Snapped cables: 5
Replaced cables: 4
Destroyed (and recycled!) tires: 5 for Mike, 1 for Sharon
New rims: 2
Massive tire-blowouts: 5
Rear axles split in half: 1
Sprocket sets fallen off: 1
Flat tires: Who Knows? 30? 40?
Replaced cables: 4
Destroyed (and recycled!) tires: 5 for Mike, 1 for Sharon
New rims: 2
Massive tire-blowouts: 5
Rear axles split in half: 1
Sprocket sets fallen off: 1
Flat tires: Who Knows? 30? 40?
When we were preparing for our journey, we received more than a few comments about how our bikes are 'too old,' 'too big,' or just 'too ugly,' and won't be able to make it to Vancouver, let alone Mexico. And believe me, I had my doubts as well. Our bikes were definitely the most elderly we encountered on the road, and most other touring cyclists had either brank-spanking-new hogs, designed specifically for touring, or strong, hardcore mountain bikes. From reading this blog, you may think that we should have went the other route and all of the flats and other bike malfunctions would have been avoided with a 'better' mount, but I really don't think that's the case. Most of the flats we received were early in the journey, and in retrospect could be attributed to cheaply-made tubes, self-adhesive patches (complete garbage), and sharp tire levers. If you subtract all of these flats from our grand total, the number would be much more reasonable, and expected when travelling nearly 4500km. Also, we knew from day one that we would most likely have to replace our rear rims before we reached Mexico, due to their age and the weight we subjected them to, but we were both pleasantly surprised by how far they made it, especially after the jerk mechanic from Seattle forsaw that they were 'doomed'. In fact, he forsaw that our whole bikes were 'doomed'. I found that quite funny coming from a bike mechanic - most subscribed to the 'it's not the bike, it's the bicyclist' etho, but a few thought we were just being naive, cheap, or stubborn. Our motivation for using the 'Free Spirits' may have been a bit of this, but mainly it was to prove that you don't need to purchase the shiniest, fanciest, newest model available, even though marketing would have you think otherwise (and this point is NOT limited to bicycles...).
So, the Free Spirits, Rattles and Squeaks, are still rolling, and they made the experience that much more interesting - anyone (yes, anyone!) can bicycle the Pacific Coast, but we'll always be able to say we did it on old 10-speeds!
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