Preparing for the trip

For those of you who are unaware of the undertaking I have planned, I thought I'd try to give you an idea of how I went about preparing for my trip. Travelling 10000 km through desert, jungle and mountains requires a very particular type of bike specifically set up to deal with the strain of daily use over tough and varied terrain. The only way to prepare a bike for this sort of task, is to custom build it yourself.

So, I started out with a basic kit for a road bike....

Then I went about putting it together. I selected custom-weighted bearings to endure daily use and the rough tracks I'd be riding on. I decided to use a carbon-fibre frame and composite aluminium wheels  to keep the weight of the bike as low as possible.

After about six weeks of work the bike was ready with only a couple of days before it had to be shipped out to the US in preparation for the trip. Please see the finished article below. I'm truly pleased with the result. I think you'll agree it's a beautiful looking piece of kit. 

I've added a waterproof gore-tex pannier on the front to carry my gear on the road. There's also a pink bear horn to alert other road-users of my presence. You can really see the detail of the strengthened aluminium composite wheels in this photo and the hi-spec road bike chassis I chose. I had to leave the stabilisers on because I ran out of time to finish my course before I was due to fly. 

I only hope it works as well as it looks when I get out there...

Welcome to my blog

So, in order to keep you guys back home up-to-date with my comings and goings in South America, I've decided to set up a blog. After much deliberation about what to call my blog, I have decided to go with 'Si's Bi in South America'. It works because 'bi' is short for 'bicycle' which is what I'll be riding but it is also similar to 'Si' which is a shortened version of my real name 'Simon'.

So welcome one and all, ladies and gentlemen (together preferably), to Si's Bi in South America, the ONLY place to get the latest updates about my cycling trip down the length of South America.