike I added two bottle cages and a Topeak Mountain Morph pump.

This is my first tour with Schwalbe tires and I'm very pleased with the 40mm wide Schwalbe Marathons. They seem to get fewer punctures than my old Continental Top Touring 2000 tires. 3000 miles with only one flat. And they don't look worn out yet. On pavement I keep the tires at 70-80 psi. On gravel roads I have the option to lower the pressure to 30 psi or even less to improve traction, comfort, and control on loose sand, loose gravel, and washboards. The reflective side band helps me find my campsite at night.

40mm Schwalbe Marathon rear tire after 3000 miles with only one flat.

A new VDO MC 1.0 cyclocomputer has the usual bike functions plus it continuously displays altitude, temperature, and percent grade. I use VDO's hard-to-find rear wheel mounting kit to avoid having to splice the cable. It's the most reliable cyclocomputer I've ever used.

The VDO MC 1.0 continuously displays altitude, percent grade, and temperature.

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