djb

Your welcome

StephenH

Tubes, spare folding tire, pump + backup inflating method, fiberflex spoke(s), spare shift cable.

I've ridden about 70,000 miles now. I've used a spare tire one time. I've discovered my pump wasn't working once, seen a friend have the same experience, broke a Road Morph pump once, and have rescued one or two other people stranded without pumps. So in my experience, you're more likely to have your pump/CO2 system screw up than you are to need a spare tire. I don't know if that holds up for overall averages, though.

I've seen several people break shift cables, which can put you in a world of hurt in hilly areas. If you ever ride with other people, get one that fits your bike that is also tandem length. That way, you can rescue tandems and recumbents, too.

saddlesores

i just the regular cassette tool and a 6" crescent wrench. had to search many shops to find one where
the jaws would open wide enough. found just a few clicks and the lockring might not. too many and
you'd need a vise to get the cassette off. six clicks seems to be just right. keeps the ring on secure,
but still able to remove it holding the gear cluster by hand. big hands helps, i guess.

First shalt thou take out the Holy Cassette Tool.

Then thou shalt apply the Divine Crescent Wrench.

Then, shalt thou count to six, no more, no less.

Six shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the
number of the counting shalt be six.

Seven shalt thou not count, nor either count
thou five, excepting that thou then proceed to six.

Eight is right out.

Once the number six, being the sixth number,
be reached, then the Divine Crescent shalt thou.....

......ah, thou knoweth how it goeseth..........

djb

The holy grail.
Such a goofy movie that still holds up over time, like much of python stuff from the earlier shows.

MassiveD

The bf trailer is nice and I saw one on trans can in nb. But the wheels are pretty small for anywhere rough. I prefer packs. Go over to rayjardine.com and look up his trans am gear, like 8 pounds for all camping gear. I live in ont, and I would avoid bug season but for sure you would need a little more tent than rj to keep the bugs off. Later rj got lime. Nice thing about that is not much of it gets far north.

I buy and hope there are cougars up here, the chance you will see one is near zero. Mostly this issue was only settled due to trail cams. Bears are up there, mostly very well behaved. The reason is it takes people to get bad bears, you are more likely to see them misbehaving in some towns. When hunting bears itvtakes a while to get the bears to hit a bait. You need to feed them lots of donuts consistently.

Youtube the sas recon video. Even in enemy territory they can observe from close in trained observers for a week. They may bevgreat, hut that isn't the point. You own it out there, nobody, nor any animals are expecting you unless you are traveling popular routes.

cooker

As mentioned I saw a cougar from a car, near Atikokan. I was stunned, but it turned out it's been sighted a few times. It's speculated they probably got reintroduced in Ontario from people releasing pets, when they realized they don't stay kittens very long. I don't know how many there are and if they are now a sustainable population, or just a few hanging around towns because they're alone and lonely.

DropBarFan

California is a bit notorious for mountain lions, sometimes not that far away from populated areas. Seems that ample wilderness of north Ontario would allow cougar population. In regards the bike, either go to LBS & get a good checkup or tighten everything down properly yourself. With most mechanicals one can still ride or at least coast downhill.

Rowan

Another one suggesting here that you get good quality new tyres before you leave, and ones that probably could handle unsealed surfaces should you need them. They don't have to be aggressively knobby, or anything, but the wider profile will help with comfort and to an extent puncture resistance.

The BF wheels also are pretty durable in their own right, so I wouldn't anticipate problems with spokes.

One of the bits of kit I really like for this sort of riding is a Carradice, preferably the Nelson Longflap. Because we almost exclusively use Brooks saddles, they fit well, but the space is ample for all the repair, nutritional and clothing needs you can anticipate. But then, a pannier serves the same purpose, or a large handlebar bag... I don't know what you use to commute, but it undoubtedly could be adapted quite easily.

I also would suggest some sort of lighting -- red rear, white front -- attached to the bike, plus a small helmet light. Again, if you are commuting, that set-up is probably a given. But it is quite easy to underestimate timing on a return ride if mid to late-afternoon.

MassiveD

Interesting on the cougars , bear spray might help if they let you see them first. MEC might have it. One thing about the far north is mostly elk and moose. Git er done - cougars.

cooker

If I bike commute on the BF (with Brooks saddle) I manage with a small trunk bag and if I occasionally have to take a laptop or change of clothes to work I add a shoulder bag - not appropriate for touring/sightseeing. I guess if I have the trailer for overnight trips I won't need much in the way of onbike storage, but for a day trip I could also leave the trailer behind, so I will check out the Carradice, thanks!

fietsbob

Hint 1, Don't eat in your Tent .. Omnivore animals like Bears will smell anything you spill ..

Rowan

From my visits to North America, the advice is quite strong on separating food AND anything else that is aromatic such as soapsand deodorants away from the tent. Campgrounds may have hoists so that all that stuff can be put into a bag a lifted off the ground. Otherwise, carry about 40' of thin rope (larger than window-sash cord) and test your skills at looping it over a branch to make your own hoist system (trust me, it's not as easy as it looks).

I am sorry, cooker, I didn't see your question on racks and trailer. Answer:

I am a huge fan of Topeak's touring racks, and in particular the one with the bars to attach the panniers lower than the top deck. This allows you the use one of their trunk bags on top as well as attach two panniers (although you do need to ensure the panniers will in fact fit in that position before you buy). In normal circumstances when Machka and I tour, I get to carry the three-person tent on top of the rack. But the pannier are so much easier to put on a take off with the touring rack.

