We know that there are tons of different brands and models for bike touring gear, which can be a bit overwhelming. We get it as we also pass through it! The best choices for you will depend on your needs and riding style which are probably very different from ours.

As we don't consider ourselves experts on these topics and are still learning and improving, we decided to not list specific brands and models. We encourage you either do your own research or to contact more experienced people as they can give you some counseling based on your very own and unique needs!

We chose our gear based on a lot of trial and error during our trips. Most of the times, there were many factors that went into our decisions but, to keep things simple and tidy, we're not going to list all those details here.

We like to call our bikes "Frankensteins" as many components have been actually taken from other bikes and assembled on these frames. Both of our bikes where 20 years old city bikes (Germain's had his bike since he was 13 years old!) which we modified ourselves to learn the mechanics of the bikes and to fit our own and unique needs and we strongly encourage anyone to do the same. 

Learning bike mechanics can sometime be tedious and stressing, especially if you are not very used to do "manual work", but whoever had the patience and dedication to go through this process, knows that it is a very rewarding experience to be able to ride something built by yourself. Not to mention that knowing the mechanics of the bikes will save you a lot of money as you won't probably need any longer to go to a mechanic shop for repairing you beloved vehicle!

Before setting out on our journey, we decided to delve deep into bike mechanics. Not only did we completely disassemble and reassemble our "Frankensteins," but at one point we even built our wheels from scratch. This gave us an in-depth knowledge of every component and was extremely useful during our travels. For this reason, we carry with us a set of essential tools and spare parts, ready to face any challenge the road presents us.

We love sleeping outside: falling asleep under the stars and waking up to birdsong is a priceless experience! Sure, it happened that sometimes a nocturnal animal frightened us, but that's part of the adventure, and it gives us funny stories to tell. This is how we reconnect with nature and recharge after a day of cycling, especially when the weather has been harsh. Comfort is essential during a months-long journey; otherwise, you risk throwing in the towel!

Cooking our meals is also important to us. We like to carefully choose our energy sources and save some money. That's why we prefer gasoline stoves: we don't like disposable canisters that create a lot of waste. Plus, gasoline is easier to find worldwide, especially in less developed countries.

As we travel during the whole year through different countries, landscapes and seasons we chose to go for a layer based clothing setup which reduces the need of buying or discarding clothes during the trip (unless they are not any longer repairable) when seasons or climate changes, that is of course to expect during a multi-month trip, especially if passing through mountainous regions. 

At the moment we chose to not go to places with extreme cold weather as we don't feel comfortable yet doing so as we think it requires equipment and knowledge that at the moment we don't have (but it is in our TODO list!).

Personal hygiene and medicines are fundamental to stay healthy and to not scare people away with your bed smell during long trips!
We try to avoid plastic and non degradable stuff in general as much as possible. 
Regarding medicines, this also something that we take only if strictly necessary: whenever natural remedies are available, we would go for that option, but there are times in which medicines are necessary as they can save you from big trouble, especially when out in the wild!

A big part of our luggages is actually filled with cameras, lenses and computers. The computers are the tool we use for making a living while the cameras are something that we like as they allow us to frame, get back to our memories and show them to our friends, families and the people we meet off- and on-line!