Gorilla Cages, Anything Cages, Cargo Cages, Fork Cages... you can call them as you want, but none of them can give a clue about what these things are... It's some sort of cages, made of different materials, bigger than a usual bottle cage but smaller than a rack, to be mounted on the bicycle fork. They are used mainly to carry (on the fork) smaller bags (from 1 to 5 litres) in a bikepacking setup, but we're allowed to mount them on an MTB or a gravel bike... In this article, we're going to analyze the main features and functions of these Gorilla Cages, then I'm listing the 11 best in my opinion.
There are many types of front rack for bike, different in the hold they can carry, the bicycle they can be mounted on and mostly in the use you are going to do with them. In this article, we'll analyze some types and then we are focusing on some bicycle touring front racks.
Which are the best foldable solar panels for bicycle touring? In the XXI century, let whoever can do without technology during a bicycle trip throw the first stone!
Nowadays, for better or for worse, technology surrounds us and we can hardly do without it, even in bicycle touring. In order to be able to travel in wildlands far from civilization for some days, it is necessary to find an alternative to electricity, to recharge our devices such as smartphones, GPSs, tablets, PCs... One of those alternatives is power banks or, better, foldable solar panels for bicycle touring: let's see how they work and most importantly how many alternatives we have on the market, in order to choose wisely depending on our needs.
We cannot hide behind our finger... in XXI century technology surrounds us and even us, bicycle travellers, have to deal with it. Even the most extreme and savage bicycle traveller has the need to be connected, everywhere and always. Other than the ethical question I'm not going to analyze here, this need is also practical: which are the alternatives to the electricity that can be used when this isn't available? In this article, we list some of the most common alternatives, like the dynamo hub connected to the lights system or, thanks to specific chargers, to your electronic devices, in order to charge them.
One of the components capable of making the difference when riding for many hours is the touring bike saddle: choosing the right one can change your comfort during long excursions or short trips. These last years I've seen a lot of people with many types of touring bicycle seats, and I had the possibility to try most of them. Unfortunately, as usually happens, there isn't a universally perfect saddle for every one of us. There are some factors influencing our comfort, so the choice must be made carefully. Following you will find some advice in order to understand which factors to consider when choosing your seat, then a list of the best touring bike saddles.
Lately, I've been experiencing a lot of curiosity about outdoor GPS Apps, in particular for Android OS. In general, what I like the most about these apps is their facility of use: I don't always have a lot of time to study and learn methods to exploit my smartphone at its best during MTB excursions or bicycle travels, mostly because I use a dedicated GPS navigator that is complete and satisfying. For emergencies, curiosity or urgency I don't disagree about using my smartphone with a good outdoor App, and recently some apps are remarkable. Today I'll present one of the most intuitive apps ready to use: Locus Map, very convincing and really powerful in its free version.
One of the most important accessories when travelling are bike panniers and choosing the right ones isn’t easy or taken for granted: bicycle touring bags which are too small will cause a lack of space for the luggage; purchasing bags too big, vice versa, will invite us to fill them often transporting useless weight and items that will remain unused on the bottom of the bags themselves. Hereafter we’ll see in short how to choose the right bicycle bags, which characteristics to take into consideration and how to understand if they’re suitable for our needs.
