Some people tour to get away from it all but more and more cyclists are finding a place for laptops, GPS units, mp3 players and all other sorts of high-tech gear in their panniers.
The benefits? You can keep in touch with home more easily, research things like routes and accommodation options on the road and update a website so that your friends and family can follow along.
How To Blog About Your Bike Tour
So, you’re heading out on a big bike tour and you want to tell your mum, your friends and even the world about it. Great! The good news is that sharing your photos, videos and stories is getting easier by the day. Internet can be found almost world wide and the technology you need to […] Read More »
QStarz SR-Q2100 GPS Tracker Review
We’re fairly traditional bike travellers. On tour, we try to minimise technology, rather than go for the newest gadget, thus our preference for paper maps over GPS. So when QStarz asked us to review their new SR-Q2100 GPS sports recorder (retailing for about $140 U.S.), we weren’t sure if we would like it. Read More »
Great iPhone Apps For Bicycle Touring
More and more bike tourists are now carrying iPhones, so when one of our monthly newsletter readers suggested a list of the most useful apps for bike touring, we started hunting. Here’s the result of our research. All are available for iPhones, and many also work on other platforms such as Android and Blackberry. Read More »
One Tough Bag: The Laptop Sleeve From WaterField Designs
A round-the-world bike tour is a good way to test any piece of gear, and the laptop case we bought from Waterfield Designs (SFBags.com) was one of the things that stood up best to our 3-year trip. We definitely recommend these bags to protect your gadgets from dust and bumps on the road. Read More »
GPS Systems For Bicycle Touring
After 4 years of cycling without a GPS, we finally took the plunge and bought the Garmin 62S. Our indulgent purchase of the summer has triggered a lot of interest from our cycling friends, so in this article we’re explaining why we bought a GPS, its use for bike touring and we’re highlighting some of […] Read More »
Picking Out A Camera For Bike Touring
Even the most gadget-adverse bike tourist is likely to carry a digital camera. After all, when you finally round the last switchback to reach that glorious mountain peak, you’ll want a photo to remember the moment! A digital camera also allows you to create a small income stream by selling your travel photos online. This takes […] Read More »
Taking a Laptop or Tablet on a Bicycle Tour
Which laptop or tablet should you take on a bicycle tour? This article looks at whether you really need one, which models are worth considering, features to look for and how to pack a laptop so it’s protected from vibrations. Read More »
Finding Electricity For Gadgets While Bike Touring
Are you one of those people that can’t leave home without your digital camera, mp3 player, laptop, mobile phone and of course a handheld GPS receiver to navigate your way around the world? We have to answer ‘guilty’ to carrying around several gadgets. Many people will prefer a simpler way of touring but we make […] Read More »
Photos as Contact Cards
It’s always nice to trade details with friends you meet on the road but writing out your email address time and time again gets tiring after a while. You could get business cards printed at a local copy shop or do them yourself at home but who wants to carry hundreds on a long trip? […] Read More »
Navigating A Bike Tour With Your Smartphone
In this guest post, Grace Johnson explains how an HTC Desire smartphone is proving exceptionally handy to navigate daily routes and stay in touch during a world bicycle tour. Read More »
Qstarz BT-1000P Review
The Qstarz BT-1000P is a GPS logging unit that we carry on our bicycle. It initially caught our eye because we loved the idea of being able to track our path but didn’t want to purchase an expensive GPS system with a screen that would be heavy on battery usage and need new maps for […] Read More »
The Kindle 3: The Perfect Bike Touring Gadget?
If you’re going to buy just one gadget to take on a bike tour, make it the Kindle eBook reader. We know that’s a bold statement but after buying a Kindle 3 and playing with it for a couple months, we’re convinced that this is one of the best things a book-loving bike tourist could […] Read More »
Going Bike Touring? Don’t Forget To Back Up Your Data!
Bike tourist and Grace Johnson gives us all a valuable reminder about something that few cyclists think about on tour: backing up photos and other important documents. Read More »
Asus EEE vs. Panasonic Toughbook
Choosing a laptop for your bike tour is no easy task, especially with the new wave of ultra-portable and lightweight computers that started hitting the market in 2008. It began with the Asus EEE series and many brands like Dell, Lenovo and HP followed afterwards, all producing their own tiny laptops, with 7-10″ screens and […] Read More »
How To Charge A Laptop While Bike Touring
So many bike tourists are now carrying laptops, that the question of how to charge them comes up very often. It popped into our email box again this week but the answer isn’t as straight forward as you might hope. Read More »