Colonelmom

ALL,

I'm in Afghanistan, starting my second month of a one year tour. Has anyone out there shipped a bike over here?
I've tried the spin bikes / stationary bikes... they suck.. I have my shoes, pedals and a saddle is coming.. but it is just not the same as even my bike on a trainer.

So if you have shipped a bike and trainer? how'd you pack it. If you didn't I"m open to suggestions on making the spin bikes work. The "camp" is too small and TOO crowded to even consider riding..

Help

Colonelmom

horus11B

To be honest ma'am I think your going to have to invest in one of those bike cases. I think the manufactures packaging for the trainer will be sufficient for shipment to A-stan but the bike itself, you're going to want some serious protection. If your screen name shows your rank then this probably isn't your first tour and you know what some of our packages show up looking like, if at all. Unless your medical personel, which means your a doctor and this might actually be your first tour. As a colonel or even Lt. Colonel I might try and make friends with the local airforce personel at the pax terminal. I've seen some amazing packages get slipped onto c-17's for officers with enough pull to make it happen. You could also try and flirt with some of the D-boys, or CAG or TF orange guys and see what they could get shipped and where. There **** gets treated like its ****ing gold plated.

What problems are you having with the spin bike? Which spin bike models do they have at the gym there? The last two times I was there I didn't have much in the way of access to a gym other than some sandbags and a dufflebag filled with dogfood, so I'm seriously jealous. Its probably going to be more cost effective to go this route, but I'm all about making the most of your time there...

justkeepedaling

My question is, have you made a lightweight mount on your handlebars yet for a M107?

patentcad

How does an American do road cycling in Afganistan? I thought it was dangerous to even drive armored Humvees up the road there.

jtwilson

Mike F

vtc12ip

Might want to try finding a bike that is already there. If you can get to Bagram, that would be the place to start. I bought a mountain bike from somebody in the unit we replaced. I, in turn sold it to somebody in the unit who replaced us. I was in a C-12 unit, just north of the hospital.

That would be the place to look. The RC-12 guys had a bunch of bikes. They would bring them down from Germany.

billyb0b115

crazyarm07

It's pretty much all on trainer/rollers. Although the big bases like Bagram (and I assume Kandahar, though I haven't been there. Maybe FOB Salerno too.) actually have some decent roads inside the perimeter of the base. I want to say there's about a 8 mile paved loop running around the airfield at BAF that's inside the wire.

Colonelmom - whatever you do, if your unit is shipping tricons there and back - don't put anything you care about seeing again in them - they go through Pakistan, and a lot of them get destroyed/looted. Pretty much my whole battalion's tricons came back empty when we redeployed.

joshnc

I believe that is the pic of the year.

Right Said Fred

Cause the guys over there don't need to HTFU. They already are!

Colonelmom

To be honest ma'am I think your going to have to invest in one of those bike What problems are you having with the spin bike? Which spin bike models do they have at the gym there? The last two times I was there I didn't have much in the way of access to a gym other than some sandbags and a dufflebag filled with dogfood, so I'm seriously jealous. Its probably going to be more cost effective to go this route, but I'm all about making the most of your time there...[/QUOTE]

The spin bikes are flywheel that you adjust the tension on, I can put my pedals on, but the height adjustment either makes the seat TOO high or TOO low. The adjustment is like an 1". On the lifecycle bikes, I can adjust the seat hieght better, but the saddle is WAY too wide and I cannot put my pedals on... and no way to sway out the saddle.
SO I was seriously considering shipping a bike and a trainer... just not sure it would be worth cost and hassle to get it over here..
NOPE not my first time in the dirt, just the first time in this dirt. I know some Boys from Bragg, would just have to get the bike to them.. Concur on the PAK GLOC, wouldn't ship anything that way.. SO I'd have to pay the AIR cost but DHL does ship to KIA
Thanks

Colonelmom

You don't... just looking for ideas to try and make the spin bike or lifecycle bike work. BUT, when you're used to making mm adjustment, 1" adjustments just don't cut it... OR a cheaper way to get a bike and trainer over here. I think I could set it up in my office "can" and leave it up.. but also a lot of dust and crap in the air that
eats drive trains up...

horus11B

If the seat adjustment only works 1 inch at a time, why not just purchase a bolt and band, or a seat post adjuster and carry it with you... Spin the adjuster out and place something behind it to keep it from engaging and then use the bolt and band/ seat clamp/ rigged thing to place the seat post where it needs to be...

Ma'am sounds like your trying to spend a grand to fix a two dollar problem. Go talk to the guys in the motorpool and explain what you want to do... if the part thats used to lock the seat adjustment in is a pull style... have them weld 3 washers together... stacked on top of each other. then clamp it down with a pair of vice grips and use a torch or saw to cut a section out... creating a u shaped shim... You could also use a grinder to taper it so as to make it easier to slide in behind the current locking mech.

I can draw pics of this if you cant visualize it but I honestly think it might work. And you could fab it in less than an hour in the motor pool with a couple measurements and a willing private with minor metal skills.

And if we have the same bikes here, I'll fab it for you and send it to you. Get me a model number if possible and if you need me to send it to you, send your apo to scott.wetzler@us.army.mil .

Colonelmom

Thanks for the suggestions, sent an e-mail

r
colonelmom