Impressions of the Koga Miyata World Traveller 29 VS Test Santos Travel Lite // WT Expedition cycle reviews

Koga-Miyata World Traveller 26 (Photo rights: Worldtravellers.dk)
Reviews of this model

Santos Travel Lite 26
Review of Santos Travel Master 2.6

Test 2012 Koga World Traveller 29 (Dutch language)

Santos Travel Lite 26 (Dutch language)




More....Dutch Touring Bicycle images

WT: Interview upcoming with Tim & Cindie Travis, Downtheroad.org

Being a cyclist and activist for adventure cycling has one advantage: you meet people who love to experience life on the road. Meet Tim & Cindie Travis, the traveling two! Whom decided in 2002 to leave their offices (or classrooms) and travel the world through adventure bicycle touring fueled by their self-supported, sponsorship-driven website & creative self-publishing which all service the inspiring bicycle World Touring (WT) community.

They have now published two books, The Road That Has No End and Down The Road in South America to document their past adventures and provide illustration of the elements required to successfully participate in world touring. Their third book is being prepared for publishing. More information will be provided in the upcoming Korean-World Podcast! The pilot interview will be an opportunity of speaking to them about their equipment choices; sharing their best moments on expedition; and uncover their plans for the next 7 years of their adventure-cycling World Tour.

Their website DOWNTHEROAD.ORG offers information about their explorations and features links to many companies that supply the gear. These cyclists have transformed their lives from suburban Americans to International Explorers and they chose bicycles as their means of transportation and lifestyle.

  

CYCLING KOREA, TRAINING 2009 - KBS WORLD RADIO INTERVIEW

Hey Bob,

That's great news!! I just finished interviewing at KBS (Korea Broadcast System) for the World Radio Program (: I was nervous once the "on air" lights went on, it was filmed using 5 cameras in a studio, we didn't wear headsets (like @CJAM), so I felt a little rough on the edges, but pulled through with my notes prepared from 430am today, LOL! I promoted my roots in Windsor, Caboto and Maple Leaf Cycling Clubs for my origins in Cycling and the spark that start touring for me (Grand Bend, 1990,1992), those 480Km and 360Km (1/2 way return, hail stormed out) [has] fueled my hunger for two-wheel traveling.

In 1993, I Canoe Guided for Voyageur Wilderness Program http://www.vwp.ca -leaving Windsor on a Greyhound bus from the downtown terminal, my father packed a full hockey-bag-sized duffel [full] of rations that would last the summer up north in Quetico Provincial Park, Ontario (near Atikokan/Thunder Bay) on boundary waters with northern Minnesota. I paddled open-waters, navigated using conventional maps, carried 60 pound backs, canoes on my shoulders, and guided groups of 18 students and 3 adults (some twice my age) on 70-90Km canoeing/portaging and camping expeditions, 10 days at a time. Tough adventure, great experience. I returned there again in 1999 as an accompanying Counselor and followed a guide, much easier trip!!!

I motorcycle toured the US (between 1994-1998) on five cross-country whirlwinds covering or crossing 24,000Km in a total of 60 days. On one return trip to Windsor in 1996, I rode one stretch of highway for 36 consecutive hours before taking a rest (4-hour powernap), riding from tank-to-tank, and hydrating with water and strong coffee. The States/Provinces I visited were (Windsor to Ohio, Pennsylvania as far east, to Arizona, California, Washington State, Oregon, and every state between across the northern, middle US States (Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakiota, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Kansas, Missouri, Ontario, and Western Canadian Rockies, Banff Alberta to Vancouver, British Columbia and Vancouver Island. On my last tour in 1998, I crashed broadside into a car that crossed into my right-of-way. I damaged my left cyatic nerve and took 4 months to reach full recovery. I had just completed a successful tour south to Phoenix, Arizona and north via California to Vancouver, B.C. The medics at the scene of this accident described me as "a wandering nomad."

After the motorcycle crash, I returned to Windsor on crutches in the summer (July/August, 1998) and restored a 1975 Jeep CJ-5 to full-restoration in 22 days (straight, often 10 hours on the build). Drove back to Vancouver, then Vancouver Island, and finally south to San Diego, California. Took up surfing, meditation, mountain biking, and Tour Guiding the Southwest US States as a Guide for a Camping tour company, example: 21 days, driving/camping/coordinating daily itinerary while managing to cover 5000 miles of driving myself, with paper maps for navigation. I changed to 2500 mile tours after my first burn across California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah, to save energy, touring jobs generally pay little, but the rewards are tremendous for character-building, teamwork, and expedition preparation, even if was only just driving a 12-passenger van with roof racks for camping gear and suit cases, it was an expedition and nothing less...^^

