It's difficult to know where to start when it comes to summarising all of the things we've learnt along the way, so for this I will move through the key areas that stood out summarising the mistakes, failures, successes and interesting points for next time before listing some stand out performers at the end.
I might add that at the time of this trip or now we have received no sponsorship or commercial arrangements and all opinions are purely my own from gear I purchased in full myself.
Overall we were very happy with the gear we brought, most of which being either our own existing equipment or bought secondhand. The enormous amount of time I spent in the year prior to the trip on researching and deliberating all of these details was absolutely necessary and saved us a lot of headaches. The only significant delay we had on the trip was due to a bus company losing our shipped bicycles and not due to any mechanical failures. We had a few days held up for a few mechanicals, see below, but it was trivial compared to some trip-ending breakdowns we had heard of.
Naturally all trips will be different and everyone's gear lists will need to be unique to match our diverse priorities, riding styles, budgets, time constraints, even constraints of what is available in our home countries. Hopefully however there are some tips here to be gleaned to save you one more headache down the road.
Tyres:
It would be a good idea, for any trip longer than say 5000kms, or 5 months, to bring spare tyres and have them stashed somewhere ahead. It is both expensive and difficult to find anything beyond standard 26in sizes, 27.5inx2.2-2.35 or (in a big city) 29x2.2-2.35. On the trip we only had to replace one rear tyre(Vittoria Mezcal 29x2.6) which had already had decent use (~2000k) prior to the trip. The sidewall rubber was crazed and cracked and would slowly leak out sealant and air overnight. 3months post-trip Hazel still has her original tyres but the same size rear Vittoria Mezcal is looking pretty bald and needs replacement soon. For context, I was quoted 250USD for a single Schwalbe 29x2.6 tyre in Argentina. Needless to say we left that bike shop.
In discussion with the bike mechanic at another shop we replaced my rear tyre with a Maxxis Ardent that was not rated for tubeless but had been used by this mechanic as a tubeless tyre before to much success. Due to it not falling into the 'luxury tubeless' category it was only 60USD for a 29x2.4. The incorrect use made me nervous at first, particularly as pictured below it would leak sealant at the rim in the first week, but since then it has sealed well and had absolutely no problems. Since returning to NZ however I have installed a proper V. Mezcal tyre replacement as the weak rim bead is potentially dangerous and the compromise is really only appropriate for this short time travelling.
The cracked and leaking sidewall of the old Vittoria Mezcal, a fantastic tyre at the end of its life
Sealant leaking around the rim of the Maxxis Ardent (see text above for why)
Chain lube:
Despite the weight, either bring spare bike lube or plan ahead where to source it, as it's surprisingly hard to find good stuff and it is super expensive here in general! (60ml of finishline, not even a great brand, was $80nzd! in Argentina) needless to say we were using multi-purpose 3in1 oil for the final stretch, which quickly became filthy. We needed to replace chains for the second time and cassettes for the first time when we get home.
Hubs:
My rear hub tore apart and I had to get a part sent on a bus from a major centre after a challenging call around of many bike shops to no avail. It was a Shimano boost 12sp hub, uncommon here, but common at home. There were no mechanics for weeks either side capable of wheelbuilding, (except one who claimed to be but produced a dangerously badly performed build for another cyclist with wildly loose and erratic spoke tensions) so, given it was only the freehub body that had the worn bearing I swapped that out and held onto the rest of the new hub to install when we found a wheelbuilder, but since then it had not had a squeak of issue and spun beautifully so we let that one slide too.
A friend had Hope hubs (bombproof) but lost the end caps on a bus ride and had to make a huge detour to get some new ones from what I believe was the only supplier in the country, so even having such excellent reliable hubs as these has its risks!
In reality with these Shimano sealed hub bearings there's not much to do about preventing this. I guess other than maybe having a superlight cassette tool and locking tool and grease maybe to try keep stuff moving a bit further if you have serviceable cup and cone bearings. I had those tools in mini form stashed away but must have been lost along the way as I couldn't find it when we needed it.
