Mechanical Issues
A list of the mechanical/bike issues we’ve had on the trip:
- Flat Tires – It’s tough to say how many we actually had. At around the halfway point in the trip we had only suffered 4 flat tires. Brett’s trailer had 1, Jeff had one on his trailer and the rear wheel of his bike, and Kelly’s rear tire went flat (most likely due to running her tubeless tires at too low of pressure). Then we entered New Mexico’s thorn country, and in the course of two days had so many flats we lost track. During this time we all had several flats.
- Failed Rear Shock – Kelly’s rear shock went out, but was replaced under warranty by Specialized.
- Broken Chain – Brett broke a chain. We replaced the broken link with a master link and it lasted the rest of the trip with no problems.
- Front Suspension – the front suspension (air) on all three of our bikes needed to be re-filled around 2/3 of the way through the trip. Slowly, over the course of the previous 2,000 miles the lost air, which is expected. Using our shock pump (in the Support Box), we were able to quickly fix this problem.
- Handlebar Bag – Jeff’s Ortlieb Handlebar bag had an issue with one of the snaps, it was replaced under warranty.
- Tires – Jeff replaced one of the Schwalbe Nobby Nic tires (rear) about halfway through the trip due to wear. The Kenda Small Block 8 on Jeff’s trailer has seen the last of its riding days as well, though it did make it through the entire trip. Kelly ran the same Nobby Nic’s through the entire trip, and both tires still having some life left in them. Brett’s switched from Schwalbe Marathon XR’s, to WTB Exiwolf’s, then back to the Schwalbe Marathon XRs. The Marathon XR’s (which had over 2,000 miles on them) show very little wear, while the WTB Exiwolf’s have noticeably lost some tread. The Marathon XR on Brett’s trailer shows little wear.
- Sticky Bottom Bracket – With around 300 miles left on the trip Brett’s bottom bracket began feeling a little sticky, causing some noticeable extra resistance when pedaling. This was more than likely due to wet, sandy New Mexico conditions and possibly some careless bike washing.
- ExtraWheel Trailers – The trailers in general have been beaten up pretty bad. They have countless tears in the fabric and some of the netting has torn out. At around the halfway point in our trip we asked Extrawheel to ship us out new trailers, which they did promptly. Unfortunately the replacement trailers didn’t hold up any better, and by the end of the trip the trailers were pretty much destroyed. For our complete review of the Extrawheel trailer, see our ExtraWheel Trailer Review.