When we last went to Canada earlier this year, I didn't fit the racks to either BF, but rather relied on the Carradices and handlebar bags that we have. The bar bags for the BF are Ortleibs and so far I am quite liking them and they are definitely waterproof (but there are certain challenges for me in using them). By the same token, the Carradices have proven to be equally waterproof. We regularly use bar bag and Carradice for century and longer day tour rides.

I've considered the BF suitcase and trailer, but at the time of ordering the bikes from the factory, I didn't bother, mainly because we already have packs and bags, but also because we had some doubt about the dimensions of the suitcases falling within the dimensions required by the airlines. Plus, I have trailers for use at home, and have toured once with one -- and I couldn't see us using the suitcase trailer conveniently on trains and such.

We have used large suitcases to carry the bikes on planes, but as Machka said, we have a place to leave them when in North America. If you are staying in a hotel on arriving and are departing from the same place, we have found such places to being amenable to putting our boxes or cases in storage rooms while we are elsewhere.

We have travelled extensively overseas with normal sized bikes in cardboard boxes, and as Machka said, if our trip planning requires it, we can still use boxes for the BFs, which suitable padding and packaging inside (a note to the wise, saran wrap or whatever you call our cling wrap plastic, is one of the greatest inventions for packing up bicycles, and even more so for BFs.

bicyclejunkies

We are two years on the road now and have made a picture list of the tools and spare parts we carry on our long distance tour.

You can find it here, hopefully it's useful! What tools to bring on a long distance bicycle tour - Bicycle Junkies

Good luck and safe travels!

cooker

Love the pictures of you two in road make-up!

Doug64

I don't have a Bike Friday, but I do have a Bike Friday trailer that I use to haul groceries and for other utility missions.

If you use the trailer, make sure to carry an extra tube for the trailer. Also, make sure your pump head will fit in the small space by the tube's valve stem. My pump will not fit into the small space. For me it is not a problem; I can ride anywhere in my town in 20 minutes.

I don't think I'd use it for touring, especially on narrow roads. It handles well, but with any weight you know it is there.

cooker

I'll be flying to various distant job sites and then touring out and back from there, so unless I can get someone to stash the case for me for a day or two, I need to take it with me. Plus in some cases I may check out of a motel, go somewhere overnight, and the next day or in a couple of days, go straight to the train station or airport without wanting to go back to the motel.

fietsbob

Trans America Racers , 40 of them were all self supporting and carried very little .

cooker

I'll be working as well as touring, so I need to carry some changes of clothes, laptop, etc.

djb

I'd be concerned about the width of a trailer/suitcase. I know the fellow who did Mexico etc mentioned that at times, plus I like the fact that with panniers, I can easily dive off the road if the situation warrants it, and only worry aobut the width of my bike and panniers.
Certainly not to say it wouldnt work, just stuff to be aware of, and perhaps get some riding in with it to see how you feel. There are always flag options to make it more visible, and of course, it depends on the traffic--probably wouldnt be that bad where you are thinkign of going, but thats only a guess on my part. (ie, if there is a wood mill or mine nearby, = potentially lots of trucks )

cooker

Just to clarify, I'll be doing (I hope) some fairly short, and probably not very challenging tours. My only concern was that some of the places I might potentially visit like Red Lake or the train stop at Red-ditt ON, that could be starting points for a short tour, can be a bit remote, but upon reflection, I probably overestimated the remoteness. Still, it never hurts to be prepared.

PS apparently Red-ditt (without the hyphen) is a banned word

Machka 

I'm familiar with Red Lake.

I used to camp at Blue Lake (175 km to the south of it) every August long weekend for many years. And I cycled out to Dryden and a little way up the road to Red Lake.

IIRC (a lot of years ago now), we drove up to Ear Falls, and maybe all the way to Red Lake.

But you would be heading up, more or less from Kenora, not Vermilion Bay. That route doesn't look like it has any settlements on it in about 200 km, so you would want to have food, raingear, and basic tools. I see that the Google van hasn't even been up there. I'm not getting any images of the road.

cooker

As a newbie tourer I don't think I would try to cycle all the way up that road. I'll be starting with baby steps. If I got a consulting gig in a town like that, or Sioux Lookout, I would fly there and then use it as a base to perhaps bike out from there around the area or to a lake cabin or campground. But that is the kind of fairly deserted landscape that inspired this thread.

I also have a thought of maybe taking the train from Toronto to Red-ditt, and biking to Kenora (30 km or so) but the train stops there at 3 am, and there's no station building, so I'd probably have to pitch a tent or climb into that emergency bivvy (good tip) and wait til daylight. Or I could get off at Brereton lake as the train stops there a little closer to morning and from Brereton I could easily revisit my childhood summer experiences at West Hawk Lake, before going on to Kenora.

Machka 

You might also consider Kenora to Dryden ... 138 km, towns at either end + some facilities in between (like at Vermilion Bay) - hotels, restaurants, etc.. I think the highway has a shoulder all the way as well, which is good.

You could break it up into two days ... cycle Kenora to Vermilion Bay and then up to Blue Lake ( Welcome to Blue Lake Provincial Park ). There is (or was) a nice campground up there. Or grab a hotel along the way. Then out to Dryden. You might even go down to Eagle River and ride the 594 to Dryden. I haven't done that, but it looks like a quiet, paved road.

If you do that during the week or on a weekend that isn't a long weekend, you'll still have the remote feeling going on.

cooker

Thanks - if I make it to Blue Lake in 2016 or 2017 I will send you a picture!

bicyclejunkies

Haha! Yeah, took those pictures in Bolivia, was pretty dusty there!