Denmark 2000 - Bike Expedition

Equipment

Kuba

Wheeler 1600 (cross) 'tuned' to a trekking - without any extravagancies but really excellent, first spoke broke after 5000 km, without any trouble in general - I recommend.
Giant 80906500 bags - if I were to design bags on my own, I would certainly do it in a different way. However these were not that bad, either, quite waterproof (with additional raincovers). The main problem that they bend in the direction of the wheel, which might, not guarded, result in the bag stuck in the wheel - I neither recommend, nor discourage.
Bottle - a real bottle after mineral water, 1,25 l - voluminous, fits very well in a bottle basket, the disadvantages are that it's difficult to pour water to it from the public toilet taps and that after 2 weeks its cap looked really discouraging - nevertheless, I recommend
Rear light cat-eye - fantastic, it's been working on the same batteries for some 5 years by now.
Computer Mitam (made in Italy) - thirteen functions, but quite water-soaking. And because the rains didn't leave us, it didn't work well in the Danish conditions. And even though its thermometer turned out to be one of the most useful functions, I discourage everybody from buying it.
Ben-Gay red - I wouldn't have gone too far without it… - I 'warmly' recommend.
alumat - I strongly discourage.

Bruno

Author Versus ('96) - the classic MTB, with quite a history already (over 15 ths. km, most of which off-road). Everything I did to prepare it for the expedition was to put rack and bags, change brakes and tyres (to slicks). Already on the way I brought the steering bars' stem as high as it was possible (some 2 cm). In spite of my fears, the bike was doing well. If it hadn't been for some little problems with the rear wheel, it would have been perfect. However what I normally like most in it - the sport verve - was rather a disadvantage this time. Before the next expedition I'm certainly going to change the stem as well as to put some more comfortable seat.
Alpinus bags ('97) - everything seemed to be OK, the bags had no evident drawbacks, however they are far from being perfect as well. What is particularly discouraging is the poor mechanical resistance of the fabric: the bags changed their shape and thus made the baggage less stable. Besides they tear easily.
Small steering bar bag Alpinus ('97) - very useful little thing, excellent to transport a camera. A map holder is attached, however for very small maps - any map we had, even the smallest ones we had to bend thousands of times to put it into the holder. The big advantage is an inside rain-cover that however, just like the bags, changes its shape. Taking into consideration its small size, it's not such a problem.
clothes 'waist up'; hydrotex jacket Jump Biko, Alpinus Kagen polar and Alpinus Rhovyl'On blouse. A very nice combination that lets feel comfortable in any weather conditions - as a matter of fact I could not have taken anything else. From time to time I used a cotton T-shirt.
clothes 'waist down'; apart from the bike shorts I had long pants made by some unknown Polish textile manufacturer. In colder days I simply put them on the bike shorts, and I can say they were perfect. I also had long trousers that took precious space in the bags and that were absolutely unnecessary, I could have done without them easily.
SIDI shoes, tourist model (I don't remember the name), with blocks - without any reclamation. I usually complain a little that they are a bit too loose but this time it was rather an advantage. I also had sandals, which might have better stayed at home.
Debica slick tyres - well, they crossed all the trip and this seems to be their main advantage. This was my first adventure with slicks, for sure they roll more easily but the change is not revolutionary. These tyres are extremely vulnerable to punctures, I got punctures on everything, on broken glass, even on the sharper pebbles. However they fulfilled their task and since I paid some 5 USD each for them, I cannot complain.
Sigma Sport BC800 computer - proven, solid construction, worth of recommendation.
White Lightning lubricant - normally it's my favourite lubricant. This time it disappointed me a bit since it got washed out too easily. During colder days I had problems to apply it. Fortunately I took Finish Line in reserve.
Ordinary mat with an additional aluminium cover - excellent comfort, Kuba's object of jealousy ;-)
Canon EOS300 camera, for sure I would not leave without it, but on the other hand it's a trouble to some extent. The camera is relatively big, the conditions are difficult and the mood to take some serious photos is really rare. Certainly I will be subjected to serious criticism from the photo fans, but I reckon, a good automatic camera might do even better there.

Tranz-X rack, universal 26 - 28'' - universal, so we both used the same model. In the middle of the expedition one of our racks crashed which wasn't at all pleasant since it happened during the night. Later on the rack crashed once again in another place and at the moment we are fighting with the reclamation. We strongly discourage.
However we absolutely recommend using helmets. They can save life not only in the situations they are designed for. For example when, in the rain, not very rape pear falls on one head right from a high tree, the helmet may turn out veeery useful (we use Alpina and Rudy Project helmets).
We also recommend the bike shorts with a 'pampers', without them it would be difficult to sustain over a 100 km a day in the saddle.

Marabut Jawa tent - traditional triangular shape, designed for two persons (3 kg) and even though one of us has much bigger dimensions than the tent itself, we slept quite well in it. Since our Marabut was most often rolled up quite moist, we used to call it friendly "stale smell". There was absolutely no antipathy in it and a it deserves a great 'bravo' for the perfect shelter it gave us. We strongly recommend.
Plastic sheet, black, 5x5 m - a tent for our bikes. Every night, just like Christo, we carefully prepared the "Trousseau". Thanks to that, every morning our bikes were perfectly dry. The intention was that the sheet would protect the bikes from the evil eyesight of the local thieves. It turned out however that in Denmark this function is of no use. And although the sheet, just like Marabut got smelly after some time, we really recommend an invention like this.
Sleeping bags - 'pajak 1 kg bag' - we both used the same model and we are rather satisfied.