The shredded rear hub bearings, the ones that were left...
Incapacitated by a rear hub that sounded like a fork in a blender
Pancho, the immensely generous and capable bicycle mechanic of Villa Cerro Castillo
We replaced 5 of these bolts after they unwound themselves. This happened on both bikes and right from the start, and using different bolts so I don't think it was an issue of worn thread or poorly made bolts. I suspect the arm of the pannier and frequent vibration combine to make an un-winding phenomenon. Loctite and spares highly recommended.
Spare parts:
Despite the weight problem, I would strongly advise others to bring spare bolts of all the exact sizes needed for the whole bike as we found that it is actually quite rare to find the correct thread specifications here. It usually works out being only a handful of bolt sizes that you need across the bike but they are worth their weight in gold. Bring plenty of extra bolts for the pannier rack and bags.
Someone reccomended bringing a small tube of loctite to me for bolts and I thought it was excessive but I would next time. The pannier rack is our most rattle prone area of the bikes and literally we have gone through 5 bolts on these (one of which snapped!) Even after daily checks that the bolts are secure they somehow rattle out super fast once they get even a tiny bit loose. Tape and superglue failed to hold although I was cautious with the glue.
My bottom bracket wore out near a big centre so I could luckily get the one I needed, particularly as it was a relatively common Shimano model, however for many other shops I visited I doubt if they would have had it and local courier can take a week or more for even short distances unless you're lucky enough to get someone to take it on a bus. I have heard of people carrying a spare one but I am not convinced that that is a good use of space and weight. Perhaps send one ahead with the spare tyres and a spare chain.
We never needed to use our spare spokes or derailleur hanger but I would definitely still bring these.
I eventually had to get a little adjustable spanner as we had pedals and some bolts that needed a spanner and my thin light small alloy one broke. I have always had a small pair of pliers on my pocket knife and they've been super useful for the bike and all sorts of other issues with other equipment. If they can fit down into your pedal bearings that is particularly useful for servicing without a socket wrench.
Pedals:
Speaking of, I expected my cheap Kona stock composite flat pedals to potentially be my downfall but chose to keep them for their serviceable cone and cup bearings. Thankfully aside from coming loose at one point, and easily fixed with a quick tighten, they have performed perfectly.
One thoroughly cooked bottom bracket, crack seen at 10 o'clock on the inner ring. The bearings had worn down but also the crack may have been sustained during a rough bus trip putting pressure through the front chainring which had slipped its protective foam cuffing on the journey.
Brakes:
I had TRP Spyke mechanical disc brakes and Hazel had Shimano 2pot MT410.
I had to adjust my brakes every week or sometimes even more often and went through 4 pairs of pads. The hydraulic brakes performed excellently, had no adjustments or bleeds needed and went through only one set.
I would bring hydraulics in future unless I was planning on an absolutely isolated area such as the Arctic or Mongolian steppe for months at a time. Planning on taking many buses may also be a valid reason for mechanical brakes due to the increased risk of hose damage.
One of the few days of true singletrack where the mountain-biking setups could finally shine
Handlebar:
I enjoyed using the Jones H bar for this trip, having used it on a previous long distance tour, but it is not quite right for me and I would not want to take it again unless I really couldn’t find a better alternative. The enormous sweep is too much. I compensate by holding the Ergon Gp1 cork grips (amazing by the way), somewhat obliquely. This works fine in most riding and I suffered minimal ulnar or median neuropathies and could maintain long days riding without wrist, shoulder or neck pain. However in the small amount of technical trails we found, on the tight corners the handlebar has too much sweep to negotiate the corner, it becomes unintuitive and a challenge to control. On a test ride in NZ I fell off on a downhill trail because of this surprise and thankfully only sustained minor injuries. I put it down to my own lack of skill with the set up, but since I have encountered it again and again and have struggled to really get into the more technical trails I wanted to. I think a 20 degree sweep with bar-ends placed inboard (medial to the brake levers) would be a good compromise.