In late 2006, I returned to my wife's native South Korea, and in spring 2007 I began cycling again, purchasing a mountain bike for about $200 Canadian dollars, I pushed the bike to it's limits on and offroad, starting with small rides locally in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province (southwest of Seoul, the Capitol) and these rides became more frequent, daily and distances steadily increased, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120Km...rides began happening by summer 2007. In the fall of 2007, I rode 455Km down the mountainous East Coast, dubbed "The Asian Highway 7" perhaps one day, post-Communist North Korea, linking South Korea with China and Russia to the North and west. I rode the entire 2007/08 winter season, which is relatively dry in Korea, with little precipitation and average temperatures hovering just below zero, it's ideal for cycling in Korea. In 2008, I continued to ride and tour the country, completing more ofthe East Coast again, from Gangneung to Busan, and Seoul to Daegu, and a lot of local pedaling on bike paths and along the rice fields surrounding many cities. This year, I pulled some heavy rides starting out on the East Coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwondo Province, and pedaling for 3 days across the mountainous regions into Gyeongsanbukdo (Uljin area) and Gyeongsannamdo Province where the second largest coastal city Busan lies. At the end of the summer I completed about 700Km of riding in 7 days of touring through central and southwestern Korea. I'm now exploring the northwest coast around Daebudo Island (recent Fb album for photos, plenty in all my albums Bob, take your pick, or I can send some high-res photos instead).

I'm active in several groups on Facebook: Cycling in Korea, Cycling International, Adventurers of the World. Everyone interested in cycling is welcome to join those groups!! My cycling expedition in 2012 has a Facebook group, http://www.facebook.com/brian.perich#/group.php?gid=49155647250&ref=ts dubbed,

ONE - Cycle, One Man (+Riders), One Charity, Global Bike from the Arctic

Until a new website is operational, these are my contact points and of course Email: tesol2000@gmail.com

Hope these notes help!! Let me know if you need more information.

WT: Nicholi Bangsgaard, celebrating his 50,000KM Mark for his World Cycling Expedition!!! Bravo!! Bravo!! Bravo!! ^^.

My recent efforts to support a fellow cyclist/ultra-long distance WT rider from Denmark Nicholi Bangsgaard ^^! He's into his 4th year of World Touring by Bicycle, he has conquered/traversed 5 continents and 38 countries so far!!! Giant rides!!! Here's a few words posted the "Adventurers of the World" group on Facebook, anyone interested can join us, support for Nicholi would be appreciated, he accepted PayPal and you can buy his WT Days for .17 cents USD or .13 Euros a KM. More information follows at the end of this entry. Blessings to Nicholi on his long-haul to cycling the World by Bike. Bravo!! Bravo!! Bravo!! ^^....

Hey Nic, hope the cycle is going well...the recent blog entries are timeless, love the pics, especially your Koga overhaul photo of the worn seat!!! Hardcore cycling!!! ~I plugged for your DAYS FOR SALE on the group, you'll meet many others there, many will get to know you, hopefully support your WT Days. I'm still pedaling in South Korea (LOL!) but I am making plans and talking to many people about my launch from the Arctic Circle in 2012. Read on for the plug for your WT Sale.

Power & Cycle on Mighty One!!!

Brian Perich - - - - - - - - - ->

Topic: Nicholi Bangsgaard's World Traveller's site [MUST BE SEEN!] about 50,000Km CYCLE (DAYS FOR SALE!!!)
Reply to Topic
Displaying the only post.
Post #1
You wrote2 seconds ago
I met Nicholi Bangsgaard as many cyclists do, through blogging and facebook. So glad to meet him a half a year ago, he is currently cycling into his 50,000th Km mark Solo from Denmark. He has setup an excellent site, complete with timely blog entries, informatics for accommodations now moving through the USA, and great photos. He's a pure-blood Adventurer, he sharing it all & asking for PayPal donations [days for sale] based on a clever calculation of distance vs. cents [.17 cents USD or .13 Euro per Km]. Make a small donation today, I'm sure Nic will appreciate the donation. You'll be added to his Hall of Fame & become a part of his journey. Also, Nicholi is successful at what he is doing, a model for other adventurers wishing to strike out on two-wheels, follow his adventure and you'll learn so much!

http://www.worldtravellers.dk/wordpress/

Peaceful Adventures to all ~ Brian Perich, South Korea
[Facebook group] Adventurers of the world, Cycling expeditions.
My blogging from Korea: http://korean-world.blogspot.com

Ride Earth - Photostreams on Flickr

Time to Jump into June, it's been a quick transition of months with cycling in weekend spinning mode (mountains with Murray a few weeks back), a trip to Jeju Island with my family, and next weekend's prospect of the Beach Blanket Apocalypse in Sokcho happening on Saturday. Options are to load the bike to Express to Gangneung and connect with Sokcho on Friday night, will be quite late then. The rest of the weekend will encompass this Beach affair with drum jams, swim-swim in the Pacific, and launch South on bike for more training Sunday-Monday. Prime weather predicted for cycling since the dry spell is now, and Monsoons are sure to come!

