I’ve made a review at home (before we’ve started) about the solar charger that we carry with us – how to use it, what extra components are required, etc. It is in Hungarian! My brother edited and put them on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFRdzUXkWpM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Meoio4jLbA4
Helmet, sunglasses and pipe scarf from 
I heard different views about helmets, some wouldn’t leave without that, some think that it is not necessary. I can’t say I have worn a helmet very often before but for such a tour it is relaxing to have one with me. And the other thing that I always remember is a sentence of a shop assistant: you can change your helmet but not your head! The helmet has the color of the Hungarian flag. (OK, Italian, because SH+ is an Italian company originally, but the colors are the same so we can say it’s Hungarian. 
)
Wearing sunglasses while riding the bike not only helps if the sun is shining in your eyes but also helps to keep the wind and bugs away from our eyes.
Pipe scarf is a universal thing that can be worn in different ways:
Scarf around the neck:
Scarf covers the head:
You can also wear it as a mask and can easily be transformed into a cap as well.
You probably can imagine that preparing for such a long bike trip is not easy. We wanted to start with good equipment and be prepared for everything and well, it costs money. Whoever visited a hiking store could notice that they really have everything, quality is good but you have to pay the price! We are not wealthy but lucky and some companies are so nice that they provided us some very important stuff.
We’ve been quite lagged behind updating you, dear reader about the list of sponsor but we try our best to keep you informed:
Our main sponsor is 
We purchased panniers (back and front), handlebar bag, water bag and shower valve from Evobike who was so kind and gave us 50% discount on it’s products.
Felix had already good back panniers which he liked a lot so he decided he doesn’t need them. I used one too earlier but I was not satisfied with them and I thought I will need a better one for such a bicycle tour so I bought a pair of Ortlieb back roller city bag and both of us purchased the front panniers.
Before we bought them we read some blogs and opinions about pannier and everywhere we looked the Ortlieb panniers were preferred. I think that the bags have 2 very important attribute.
1. It is completely waterproof. This is very important because we have to face it there will be days when we have to ride the bike in the rain. If you have good equipment rain is somewhat uncomfortable but still possible to ride the bike. If you have waterproof panniers you don’t have to worry e.g. that you will sleep in wet sleeping bag. Once it happened to me that all my stuff got completely soaked. Not only were a few thing dry out of my pannier’s contents but it turned out that I have a jumper which moisture imbibed ability is incredibly good and so I was carrying some extra liter of water with me which was quite heavy. So I think you can imagine that waterproof panniers are very handy.
It is from similar material what you can see on dispatch-riders. You have to close it by rolling it down and buckle it to the side. The material and the rolling-closing ensures that there is no way that a single drop of water goes inside the pannier.
2. To apply it on and get it off from the rack takes seconds. You just have to take the carrying handle in your hand and the hooks are unfasten and you can easily take it off from the rack or put it back on the rack. Earlier I had panniers with velcro and it happened not once that it took the 2 of us to get it off from that rack when we arrived to the camp site and also to apply it back next day when we wanted to continue our way.
I also like that the bags have reflectors on both sides, it helps us to be more visible for drivers.
To tell the truth the size was a little bit surprising for me. The pair is 40l together but at packing in for the first time it seems a bit tight for me. It also would be nice to have some pockets not only one single case.
The back panniers:
The front panniers:
My handlebar bag is also from Evobike. I like that it is very light, it has 2 outer mesh pockets with zip, inner pocket, shoulder strap so I can take it with me if I leave the bike somewhere and reflector to be more visible.
We will take an Ortlieb water bag with us as well. To have enough water to drink is one of the most important thing. We are prepared with bottle holders on our bikes but it is always good to have some extra stock from water especially if there is quite big distance between cities. Our bag’s size is 4l. It has 2 straps with that we can attach it to our stuff so it is easy to carry. If it is empty it is really light and can be folded into a tiny piece. We can blow air in it as well and can use it as a pillow.
To this bag we also purchased a shower valve which can be applied to the bag. We can hang the water bag e.g. on a tree by its straps put the shower valve on the bag and have a nice shower! Isn’t it great?
Shower valve
Thank you Evobike! We will speak often of you when we take our dry clothes out of our panniers, when we have extra amount of water and have a nice shower from the bag!
Coleman Phad X3 tent
We finally decided to go with this tent because:
I just worry because of the short (16 cm) pegs although they look quite rigid and hard to bend – maybe I’ll replace them with longer ones.
So here is a short photo review, part one, which coveres only the unpacking phase – I do not have photos about the setup procedure yet. (It will be covered in tent review part 2.) I want to show you what came in the package with some close-up photos to give a clue about the material quality and size.
Here is the package as it ships (we ordered it from worldofcamping.co.uk – they did not offer sponsorship, not even a price discount). There are two compression straps on the bag, and one handle between them for carrying. And also (a pretty unusable) pocket.
There is no zip on the case, so the packing is not watertight:
The bag has got a sewed-in setup instruction and a small bag with spare parts (patches):
Here are the instructions, it is easy to understand:
The tent itself, the bigger bag with the poles and the small bag with the pegs:
The rubber straps for closure are very practical and easy to use! You won’t lose them and there is no need to knit the knots – just one movement to close or open:
Here are the pegs out of the sack with a ruler (in centimeters), you can read the 16cm length. They are 4×5mm diameter aluminum, and the heads are formed so that they are hard to bend while striking onto them.
The poles are in a nylon bag within the sack:
There are three poles: two identical uncolored for the big diagonals, and the red colored for the cross-pole over the vestibule:
There are two different endings: the you have to stick the rounded end in the hole first. The other end of the tunnel is a dead-end, so you don’t have to go there and place it into a hole when setting it up (although it is wise to check it in the back corners).
When rooled up, it is about 45cm wide:
Unrolled length: about 200 cm.
Then in half:
Then fully opened. The footprint is that of the inner tent, the vestibule is an extra 120 cm in the front. It came with the inner tent pre-attached to the outer, using small rings.
On this picture (taken with flash), you can see the reflective straps near the door and window zips:
Guy rope attachment closeup:
You insert the poles here:
O-ring for the pegs:
And you can see how is it sewed:
The dead end of the pole hole, and the connection with the inner tent (light gray):
All of the sews are carefully taped to be watertight:
Review part 2 coming soon! As soon as we can set up the tent outside.