However this change would loose a significant strength of the Jones bar which is the double bar for attachment. This double bar made my otherwise bouncy Cactus front harness perfectly taut and kept it locked down. This harness is incredibly durable and I like it but it has a tendency to slip from its anchoring and become bouncy as described above unless it is held up from the front.
The Cubic dry bag that came with this harness soon ripped open with several large holes and disintegrated, I wouldn't bother with them again. I instead used an Aspiring Enterprises heavy PVC caving dry bag which, although stiff and prone to a small amount of cracking just at the folding points after years of use, is very durable and has no holes. It's roll top strip seemed to crack almost immediately which was alarming but this was of no consequence to the bags integrity.
Drybags:
I would suggest you bring a few extra drybags, particularly ultralightweight ones. Our heavy duty Sea to Summit Big River bags and the Ultra-sil bags lasted well but their 'lightweight' general purpose bags deteriorated quickly. It is intriguing to note that the thin Ultra-sil dry bags have however (when used with care) lasted disproportionately well for their miniscule weight. The bags available here are terrible and generally very expensive for good brands. The four cheap thick PVC fork bags I got from a surf shop have lasted amazingly well and have many years of life left in them it seems.
Panniers
We used Philips panniers. Mine have served me exceptionally well for 5 years of daily commuting including heavy shopping and a long cycle tour in rough terrain. Hazels were near new second hand and for some reason deteriorated much faster than my old faithfuls. Their weak points were obvious from near the start of this trip. I would not use them again.
The attachment of the backplate to the strip that hooks onto the pannier rack is weak and ripped on all of them. The backplate cracked as well. I made numerous repairs with waxed cotton, glues and seamgrip but they kept ripping. I have never seen an ortlieb pannier do this, although let me know if you have. The floor also wore thin and I placed heavy canvas in it to protect it.
By the end of the trip they were all tied onto the pannier rack because they had no integrity left to hold themselves. Ortliebs are the gold standard and I will use these from now on. I have seen issues of missing bolts and blades falling off, but nothing as consequential as this.
One of the torn attachments failing numerous mediocre field repair jobs
The rivet holding the hanging rack from the pannier backplate snapped leaving the pannier dangling precariously from the other end
Airmats
Regarding airmats, Hazel had a new Sea to Summit etherlight airmat which after 5 months started the dreaded slow overnight leak. I got a simple Thermarest self inflating in La Paz, (only half-decent thing in the city) after my S2S pad disintegrated (see previous gear post) and it's bulky but good, it feels super durable and naturally I’ve had no leaks so far.
Merino
It was particularly hard to get clothes washed, with our preference for wild camping and the cold wet weather down in Southern Patagonia. Most paid campgrounds have had ‘no clothes washing’ policies in even outside sinks and we don't trust others anymore to comprehend the strict care required with merino after the first attempt ended up with boiled and shrunk merino. It's not so much a lack of trust as a high consequence if they get it wrong. We live in almost entirely Merino and only have a small amount of clothes to travel with, which would be almost impossible to replace here where merino is rare. Unfortunately this means we have worn clothes for a lot longer than would be ideal at times which will have made them wear out faster. Having worn out two pairs of merino socks I had only two left. This on top of prolonged damp foot conditions in this weather led to pitting keratolysis. This is not generally difficult to treat if you can maintain general foot hygiene measures, good sock rotations and thorough cleaning as well as access an antibiotic ointment (one of the few indications for this still recommended). Achieving this however whilst crossing the pampas is almost impossible.
I would recommend others to bring more spare merino socks than you anticipate to need. In our case 6-7 pairs (of various thicknesses and length) for 6 months would be good. Due to their bulk you could send these ahead to a resupply spot. Of all our clothing these were the quickest to wear out. Our macpac merino socks wore out almost 2x quicker than equivalent Icebreaker socks. In comparison my 5 year old Icebreaker coollite t shirts which were wearing thin in places at the start of the trip I have worn almost every day of this trip and are only slightly more worn than to start with, so my spare fourth merino top baselayer could have been left behind.