Ride Earth Photostreams on Flickr [LINK, FOR VIEWING PLEASURES!)

Ride Earth is a Collaborative-World-Cycle-by-Mountain Bike. I really enjoy reading their blog (or seeing their updates on Flickr), whichever progress line is equally digestible, in printed words, or the amazing photostreams, it's definitely worth a look at their adventure off the beaten-tracks (Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia...) Hope to see them on the other side of the world soon!

WT: Letter to Murray

Murray,

I experienced life time setbacks from 2003-2006, venturing into the States for Medicine... Here in Korea, it's entirely different (including air quality, unfortunately), but we can take what we need and leave the rest, sometimes the job stress builds up for me, but there's still a job, I just need something to come back to (hence, sending the confirmation to the university tomorrow) when WT Camp is finished. I think once you push off, off the grid, great things will happen, even if the speed is slow [ like Shuutak's 100,000Km Challenge: http://shuutak.com ], this sort of Zen Motion allows yourself time, something I don't normally afford myself in the daily race for life. Cycling so hard last year and damaging my lungs in the Korean/Chinese air pollution (Yellow Dust) to the point of severe bronchitis last season and coughing hard enough to burst a cluster of blood vessels in 1, made me think about how hard I am riding, and for what purpose it will ultimately serve in my life? Cycling seems to give me new life, since the wheel is always turning, every Km is new and this seems to be an opportunity that knocks, if your listening, and I'm listening now. Korea is the training ground for a brute force, powerful enough to push into the strongest headwinds on the tallest peaks (even if this means pushing the bike on foot). I want to put this training to good use and explore Arctic1 in 2012. Let's see what happens next!!!

WT: 175Km Weekend Highlights - Shuutak takes on his World Tour

Shuutak takes on his Cycling World Tour WT cutting across South Korea (Busan to Gangneung to Incheon), then ferrying to China (cycling to northern parts I was told) and on to Europe and Africa as part of his WT by bicycle. He is 25 years old, already ridden across/around Australia in 2007, he was plodding away gracefully against a stiff head wind...towards Gangneung, Korea today. We met yesterday while I was heading South to Uljin and he was heading North to Gangneung. It was great to cross paths again, ride together, and snap some photos for his WT 2009-2011. Best of luck on tour, "we must be strong" were his last words when I saw him, better believe it on his bike around the world. He seemed to be doing fine on his own, cycling a steady 9 Kph against the hungry headwinds, he had his ZEN in order. ^^!!! Shuutak has an amazing blog to look at [if you can read Japanese Kanji] but I think he will find a tweak for Wordpress that allows International translations, a Widget or Code could help with that. I know Nicholi uses it when blogging in Danish [ http://www.worldtravellers.dk ] and I have really enjoyed following his progress from South America months ago. Shuutak and I both rode the rains on May 16th which opened up my start from Gangneung to Donghae on the night T/RAIN (cycling in the rain at night). I cycled for 3 hours, covering a wee 45km from 9pm-12am Saturday on long ascending grades and short/steep descents into Donghae. Sunday/Monday combined I cycled 130Km (not-much-there distancewise) but the terrain was 4/5 on difficulty, mountains & more mountains!!! I should be talking about "Wordpress" right now because it would be easier to write and add photos, I've been tweaking this site for an hour, losing photos, moving bits and pieces, but I still haven't situated everything right :( Shuutak gave me his card, link to his blog is order (keep track of this WT Rider, as his tour has just begun!), http://shuutak.com short & easy enough to remember. We played the name game today, and finally I had Shuutak spell it out for me...TAK for short...I can't read his name card, but I'm sure he'll contact me for corrections & I'll fix things up a bit. The photos speak more than words, cycling after a days rain, stunning...but we found ourselves in clouds of pine pollen (my favorite allergy), but Shuutak wasn't bothered. Cycling for this weekend is over, but I wish my WT friend a safe, adventurous, and memorable trip of a lifetime! Finally bits: Shuutak rides a Surly - Long Haul Trucker, he built it up from parts he bought through online auctions, Ortieb front panniers, Japanese hardware (Nitto Racks), Shimano XT/LX components, heavy-spoked wheels, array of bottle carriers, front trunk/map holder, mats, MSR stove, and everything you'll ever need around the world ^^! Looked like a great kit, much to haul, but places will come when he'll use every bit he's got going with him...Great job Shuutak! ~Please correct me if I have your name spelled incorrectly! ^^Cycling on, and on with endless POWER my friend, Cycling on to your 100,000km, 100 countries goal, that's a load of traveling my cycling man! Good luck on days ahead! ^^!

WT: Ride the Transamerican, w/ MA to complete.

