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Our Touring Bike Sponsorship
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Hello
from India-na, USA
We have always said that the best travel plans are the most flexible. We have
also said, “We have no real plans until we have booked a flight.” What happens
when we have plane tickets and still need a flexible plan?
This is exactly what happened to us. We bought our tickets months ago but our
new book took longer than expected to publish. After all these years on the road
and publishing books we should have known this project would be delayed but we
were eager to get somewhere new. My wife is getting extremely itchy feet sitting
around here. The obvious answer is to change the date of our flight to India,
which we did to April 30.
The
good news for all of you is we are extending our prepublication offer to April
10, 2010. This means you can still order our signed books at a substantial
discount before we slip out of the country. (USA)
See more about our new book and the prepublication offer
at the link below
http://www.downtheroad.org/Publishing/3_Down_The_Road_in_Thailand_Cambodia_Vietnam.htm
We really needed the extra time to get our touring bicycles
together. After months of inquiring, receiving offers, and negotiating with
potential touring bike sponsors we could not reach an agreement. This is my
fault because I am cautious and picky; something I have learned the hard way.
Almost all touring bike makers I asked offered us discounts but I believe a
discount is not a sponsorship because they are making a profit from us so, these
offers were all rejected.
See more about receiving bicycle touring sponsorship at the link below
http://www.downtheroad.org/money/Equipment_gear_sponsors_bicycle_touring.htm
What I am looking for in a touring bike sponsorship is, in
exchange for our exclusive promotion and sales from our busy web site, we
receive two complete bikes every two years. I will not ask companies for
sponsorship of bikes or gear that we would not buy otherwise. This greatly
narrows the field and limits our opportunities.
There were two touring bike makers that had great bikes and offered more than
just discounts. The problem is they only offered a single frame and expected us
to exclusively promote their line of bikes for the next several years; in fact I
could not get them to sign off on a time limit for our arrangement. In my early
years of this trip I would have jumped at such a deal but experience has made me
wiser. Besides we have several old touring bikes and frames stored at my
brother’s house that we can use so it is not so much the bikes I am after but
instead a company we can work with year after year.
These days I know how much I can earn from commissions by offering several
brands of bikes for sale on our web site verses being limited to promoting just
one brand of bike in exchange for a onetime free frame. During the few weeks we
have been selling touring bikes on our web site we have already sold several and
I see no reason not to expect more. I realize this is the best time of the year
for bike sales, and it will slow down later in the summer, but I am willing to
gamble that our commissions will earn more than the value of one frame; probably
every year. So, all touring bicycle deals are off and we are on our own with
bikes. In a lot of ways this is very liberating with many less things to worry
about. I still have hope that some day the right company will approach us with
an acceptable offer that is profitable to both parties but Cindie is more
pessimistic. Only time will tell.
What are we doing for touring bikes for the next leg of our tour? We dusted off
old touring frames (never before seen or mentioned on our web site) and added
new parts from our sponsors Ortlieb, Tubus, and Phil Wood. After living on
touring bicycles all these years we have tons of good parts lying around that we
gathered up. Everything else we bought at retail including four new wheels. Put
all this together and Wha-la we have two new touring bikes to forever be known
as “Mystery Touring Bike #1 and #2.” I am sure it will be a lot of fun writing
pages for our web site about the Mystery Bikes. I even thought about calling
them Huffys but the real Huffy Bike Company might get mad. But honestly these
will be the best bikes we have ever traveled on because they are made from
components we have individually hand picked after our years of experience.
I know
how to do the hours of mechanical work to build these new touring bicycles up
myself, because I have worked in several bike shops in my younger days, but
without the proper repair stand, truing stand, or shop tools (all mine are tiny
for touring) I am unmotivated. I have so much writing and other work to do on
the computer I just do not have time for it anymore. As you can tell I am
feeling a little guilty about this but I found a wonderful bike shop in
Indianapolis called Indy Cycle Specialist. I met the owner, Scott Irons on
FaceBook through conversations on my wall (http://bit.ly/1q1w7)
and his shop’s wall (http://bit.ly/cJbvSt).
We did not ask for sponsorship or receive anything for free. We value Scott’s
bicycle touring equipment knowledge in helping us through this whole process. If
you are looking for a commuting or touring bike consultant/shop to put together
the ultimate dream rig or an affordable workhorse check him out.
That’s about it for now. We are getting ready to arrange all the other clothes
and gear we need before we fly to India. I can write about that next time if all
this bike talk doesn’t bore you because I know many of our followers are not
cyclists. Please, let me know. Also don’t forget about the extended
prepublication offer on our new book. I would hate to be sitting in a hotel room
in India and receive an email from someone asking why they can not buy the new
book at the discount price anymore.
PS: On March 30th we passed our 8th years on the road anniversary but we have
far too much to do at this time to celebrate. It felt more like finals week than
graduation. Next year I promise to write another long heartfelt newsletter about
our 9 year anniversary but for now all I can say is WOW – I think we are about a
quarter or a third of the way through this journey that has turned into our
lifestyle.
Peace Tim Travis
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Bicycle Touring
Tips & Advice
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Touring Bicycles
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Aide Kits
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Sponsors (how?)
Click to see the full line of Ortlieb bags for sale
I have used several brands of bicycle panniers and
highly recommend Ortlieb.
See Why I switched to Ortlieb waterproof Panniers?
Tents and
ground cloths
Sleeping Bags
Camping Mattress Pads
Cycle Touring Racks: Why chromoly steel is best.
Heavy Duty Travel Tested
Sealed Cartridge Hubs.
Take a look at the strongest hubs built specifically for touring
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