It's hard to wash your clothes in the remote locations and cold, wet conditions of Patagonia. Merino is excellent at keeping you warm in the wet, inhibiting bacterial growth (to an extent), and in the lightweight 120gsm variety is also excellent in hot weather.
Footwear
For hiking and cycling I think approach shoes would be ideal. We rode in light running shoes which we were comfortable with, and because we had big flat pedals, but we ended up doing far more hiking than running so a more structured shoe would have been better. Others we met had approach shoes and did well with them.
We both had sandals and found them well worth the weight. In the heat we cycled in them, every evening we could air our feet and let our shoes dry out. In Australia they were essential. I brought Teva sandals with a strong grippy sole to make them a more versatile shoe. Unfortunately these have an unpleasant rubber on the footbed that in hot weather rapidly becomes sticky and filthy. Normally on the seaside a quick rinse would fix this, but there was no quick rinse in the desert. The strap also ripped out of the sole but superglue seems to have fixed that and otherwise it seems well made so it may have been a solitary defect. I prefer my birkenstocks but they are heavier and more prone to damage in wet weather.
Bowls/Mugs:
We have really liked our collapsible silicone Sea To Summit 650ml bowl and 480ml mug. They clean up easily, pack well with the stove and pot and are infinitely more durable than cheap alternatives which we have seen catastrophically cracked when full of hot liquid. We managed with this one bowl and eating from the pot for all meals. We also had a small Tupperware container that housed leaky or fragile items and acted as chopping board. This could have been an extra bowl for dinner but wasn't needed. For hot drinks we used the collapsible mug and a light mug with inbuilt coffee plunger by Zyliss. It was nice to be able to make our own coffee each day but this mug has gaping holes around the filter so is quite poor at its job. I would absolutely bring an aeropress with steel filter in future. The quality of coffee it makes is absolutely worth the bulk. Finding coffee grinds was hard at times, often with old grinds and poor quality beans with robusta frequently mixed in, but we made a good bag last a while and saved a lot on bought coffee. Instant coffee is of course absolutely everywhere but didn't have the morale boost to go with it. See my post on foods whilst cycle touring for more detail.
Stove
My trusty 12 year old MSR whisperlite universal was fantastic. It burned gasoline mostly as we struggled to find bencina blanca (white gas, coleman fuel, fuellite). Bencina blanca is banned in Bolivia due to use in cocaine processing. It is available in some hardware stores (Ferreteria) in southern Chile but in Argentina we could not find it.
We cleaned the stove more regularly (weekly) due to concerns of gasoline additives clogging the fuel line which happened to several others who then struggled to remove the clogged line and had to heat the generator tube on another stove and use pliers to free it.
For a trip of more than three months I would bring the full MSR stove expedition service kit, the spare parts are key and almost impossible to source here. We encountered many people who had issues with otherwise previously very reliable stoves simply because of the contaminated fuels available here causing endless obstruction issues, or parts getting lost along the way.
Fabric Repairs
I found silicone seamgrip to be very useful. Made by the brand Gear Aid, this gel seals most tears and holes in tent and airmat fabric so easily and far more durably than any other product I've found. Yet it is nowhere to be found here, even in outdoors shops. Thankfully I brought a big tube. It takes about 8hrs to set so I also had some fast curing glue for the airmats for if I found a hole at night and really needed a fix, as the quick repair patches supplied were a complete waste of time and failed repeatedly despite precisely following instructions. The GearAid Tenacious Tape is very good too but it is quite expensive, so maybe gaffer tape would be good enough.
I needed the seamgrip and Tenacious tape when several days of 90kph gusts on 40kph winds caused the guyrope to abrade through the fly where it crossed a pole.