Hi John,

This might create enough gap with Rubberside Down returning to an original route planned http://www.poweredbycommunity.org/cms/ [never been attempted in this direction Arctic-Vancouver-St.Johns-New York-Texas-Mexico-Central/South America]; link to the New York HTTP://WWW.GYGIG.ORG and continue the ride to Central and South America. From 2012 to completion. I have 24 months to complete my MA in Adult Education [online], train consistently [300Km weekends as I have been doing], and saving a heap for commitment to fully engage tour, charity drives, and [WT] World Tour by bike. In Korea, I've got one of the best training grounds in the world [though I have to cycle around it a few times to make the distance!]. Keep in touch, Greg or Vin are welcome to join!

[This is the updated route/departure time. 2012-20XX]

ONE. The route will begin at the Arctic Circle and traverse Canada from the Arctic Circle (Inuvit, Northwest Territories, Canada) south towards the Yukon and British Columbia (Victoria, Vancouver), cross over the Canadian Rockies towards Banff, Lake Louise, down to Calgary (Stampede) and across the Prairies (Saskatoon, Regina), Winnepeg, MB to settle into Ontario from Thunder Bay up to the St. Laurence River Valley and out to St. Johns, Canada. From there the course turns South to New York (210 mile ride joining up with 1000's of riders at GYGIG 2012), Southwest towards Texas and into Mexico and Central & South America (generalization, fill in the places between) I will be supporting the Crohns and Colitis Foundation that's searching for ways to help the community living with IBD (intestinal bowel disease) which there is treatment available, but still no cure. It affects millions of people globally and they need our support to raise awareness & fund research or events leading to a cure! Anyone wishing to join this ride can do so, even supporting another charity! We can share the ride supporting different causes that need change. Therefore, anyone healthy enough to ride 100km/day whom is interested in joining "day/week segments" of this bicycle expedition for fun, adventure and a load of cycling on the road are welcome! No barriers or attitudes, it's all about moving life in a new direction. Bored with life, need a new drug, try WT touring!

Contact Info: Brian @ tesol2000@gmail.com
Office: Seoul, South Korea
Tour Location: North/Central/South America
Date: 2012 - 20XX.
Web: http://korean-world.blogspot.com

WT: Letter to John C.S.

Thanks for updating John.

Understand both our situations right now. I know you spending much time promoting the increasingly successful "Rubberside Down" cycling documentary for the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of Canada (http://www.poweredbycommunity.org) and back to work at Chrysler. That's why I touched base now. I can't leave the family out of the picture for a year...and the Arctic to Argentina Bike will realistically take 12-18 months going solid north or south to complete, either starting from either end of the Pan-American highway. I'm not soft on distance as I am on time, but your right about my family responsibilities...and this ride is DEFINITELY NOT CONCRETE until it happens, unfortunately there goes the charity option!

Finally, I can finally afford this type of adventure (to travel just to travel and have a goal of distances/time, endurance exercise & places to visit along the route). But now, I've got a family to support on a Bread/Rice/Milk/&Kimchi diet in Korea and the family-plan to start plotting out a course for. I've just pre-purchased an apartment in Korea, the first in my life...previously, I was devoted to marathon/nomadic travel by motorcycle (25,000km of Canada/USA in 60 days on 5 trips 1994-1998), jeep (Windsor to BC to San Diego, CA), truck (Windsor to BC), or bikes (Ontario, Michigan, BC, California, Korea)...and never accumulated a dime living it to the fullest. Well, times have changed and so have I, getting much older now & wiser too (36). Not too old to enjoy a trip by bike...but in honesty, without your support...the CCFC Ride in the shadows of Rubberside Down without Greg & Vin's involvement here or my brother joining the ride, I think really few heads will turn up to this. I like what Nicholi Bangsgaard has done with his WT Bike: http://www.worldtravellers.dk and that model would stand the test of time, blogging, entertaining and perhaps sustaining a long-distance ride much fuller than Arctic to Argentina. My son is only 14 months (it might actually take that much time to complete the entire ride), but he has already taken interest in wheeley devices, all sorts of modes from cars to bikes to toys...& his favorite toy is a 4-wheel "Go Rider" push toddler bike. Matthew is also fascinated by my new touring bike, gripping the back tire and rolling it back and forth. He likes grabbing the rear cogs and getting his greasy hands. I'd say he'll be up for the task (in 15 years LOL!), if what I can only do now is only a smaller scale of the world touring, what will I attempt when I am 51 years old while Matthew turns 16? It's starting to sound like a dream, well, we'll see what comes to be, if nothing less...an adventure to enjoy from the Arctic Circle and who cares how it happens, how long it lasts or where I am going, just that it happens and the memory is imprinted and the nostalgia of cycling lives on!

Warm Wishes & Blessings on your journey with CCFC & Rubberside!