Violetta’s maiden ride
I know you’ve all been anxiously awaiting a review or ride report for mum’s new bike, Violetta. Yesterday morning, I took her for her first ride (yes, it’s a “she”. What sort of male bike would be called Violetta?). It wasn’t a very long ride, only 14 Km or so. But in my defence, I was running late for work and didn’t have much time. You’ll see it was a pretty slow ride in the great scheme of things. In fairness:
- I rode slow because I haven’t been riding much lately
- I rode slow because it’s a brand new bike and I didn’t want to crash it
- It’s not my bike! It’s mum’s bike! And it’s set up for her. I am taller than her, and boy could I tell that bike was set up all wrong for me. Every single pedal stroke proved it.
- It was rainy and the roads were slippery.
So why did I take a brand new, shiny bike out for a shakedown ride on a rainy day? Well, there are things about this bike that make it just “want” to ride on such a day:
- Dynamo lights. They’re the lights that keep on going and going and going…
- Full mudguards. Not the crudcatcher compromise guards I put on my commuter. I’m talking about the real deal.
- Front disc brake. Why not test the theory that disc brakes are superior to rim brakes in the wet?
- Fat tyres. Compared to my regular 130PSI skinny road tyres, these should be much better in crappy weather, right?
I’m actually running late this morning, too, so I won’t make this a long post. Instead, consider it a teaser of a more thorough future post. I will simply say that this bike made riding in shitty weather a pleasure. In quick bullet-point summary (because I’m really late for work now):
- First of all, the mudguards kept all but the tiniest amount of road grime from getting on my legs.
- My feet actually stayed dry.
- The fat tyres made for a more comfortable ride, but I can’t really say they contributed to better or safer handling.
- The front disc brake was unfortunately a bit of a let-down. It’s nowhere near as strong as the rear rim brake. I suspect there needs to be some adjustment to it.
- The dynamo lights actually saved the day. In my haste to insert the battery into my PDW Radbot 1000, I didn’t quite “click” the unit closed. It worked for.. well, who knows? It worked when I set off for my ride, but somewhere along the line, it came apart and the battery dislodged. Were it not for the dynamo tail light, I would’ve had no rear lighting at all.
- Compared to my light, carbon road bike, it is noticeably heavier. This shouldn’t be counted against it. Of course it’s going to be heavier! But I noticed it, and combined with my loss of bike fitness, parts of the bike ride were tough.
- Lower gears did make up for this when climbing. Once I get my bike fitness back, I’ll have a better appreciation of whether the gearing is appropriate or if needs to be lowered a touch.
Now of course a 14Km ride can’t possibly educate anyone about how good a bike this is as a tourer. I will try to take her out for longer rides, and will also make an effort to load her up. This is, of course, assuming my mother doesn’t come and take possession of her own bike!
OK, gotta go.. stupid work getting in the way of life!
Some photos
As some of you have requested photos, it’s best I post them. Otherwise, I will be forever plagued with the memeish “Photos or it didn’t happen”!
Violetta, in all her glory.
The front half. Note the disc brake, dynamo hub, full mudguard and three bidon cages.
Note double-sided pedals (SPD and flat)
Note the rack, full mudguard and you can see the tail light there too. Both tyres have reflective piping on the sidewalls.
That’ll do for now. I’m running late for work!
The Violetta has landed!
We have it! Mum’s Vivente World Randonneur is in our hot little hands! I won’t post too much about it now, but to whet your appetite, check out Vivente’s brand new web site at http://viventebikes.com/main/page_products_bikes_2012_trekking_bars.html.
In case you’re wondering, Violetta is the bike’s name. No, I didn’t name it. Mum did. Violetta. 
Now we’re cooking with… metho!
You’ll recall that I put a great deal of thought, research and diligence into researching a tent to take on our cycle touring expeditions. I’m not ashamed to say that I didn’t put anywhere near the same amount of effort into buying a camp stove. Why’s that? Well, simple really. Every time I searched for a camp stove that was simple, reliable, easy to use and, well, just works.. one stove kept coming up over and over again. That stove is the Trangia. Also, mum was adamant that she didn’t want a gas stove. That meant the decision-making was limited purely to capacity (how many people we want to cook for) and accessories. Much simpler.