Several windy days with guyrope rubbing on the tent caused abrasive damage to the fly
Tents
Overall our MSR Elixir 2 performed well and we have been very pleased with it. It had no issues in heavy rain or strong wind, and it was warm enough in -10’c nights. It was very spacious inside and for gear storage under vestibules. The footprint has been battered and will likely need replacing. Some people take a tarp as well as an extra, and cheaper, footprint. We found on one occasion with heavy rain and strong wind pushing the rain sideways that the “universal” footprint was actually too big and channelled rain under the tent which after a day eventually permeated through so we are careful to keep the footprint tucked under in particularly heavy rain and keep an eye on it if we are camped out for the rainy day. If the fly came down closer to ground level like a skirt then airflow would be reduced for hot weather but wet weather and dust protection would be better, so perhaps a flap or removable section could help this.
We found the mesh inner to be also flawed when it came to dust as it could not be converted to fully sealed and thus allowed large amounts of fine dust to enter the tent in windy weather.
Retrofitted panels with Velcro may solve this and I will see what I can make when home again.
I had never encountered Hilleberg tents before but these were popular with long-term cyclists and stood up beautifully to howling gales whilst some designs offered some cunning extra large vestibule areas for storing gear and cooking in foul weather. We saw one that was 10 years old yet looked brand new. They are heavy but they are exceptionally durable and intelligently made, which makes them one of only very few tents that could actually withstand true 4 season conditions. Their repair policy also sounds to be easy and very generous, from what we have heard.
We saw tents from what we knew to be ultralight and expensive big name brands in this market dangerously underperforming on multiple occasions and I would hesitate to reccomend them for this sort of trip and certainly would not buy them now myself for similar.
If I did this trip again, and in the future when looking for a thoroughly capable tent again, I will seriously consider and probably buy Hilleberg. What I have seen of them is really quite extraordinary.
Phase 2 trials of tents vs Patagonian winds at Paso del Viento ('pass of the wind'). The brown-green tent at centre is Hilleberg, it remained rocksolid whilst the Doite and Forclaz tents around it got thrashed.
Phase 1 trials had happened earlier in the campground in El Chalten where lesser tents got written off. We saw numerous poles snap, several flys rip and a good deal of tents whole and partial flying away,
Electronics:
SD cards for cameras are hard to find here or are frequently dubious brands which would be unwise to trust your precious photos to, so bring extra. The amount I brought worked out fine but I could have done with another high volume usb stick as it was a super lightweight and inexpensive photo backup location given my Surface Go SSD was so small so I had the external SSD as my primary photo storage device.
We travelled with an older model Surface Go which proved to be slow but definitely capable enough for all our photo editing, mapping, and general admin needs. Its slim form and light weight were perfect and being a cheaper second hand model I didn't feel quite so worried about it getting stolen or damaged.
The Knog solar panel was an excellent tool for keeping us camping away from civilisation for significantly longer than we would otherwise have been able to. It was fast and efficient compared to any others I have tried before. In the far south it was mostly unusable with the wind and overcast skies but it had earned its weight well before then. You could definitely get by without it with the 20,000mAh powerbank, but it enabled us a lot more flexibility, and safety if the powerbank had broken.
Take the approach that pretty much all outdoors gear and technology is far more expensive and limited here so if you want to have decent quality you'll have to come prepared. Even ordering online and shipping into Argentina for example, will incur high import taxes and take a long time to arrive.
Top Performers:
As mentioned above we had some excellent gear with us but these pieces deserve extra mention as new equipment for the trip that exceeded our expectations. Again, I have received no sponsorship or commercial arrangements and all opinions are my own from gear I have independently purchased in full.
Earth Sea Sky Crank Shorts
I lived in these shorts. On the bike for long days, hiking, wandering around cities, and sitting on plenty of sharp rocks. Yet somehow they are every bit as robust and intact as when I started. They dry fast, the zip pocket keeps a wallet safe, they are loose enough to run and cycle in. For me, I couldn't think of better shorts. No faults.
