Video: 8 Essentials for Bike Adventure - Trail Doctor

 Lizard skins used to sell fork protectors in the early days (I had them in my Rock Shox Mag21 instead of the harmonkica boots)

 just found out they still sell them
shop.lizardskins.com/collections/all/products/fork-boot

 Good luck finding them long enough for your fork over 4 inches. I used to use them on my Kona Caldera no worries though.

 dam I just threw some lizard skin fork protects away thinking I woud never use em again

 Couldn't have said that any better

 Heh.

 Please explain.

 Sorted!

 Just make sure its a new one and don't bring it home. Especially if travelling in SE Asia.

 I second this! I use the sawyer filter for all my long bike rides. So easy to fit in the pack.

 Or you could buy a big boy filter...
I don't trust their 5 decimal place accuracy for amount of crap removed or a filter life that says you could fill about 2.74 gallons (10.37 liters) everyday for 100 years.

 I was wondering about that statement and how in the world they came up with it.

 I carry one of these with me on every ride that I take my pack with me. It's small and light enough that I don't even notice it's there.

 Nice one for sharing links to similar gear that will keep you healthy out there. Any water filter that is good is better than none. I use the katadyn as shown as I have had it a while and its always done the job and we usually share it among the group so only carry one between all of us on any expedition. But yep, clean water is key to keeping riding.

 "If you drank 3 litres per day this fantastic water filter will last you 345 years!"
gotta love Google search

 Yeah, I used a Katadyn Vario for years, they make great reliable filters for sure. This is my first year going with the Sawyer and I'm a huge fan already. Does the same thing with such less space and weight. If I'm going somewhere where I know there's a lots of water, I won't even carry much on my back I'll just use it like a straw and drink from streams when thirsty.

 Ha ha. I couldn't take the wife biking, she thinks its because she wouldnt keep up.....yes dear, that's the reason.

 You do need a bike bag for flying... which is how he got to Kathmandu in the first place!

 Or he used a free bike box.

 i was talking about travelling inside Nepal...cheers!

 and yeah bike box, cheap n best! often get it for free and a evoc cost a lot...

 But he was showing off his Evoc bag, why would he then bother with a cardboard box?

 yep the free cardboard bike box does the job -CJ's boxed bike survived several days of jeep travel with the jeep's spare wheel strapped on top of it during our Afghanistan trip. But there are a lot of times when a compact bike bag will make life easier. I've had plenty of moments in Nepal, India, Argentina, Morocco etc where I've needed taxi travel across the city etc and a normal cardboard bike box would not have been carried by the taxi. This year in March, in Buenos Aires (Argentina) my compact EVOC bag would go into any taxi we found on the street, but Tibor's bike in a bike box would not. It took more than an hour to get a taxi to take his bike box and we nearly missed our flight. If we had, Hans Rey would have been pedalling on his own for 2 weeks! So bear that in mind when heading somewhere long haul.
Oh and yes Nepal has great dentists. It might be my excuse to go back there next year again.

 I hear ya. Just responding to the earlier post on 'needing' a evoc bag to fly with a bike. I've always just used a box, but I can imagine a dedicated bag is convenient. Especially if the box gets banged up on the flight down, and there are no shops for a new box for the return flight. Plus it must be easier to stash or pack during a trip.

 ..Or you're heading somewhere where it rains. Cardboard boxes don't last long on a bus/taxi roof when a storm hits (and boy do they hit in these places!). The Evoc is my current bag and it works great. Its expensive I know. I've used boxes, cheaper (bigger and too bulky) bags and the Polaris pod over the years. I know which I reach for now, although I have the luxury of choice. The most important thing is not which bag to pack, but that you go on the trip and ride and experience new places :-). I'm doing an episode on 'how to pack your bike for a flight' soon, with a few essentials I learned over the ydecades on how to save your pride and joy from the bag handlers... Plus a few more tips here: danmilner.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/dont-leave-home-without-adventure-bikings-top-12-essentials

 Thanks for the tips, Dan. Very helpful stuff!

 We use mattresses and ropes on jeeps and taxis(where we put up to 6-7 bikes on the jeep's roof, no scratch at all so far) bike box/bag only for international flights....always nice to see your vid though...cheers!!

 Plus a paper-back copy of Middlemarch, or The Sorrows of Young Werther

 So according to you lot, I should have added hot sauce, a condom and wet wipes. Hmm.

 sorteeed

 Someone's in for a good time.

 Thanks attentive-nice-eager-person!

 Excellent feature for sure. Thanks for the tips. Several times while portaging I've wondered about the risk of my lock-on grips. I'll keep those Yetis in mind when it's time to get new ones. Also good tip on using center lock rotors.

 Yep the lock-ons sure do hurt when you get one in the gob. If you carry your bike the other way around (with chainrings forward) this avoids this issue. I do get tired of my lock-ons denting the inside of my van when my bike falls over too! Centre locks work, and are quicker than 6-bolt discs to remove (and you should take them off when you haul the bike..) but then you do have to haul the tool about too and it ain't light. Most of these tips are not so much what to carry in your day pack (thats another episode!) but what to take on an adventure, mostly geared towards self-supported trips rather than guided trips that provide transport for your bike. Just stuff I've learned in 30+ years of foreign bike trips.

 forgot baby wipes and a poop shovel.

 find a log or a rock to do your business under and use some non-stinging leaves to clean up yer pooper?

 Here in Japan there are some broad leaves that work great. They even fold up nicely containing your wipings to be buried discreetly! hahahhaha

 Please dig a hole with a stick. I've found way too many pieces of TP under rocks...

 Very good, you must burry it as its disgusting finding color pieces of paper! hahahhah

 Yep we're lucky in Europe, where we can drink from most of our mountain streams. It's not my same experience in other places though, where Giardia can smack you down in a day after filling up in the local stream. Keep clean, keep riding the bike, not the bog.