This is a part II of a summary of an article I found interesting in the Times newspaper (28/10/17) about the book, How to Stay Alive: The Ultimate Survival Guide for Any Situation by Bear Grylls

Flying a plane in an emergency

Both pilots aren’t available. What do you do?

• Sit in the left seat
• If the pilot is slumped over the controls, move them out the way. Focus on controlling the plane.
• Strap in.
• If you are flying straight and level, plane is most likely in autopilot mode. Don’t touch the controls, yet.
• If not in autopilot, level the plane.
• Steering wheel in a plane is called a yoke. Pull back, plane goes up. Push forward, plane goes down.
• See if you are flying level by looking at the altitude indicator, horizontal lines in the centre represent wings of aircraft, top half blue, bottom half brown. Use the yoke to bring the wings in line with the artificial horizon.
• Autopilot usually in the middle of the control panel marked “autopilot”, “autoflight”, “AFS”, or “AP. Don’t press it, yet (unless you need to).
• Make a mayday call. Find the handheld radio, push the button to talk, release button to listen. “Mayday, mayday, mayday”. Frequency should be on 121.5 Mhz. When air traffic control reply, explain clearly what has happened and do what you are told.

Identifying poisonous plants

Do in the following order.

This is a part I of a summary of an article I found interesting in the Times newspaper (28/10/17) about the book, How to Stay Alive: The Ultimate Survival Guide for Any Situation by Bear Grylls

Contents of Your First aid kit

Gaffer tape

• Strap feet together for broken bones
• Close a wound that requires stitches
• Patch a damaged eye
• Stick it over bullet wound
• Patch up punctured lung

Quikclot

• Stuff a wound to stem bleeding and clot the blood

Tourniquet

• Standard military, belts or bootlaces

Epipen

• Shot of adrenaline to counter severe anaphylactic shock

Contents of your Survival kit

Stored in tobacco tin, sealed with gaffer tape.

E-bikes are the future, undoubtedly. They are still quite expensive to buy but prices will come down. In the mean time there is also the DIY option. One route is the mid-mount motor and Bafang is manufacturer of these.

Bafang: The Company

For more than ten years BAFANG has been developing components and complete systems for electric vehicles selling in Europe, China and the United States. They have over 40 engineers and started from making motors for electric scooters. They produce HMIs (human machine interface), reliable storage batteries and sensors for a natural driving feel, either as individual components or as a complete system. Connectors and motor control units (controllers) complement the product range.

I reviewed an electric tour bike earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised by its power and build quality. I decided to take this one step further and try the Brompton Electric Bike.

Tech Details

• Complete weight of 13.7kg (2-speed) or 14.4kg (6-speed)
• Dual pivot brakes
• Choice of 2 or 6-speed gears
• Selection of three seat posts depending on the height of the rider: standard, extended and telescopic
• 16" wheels
• Dual pivot brakes
• 20 Lux Busch & Müller LYT lights
• 1.5 litre bag included
• A standard 2A charger (4-5 hours to fully charge) or a 4A upgrade (2.5-3 hours to fully charge)
• 25-50 miles range when fully charged, depending on terrain
• 2-year warranty
• Small folded size: 23" high, 22.2" long and 10.6" wide

The Company

The original Brompton bike was created by Andrew Ritchie in London in 1975. The company is proud of their roots and still make their bicycles in London. They make only one model of bike, which is customised to the needs of the rider. The popularity of the Brompton is enormous – they sell bikes to 45 different countries and are the largest manufacturer of bikes in the UK.

I tried this bike out along with a number of other e-bikes at the National Cycle Show at the NEC in Birmingham. The test involved riding a section of single track and then some obstacles (bridge and slalom) on an area of solid ground.

The bike

The Winora Yakun electric bikes come with Yamaha’s PW-X mid-engine and 500 Wh battery.

The Yakun Tour has Magura Hydraulic Disc brakes and the proven Shimano Deore XT 20-speed groupset. Suntour NCX E45 forks for safety and riding comfort and each model has a unique feature, a Schulz G1, patent suspension seat post to even out the bumps on our British roads. The Yakun Tour is fitted with intensely powerful 1050 lumens Lupine SL headlights and integrated tail lights. Also, has an XLC Carrymore luggage rack and Aluminium mudguards.

Blackburn

Whyte gravel bike with Blackburn Outpost range of bikepacking bags.

Altura

Charge Plug with Altura waterproof Bikepacking luggage range.

Kinesis

Kinesis Titanium Racelight with Wildcat luggage.

Ed Shoote of Welovemountains.net with his Kinesis Racelight set up and Apidura bikepacking luggage.

Shand

Emily Chappell’s Shand with Apidura luggage.

Conclusion

Gravel bikes have seem to have their own segment of the bikepacking market which corners the touring on road and some poor quality road, going quick and eating up the miles customer base.

