other useful bike websites
All about bikes and general bike touring tips
There’s plenty of these useful sites around. Some are hugely overloaded with advertising and lacking in information that is not straight up product endorsement or self-promotion.
Other serious bike tourers set up blogs or information sites in a fit of enthusiasm, but sadly that doesn’t seem to last long once back in civilisation. I’ve just eliminated a few ambitious sites that are no longer around from this list.
The best from an information point of view are probably:
Sheldon Brown has a bundle of practical advice about some of the more technical aspects to do with bikes and their maintenance. If you need to know about various types of spokes, or how to adjust your derailleur, this is a good place to start.
Neil Gunton’s guide to bike touring is a systematic look at what you need for a successful bike tour, but from an on-the-highway perspective.
Andrew & Friedel Grant are two Canadians who set off in 2006 to travel around the world by bicycle. They might have become waylaid but over 60,000km and 33 countries later you feel they are giving it a good try. Their funky site Travelling Two has comprehensive information about bike touring with an emphasis on gear and advice for long term, more adventurous bike travellers and as an added bonus includes a huge bundle of useful info contributed by well-known bike tourers, ie, people who have years of experience riding Tibetian goat tracks, down Africa, etc. If you are starting out their ebook Bike Touring Survival Guide is well worth downloading for $5, £5, €5 or 5 whatever.
Bike touring blogs and stuff
There are hundreds, probably thousands, of blogs of people’s individual trips to various remote places around the world. The one’s relating to Australia generally recount the experience of doing a year-long circuit on Highway 1 or a section thereof.
crazyguyonabike.com is a specialised blogging site for more than 7000 journals of mainly across USA bike tours. There’s a great forum section that has a general American slant to the information. Do a search for the relevant blogs.
Australian bike touring forum
There’s a few enthusiasts who congregate on this site to relate tales mainly about short trips in close proximity to the major Australian cities.
Bicycles.net.au is the most popular bike touring forum in Australia. There are quite a few dedicated members. A good place to ask for specific information about places or conditions in Australia.
Bicycling Australia is the website for Australia’s premiere cycling magazine and online bike classifieds. Not so much touring.
Individual off road bike touring in Australia blogs
Need inspiration, try Mirjam’s blog recounting three years out on the remote dirt roads. Gals seem to have bucket loads of adventures and Mirjam will show you how it’s done.
Russell Worthington at russellworthington.blogspot.com.au/2009/03/10-deserts-solo-cycle-epic.html whizzed about 7500km in 3 months across 10 deserts in on a Surly Pugsley with 4” tyres during the winter of 2009. The tracks include the Canning Stock Route, Simpson Desert and other remote roads.
My Heading West blog is an account of my own 17,000km journey across Australia and is one photo and some observation about life each day for the full 464 days of the tour of some of Australia’s more obscure locations.
My return Zig Zag across Australia trip east plots my current tour from Cape Leeuwin to Cape York to Wilsons Prom via all manner of obscure outback roads.
Web design website
OK, so it’s not a bike website but we need to mention design by bluelake.co.nz. That’s my web design base station.