CamelBak AllClear UV Treatment Device
This simple and robust device should really be more popular than the steripen but was discontinued for no clear reason in 2015 unfortunately. It completely avoids the steripens fragile and awkward design by screwing directly onto a 63mm (think Nalgene widemouth) bottle to shield the lamp and allow proper agitation. We had no gastro illnesses since starting to use this device in La Paz, Bolivia. Naturally we were reasonably discerning with the initial water we found and would filter cloudy water first but this device must surely have saved us from all sorts of organisms multiple times per day all through 5 months. We did not buy water at all since La Paz and ended up having to take water from filthy sources quite often. Naturally a lot of infections remain asymptomatic but even so, it saved us from any disruptive or even trip-ending, hospitalising infections. The battery is easy to charge via USB and holds a decent number of cycles (~50).
This unit and components are not replaceable unfortunately. The threads also may have untreated water on them so always wipe these dry at the very least.
Earth Sea Sky Zeal Guide Jacket
Much like the shorts above, I lived in this jacket. Across high altitude deserts with icy winds and -10'c nights to torrential downpours of Southern Patagonia this jacket was excellent. This is not a cheap jacket. It is made by hand in New Zealand from carefully chosen materials to last for years to decades. My last raincoat from ESS which is now 12 years old no longer seems to hold a DWR for long but has the integrity of a brand new jacket.
The hood has a separate flap that allows you to cover your lower face comfortably without buckling the fabric around the neck whilst the hood avoids blocking your peripheral vision. This was exceptionally useful for cycling as previous helmet-compatible hoods I have used give you an unsafe tunnel vision. Without intending cliche, I often forgot I had the hood on over my helmet it was that well fitted. The breast pocket is also well concealed beneath the gusset which feels particularly secure.
One issue was the lack of 'pit-zips' which I expect would compromise the waterproofing and add weak points. Another issue was the high positioning of the zips for the side pockets, I found this awkward at times. The breast pocket zipper should also have a different feeling tab as I often reached to unzip this instead of the main front zipper and had valuables fall out a few times as a result. None of these issues were critical or even particularly annoying but could be improved.
Again, whilst travelling it has been hard to wash the jacket as often as is required for optimal garment lifespan.
Cycling in my Earth Sea Sky Crank shorts
Also pictured is a combo of my own creation, the rim of a semi-rigid wide-brimmed hat is anteriorly velcroed to the outside edge of my helmet (to avoid interefering with the MIPS system). This was pretty good even in high winds for giving much needed sun protection. Similarly the light secondhand linen shirt provided brilliant sun protection yet remained ventilated in the hot weather, without even getting stinky.
Summary
We were very pleased with what we brought in general and could only really suggest bringing a few spares for the bikes and spare socks, as discussed above, to have sent ahead given the lack of availability of replacements.
Everyone's needs and wants are unique and I'm sure that, even with this experience, we will have many more tweaks to make when travelling in different regions. The inevitable nuances of different seasons, cultures and climates demand ever-adapting your travelling setup. As new technology comes along sometimes an upgrade can save you a lot of weight or inconvenience, but then often the old established brands still make the durable gear you need to look after yourself. It is cliched to say you can get by just fine with what you already have. In principle it is true, you will probably be ok because you can usually improvise a temporary fix or find someone to help you out. But to travel with poorly thought-out gear or gear not appropriate for the conditions is not only risking wasting time and money but soon becomes reckless and frankly immoral.
To travel to remote regions of the world you need to set out with the intention of being self sufficient, bringing quality gear for the region, as to expect someone to put themselves in danger and use their limited resources to save you in an under-developed country is not morally justifiable. Your gear doesn't need to be expensive, it just needs to be thought out. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
Inevitably even with the best planning things will go wrong and you will need help at times. These are often the times that we remember most fondly and where we made the strongest connections with locals. However, travelers we have met who have the means to be better prepared but instead are relying on constant rescue by locals are taking far more than they are giving to these places.
This doesn't have to be expensive as we have shown, second hand and old gear is often better quality than new purchases, so long as it is well chosen. We think of some gear items as 'safety investments'. These include the tent, jacket and down jacket. They are expensive but exceptionally well made so that in the worst case scenario we could get by. If you need to save money, don't skimp on these, there are far better ways to save your pennies along the way.