Mondraker

Podium Carbon Pro Tech Spec Highlights

• Frame: Podium 29er Stealth Air Carbon, redesigned internal structure , Integrated Stem Technology (IST EVO), XC Forward Geometry, PF30 bottom bracket, Tapered head tube, HHG internal cable routing, Boost rear axel 12x148mm, Flatmount brake compatible, steel chain protector.

• Fork: Fox 32 Step Cast Float 29 Factory Kashima, FIT4, EVOL, Tapered head tube, remote locking control, 15x110mm Boost axle, travel 100mm. Settings: rebound, lock, compression micro-adjustment at low-speed in open mode. air preload.

Yesterday I went to the Cycle Show at the Birmingham NEC to check out all the new bikes and try out mountain bikes and e-bikes. It was a good trip and this is my first in a multi-part blog series about my experience. Highlights for me include testing the Nukeproof Mega 290 Factory trail bike and the Calibre Bossnut as well as the Winora Yakun Tour e-bike with Yamaha engine.

A troll is a class of being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings.*

Tech Spec

Frameset

• Frame: Horizontal slotted with derailleur hanger; Surly “Gnot Boost” 135, 142, and/or 148mm hub spacing compatibility
• Fork: 420mm axle-to-crown x 43mm offset, tapered and butted straight blade, , 4130 CroMoly. 51mm I.S. disc mount
• Seatpost Clamp: Surly stainless, 30mm

Drivetrain

• Crankset: Shimano LX 26/36/48t
• Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-MT800
• Front Derailleur: Shimano Deore FD-M611-D
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano Deore RD-T610 10 spd
• Cog or cogset: Shimano HG-50 10spd 11-36t
• Chain: KMC X10 10spd

Components

• Headset: Cane Creek 40
• Brakes: Avid BB7
• Brake levers: Avid FR-5
• Shifters: Microshift SL-M10
• Stem: ProMax DA-296
• Handlebar: Surly Moloko
• Saddle: WTB Volt Sport
• Seatpost: ProMax SP-2007

Wheels

• Front hub: Shimano Deore M525 36h
• Rear Hub: Shimano Deore M525 36h
• Rims: Alex Adventurer 2 36h
• Tires: Surly ExtraTerrestrial 26 x 2.5"

Read about the company Surly ->

Tech Spec Highlights

• Full dynamo light set up
• Burly Reynolds 725 frameset
• Full Tiagra 3x10 groupset
• Front and rear Tubus racks

Tech Spec

• Frame: Reynolds 725 Heat-Treated Chromoly
• Fork: Cr-Mo Unicrown Disc
• Headset: Prestine PT-1606 1-1/8" semi cartridge
• Shifters: Shimano Tiagra ST-4703 / 3x10 speed
• Rear Derailleur: Shimano Tiagra RD-4700 / GS cage
• Front Derailleur: Shimano Tiagra FD-4703
• Chainset: Shimano FC-4703 / 50-39-30T / XS, 165mm / S, 170mm / M-XL, 175mm
• Bottom Bracket: Shimano BB-RS500
• Chain: KMC x10
• Cassette: Shimano CS-HG500-10 / 11-32T
• Rims: Sun Ringle Rhyno Lite / 36h
• Hubs: SP PD-8/Shimano FH-M615 36h / front / rear / 6-bolt / centre lock
• Spokes: Stainless steel 14g
• Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon Mondial 700x35c
• Brakes: TRP Spyre-C 2-piston mechanical disc brake w/160mm TR160 rotors w/ rear adapter
• Levers: Shimano ST-4703
• Handlebars: Genesis X-Race Pro / 16deg Flare / XS, 400mm / S-M, 420mm / L-XL, 440mm
• Grips: Velo tape w/Gel
• Stem: Genesis AS-027 / + - 7deg / 100mm
• Saddle: Genesis Road Comfort
• Seatpost: Genesis Alloy / XS-M, 27.2x350mm / L-XL, 27.2x400mm
• Pedals: NW-99K w/ Toeclip
• Weight (Kg): 16.60
• Extras: Trekking mudguards / Front 45x720mm-Rear 45x1185mm / Tubus Cargo rear rack / Tubus Tara front rack / B&M Lumotec IQ-X headlight / B&M Secula Plus tail light

Company Info

The first Genesis bike was produced under the Ridgeback brand as the Day One model in 2001. Due to its popularity, Genesis became a label in its own right in 2006. Over ten years the range expanded beyond commuter bikes to include road, mountain, cyclo-cross, gravel, kids and fat bikes Genesis bikes became renowned for their use of steel tubing and ethos for function over form. The bikes have been designed by James Olsen (2005-2011), Dom Thomas (2011-2013) and Albert Steward (2013-2015).