I wanted to get a Trangia 27-3 or 27-5. This is because they come with non-stick pan and/or non-stick bowls. The Trangia 27-1, 27-3 and 27-5 are also able to take the optional gas burner. So if we ever decide that we don’t want to cook with Methylated Spirits (or perhaps we go someplace where it’s not readily available), we’ll be able to use gas instead. In the end, I got a 27-1, because it was all Anaconda had on the shelves in the 27 series (unless I wanted to go the 27-6 or 27-8, for another $100 or $140 respectively.. no thanks). It wasn’t my first choice, but I’m not unhappy. If we decide we really do want non-stick pan/pots, they’re readily available as individual parts.
I haven’t used the stove yet, so until I do, here are some photos:
Trangia 27-1 in its box
Trangia 27-1 box, reverse side
The reverse of the box shows all the possible model options. It also shows what your particular cookset is made from (ultralight aluminium – I’m so glad they didn’t spell it “aluminum”), and its weight. For the weight weenies out there, the whole thing, packed with all its wrappers, packaging, instruction manual etc, weighed in at 800 grams. Removed from the box, minus the instructions, but with all the plastic wrapping etc, it weighed 700g. So it’s actually a touch lighter than the stated weight. But if you’re the sort of person to whom 20g makes a difference, this is probably not the stove for you anyway.
The unveiling
The contents
A pan...
Ooooo.. what's this yellow bag?
It's a burner!
And a pot holder too!
Everything that came in the box
OK, so to take a quick breather from all the pictures, here’s what came in the box (back row, from left to right): pan (sitting on top of the box), wind shield (inverted), top of stove, bowl; and front row, left to right: burner, pot holder and another bowl. The long belt-like thing hanging off the bottom of the wind shield is a strap that holds it all together when packed.
Graduations marked on the side of one of the bowls. That's 300mL and 500mL.
These markings are visible from inside the bowl too. The other bowl doesn’t have any markings on it. The bowls fit together only one way (ie one is a touch narrower than the other). This is by design. Apparently you can stack the pots on top of each other to cook things in some sort of double-decker arrangement. I’m not convinced that this would be effective, practical or safe. But I haven’t tried it, so until I have, I will stay open-minded.
Trangia stove set up with a pot inside
Pot supports
When flipped downards, these doodads support a pot within the stove. When flipped upwards, they support the pan on top of the stove. Note that the burner is installed with the simmer ring fully closed.
The burner
The burner itself consists of three parts. The bottom part (left) acts as a vessel for the fuel. Above that in the photo is the screw-on cap. This cap is not used when actually cooking. It is used to seal the burner whilst packed. The O-ring seal means you can leave fuel in the burner rather than have to dispose of surplus fuel. To the right is the simmer ring, in the closed position.
Warning! Don't be stupid! A Darwin Award could be in your future!
The burner installed in the stove, with simmer ring open
The instructions
I should probably read these. Relying on knowledge gained from YouTube, I was able to assemble the stove without the instructions. However, I will have a read of it before putting myself anywhere near a flame or combustible liquid. It’s probably best I don’t do a Niki Lauda. 
Anaconda
If I had to guess the website for Anaconda, it’d be either anaconda.com or anaconda.com.au. Anaconda.com.au will take you to a camping and outdoorsy store. The other site… will take you somewhere else. 
The video
I know some of you have been breathlessly awaiting the videos taken of our Venus-erecting (hee hee) escapades last weekend. It turns out that the video is a) mostly boring and b) a giant pain in the arse to edit. So, I present to you the one and only part of the entire footage that is worth sharing:
Snowfall in Tassie today!
According to locals that haunt the Bushwalkers forum, there’s been some snowfall in SW Tasmania today. WeatherZone has the goss. Wow, a high of 19 degrees in some of these places. Compared to today’s low in Brisbane, 21 degrees. What are we getting ourselves into???
Proof…
… that there is a website for everything: Adventures in Stoving. Yes, folks. A website dedicated to one guy’s opinion of camp stoves, fuel, canisters and everything that goes with them.
