Gear Review Titanium Canteen Set

Note: Below is a video I have made, this is the first time using and setup.

Before I start the post, first of all I like to thanks Campers' Corner Singapore for sponsoring this Titanium Canteen Set. It has been a great addition to our outdoor kit. 

Titanium Canteen Set do not come cheap, I wanted this for quite sometime and was fortunate enough Campers' Corner gave this set to me. 

Why this is not cheap is simply because the Canteen alone makes up of 3 three pieces to make one, the bottom, top half is welded together than follow by the screw thread. That is the reason you find the canteen has a middle line and that is the joining area. 

I am glad it fitted firmly in my Eagle Creek Backpack as the pic show above. This backpack have traveled around World the for 15 years.

Usually I will carry a cookset and Nalgene bottle with Snow Peak Mug which nested firmly for both me and partner used. 

With this new setup, I will save space in the backpack and carry less weight. The canteen itself has 1200ml and mug 600ml capacity. That is more than enough for our traveling needs.

Now it will also be a great addition to my solo outdoor needs.  My outdoor set will be used with water filter to fill the mug, boil it and pour into the canteen. As it is made of Titanium, it will cool very fast. I will still carry a 450ml Titanium Snow Peak Mug for drinks mix. Inside the mug will store Alcohol Stove.  

Gear Review AMG Titanium Large Cook Pot

This is a short review on AMG Titanium Cook Pot. The last review I did on a Medium Pot Set was a while back. This review is just to show how the medium and large Pot set can nested perfectly.

Till today, we have use the medium pot set extensively at home and it served us well. Quality built still remain the same.

AMG Titanium Cook Pot Medium Size Review
http://www.taiwancamping.net/2016/05/amg-titanium-cookset.html

Fire Maple Ultralight Mini Table FMB-913T

Pack Size: 38 x 15 x 2cm
Unpacked Size: 37 x 25 x 11xm

Wight: 437gm
Cost around USD30

Flexible USB 5V Lamp

This might look like a funny lamp to be used for camping but this idea came to me when I decided to have all my outdoor gadget to use only 5V supply when I bought the Goal Zero Nomad Adventure Kit. (Excellent Product). 

This USB lamp was meant to be a cheap laptop or desktop 5V lamp however after testing it out and hooked up with Goal Zero Charger soon realised it is an ideal lamp for outdoor camping where there is no power source. 

So I decided to test out against my Black Diamond Orbit Lantern and came out with surprising results. The Flexible USB 5V Lamp is much lighter, easier to pack, since it is flexible the light can be orientated to any direction needed and it is much brighter than the Black Diamond Orbit which cost 6 times more.

DIY Universal Smartphone Bike Mount

These days we have been using our smartphone as GPS and Fitness Apps  instead of our Garmin Oregon 400t. I have been thinking how can we mount our smartphone on our bikes instead of stopping and taking out from our pocket or bag to use it or rather spend extra money on a Smartphone Bike Mount. 

So finally here I found a simple solution for both of us, a DIY Universal Smartphone Bike Mount and it cost almost nothing.

Zefal Spy Mirror Repair

Zefal Spy Mirror had been our favourite bike mirror, it is small and can be mounted anywhere from handle bar to bike frame. Having a bike mirror is really necessary when cycling in the city so we do not have to keep turning our head back to check for traffic all the time and it is much safer. 

Having owned this bike mirrors for a decade, the mirror reflective coating had deteriorated and render the mirror useless. We have contacted Zefal and they informed there was no replacement parts, pretty disappointed as these are expensive mirror.

So for the last few months we have been searching for bike mirror and none came to our liking. We even try using a reflective solar adhesive and turn out rather bad. Finally came up with an idea using vehicle blind spot mirror and it work. So here was how we did it.

Ice Cold Ultra Cooler Bag

Saw this cooler bag in Costco, looks pretty impressive and can hold 50 cans of Beers or soft drinks. The inner layer has an extra clear neoprene to prevent leaks. There are 3 outer storage to put loose stuff.

The lid can be opened 2 ways, the main compartment or a small Valcro lid which will prevent lost of coolness. Also the top lid has a hard plastic and can place stuff on it. Once not in use the whole bag can be collapsed for storage. No idea about the weight but it is lightweight.

Our Gear Reviews 2013 Spring

Last couple of months, we had been laying our hands on new gears. Recent camping trips both  comfort and off-road bike camping under wet weather condition was excellent which put many of our new and old gears to the test. 

Reviews Below 

• Bikes
• Ortlieb Roller Classic Panniers
• Travel Life Bike Carrier
• Tents
• Alite Monarch Chair
• DoppleGanger Mini Fold Chair
• Fire Maple Micro Folding Table
• Vargo Titanium Hexagon Wood Stove
• Trangia Alcohol Stove, Fuel Bottle and 6.5" Cast Iron Skillet
• Cobb Premier Grill
• Daiso Stuffs
• Paradox Rain Suit
• PureEasy Water Filter
• Petzl Tikka XP2 Headlamp

DIY Water Bottle Cage Mounting

My bike came with only one water cage mounting. Since I have the Topeak Modular Cage XL which fit 1 ~ 1.5 lts bottle, I have decided make mounting points for it and add extra mountings on other tubing for different setup. 

