We pleased to learn that author Stephen Lord recommended Wallingford Bicycle Parts as a source for Brooks saddles in his Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook. We ordered a copy of Mr. Lord’s book from Amazon and found it to be a very good read.

This 288 pg book addresses its subject matter in a comprehensive way. Skimming the table of contents we find:

• Planning
• Choosing a bike and equipment (by cagegory and by brand)
• Transport
• Route outlines around the world
• Touring stories
• Bike maintenance

There are numerous black and white pictures and a few beautiful full color photos of exotic touring locales.

We looked at this book because our name is in it (thanks, Stephen) but we recommend it because it is a rich source of information for the bicycle tourist at all experience levels.

With this book we are going to try the Amazon Associate program. If you click this link to buy the book from amazon.com then Wallingford Bicycle Parts will get a little piece of the deal. The alternative is stocking the book ourselves and charge you 50% more than they do. We are curious how this will play out and we would be glad to hear your opinion about wallbike ‘partnering’ with the e-commerce giant.

Tags: amazon, book, touring

When I am interested in a new product, or I want to see what people are saying about the products we carry, I hit the forums. They are a great source of information. There are many cycling forums on the web but I have four that I turn to most often:

BIKEFORUMS.NET – This forum has been around a long time and has lots of traffic covering all types of cycling. Wallbike.com gets more hits from bikeforums.net than any other source.

For a woman’s take on cycling matters the forums on the TEAM ESTROGEN site are active and informative. I learn a lot about women and saddles on this forum

CRAZY GUY ON A BIKE is an on-line cyclotourist community. Webmaster Neil Gunton has built the framework. Cycle tourists from all over the world provide the content. This is another one that is rich with age.

And finally there is the FULLY LOADED TOURING BIKE PHOTO GALLERY. Not many words here but picture after picture after picture of loaded touring bikes. If you want to see how others do it – this is the place.

At Wallingford Bicycle Parts we want to carry the gear that your research will lead you to. Time spent on these forums will be rewarded.

Tags: touring