Initial intention was to make mounting points on the Seat Tube, additional mounting on the upper Down Tube as it was too low and the bottom of the Down Tube. After taking measurements on the upper Down Tube soon realised the drill could not fit in....Crap!!

Fallkniven F1 VG10 Survival Knife

Fallkniven F1 knife is used by the Swedish Airforce as a survival tool. This is a Swedish knife but not made in Sweden. The metal used is a VG10 steel which stands for V Gold 10 or sometimes known as V-Kin-10(V金10号) that are used in Japanese cutlery mostly the Chefs' Knives. In another words the Fallkniven knife is made in Japan. 

Found a knock off sales below USD20 in China market and decided to get one and see for myself. The knife felt very good in my hand and the weight was just right to use for chopping. Did a search on the internet for the specification and surprising came across the Original and Copy specification.     

Topeak Super Tourist DX Tubular Rack Disc

According to Topeak, they indicated this is one of their strongest rack for heavy duty touring use. We did not get the rack for this reason, we got it because our Topeak Explorer Tubular Rack could not fit the Topeak MTX Quick Track system when the panniers were mounted. We had bought a Topeak Trolley Tote Folding MTX Rear Basket and we needed to change the bike rear rack so that the pannier can be fitted with the MTX Quick Track system.  

Initially when we got this rack was to fit on my steel frame bike but it seems the lower bracket mounting points and the skewer was in the way. The non disc version will probably fit on the steel frame bike so now it ends up on my partner's bike.

Topeak Trolley Tote Folding MTX Rear Basket

We had been doing many shopping and each time we would need to pack our shopping spree into our bike panniers. Before we would reached our bikes we would need to carry these heavy items along the way. 

size comparison

We have a similar trolley folding basket but that could not fit on our bike, we tried it before and it came loose somehow. We seen Topeak having this item on the selves for few years so finally we decided to get one. 

Bike Survival Tool Kit Revamp

NO MORE BIKE MULTI TOOLS!!!!

In regards to my earlier post on Bike Survival Tools, I have decided to revamp the tools. The reason I am doing that firstly I noticed there were many tools in the bike multi tools were useless, there were only 3 tools I used often, chain cutter, Hex 4 and 5. The rest was basically redundant to me. Secondly the Topeak Hexus Bike Tool failed on me, the tyre lever broke. I like Topeak but somehow most of their stuff do not last. I will post it later about Topeak failure, very disappointing. 

Ultralight UNO Handlebar Stem

In my last posting on MTB Settings Guide, I have written on a subject relating to Handlebar Position. The handlebar stem was too long for my current bike steup and needed replacement.

I have just received this amazing ultra lightweight handlebar stem, UNO 60mm 7/83deg 31.8mm. Made of ALU 6061 Grade by 3D forging and weighs only 96gm. The complete construction was very well made, could not find any flaws in it. What was more amazing, it cost less than USD20!!! Comparing to my old Easton EA70 stem, the price was 4 times different. 

DIY Bike Chain Cleaning Tool

It has been a while since I did any maintenance on the bike chain. Made a very simple tool using 2 toothbrushes, 2 inner tube bands and a piece of wood. 

Using some diesel, slowly cleaned each link to get rid of the grease. Method I did was left and right follow by up down. After that was done, hosed down with water (preferable with hard spray but not water jet) and soaped the chain. To clean other hard to reach areas like Chain Rings or Sprockets, I had used a separate toothbrush for that job.

Crank Brothers SL Egg Beater

Just received a new set of Egg Beaters' parts from Crank Brothers. Wrote to them an email indicating the material deterioration on the shank and they gladly asked if I wish to have a replacement. They did not charged me a cent either for the parts or postage.

哈尤溪溫泉 Hayou River Hot Spring

Two days one night journey on our mountain bikes in search of a hot spring on a river bed that has been raised 30mtr after the last Typhoon in 8 Aug 2009. No mountain to cross but countless of river crossing.

12 Feb 2011, total 11 bikers and our dog, Siboy undertook a journey that covered 16.4Km deep into the mountain valley and probably the only bikers that rode that deep inside.

Bike Silicon Band Aid

Missing a mounting bracket for your bike, here is an inexpensive innovative design that you can mount your handheld flash light, GPS, iPod or mobile phone. 

Monkii Mounting Family

This is another innovative product design from Taiwan. It is a bike holder for water bottle or tool kit. Unlike conventional design of water bottle cage on bikes, Monkii gives you an option to switch either a bottle holder or tool kit. 

The design is rather simple, by using two cleats mounted on the existing bike water holder, the Monkii Cage and Wedge can be snap in and out with ease.

DOM T1 Trailer

Size：74 x 45 x 30 cm

Net Weight：6.5 kg (14 Pounds)
Maximum load：30 kg (66 Pounds)
Capacity： 60 L
Trailer frame： 6061 aluminum alloy
Trailer bag：The fabric is Nylon/PU waterproof
Product Warranty: 1 year
Local Price: est NT10,000
Oversea Price: est US500