2013 4 Northern Capitals – Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm

What an experience this was. This was a big step forward for my bicycle touring. First time with a road-bike (a charming 90’s steel frame Zullo), incl. tent, a self-made rack construction for aerodynamic and solid mounting of my luggage, and incl. a 25L(!) backpack. 9 days on the bike with daily distances beween 175km and 225km. In between I stayed in Oslo for 1 week.

I visited 4 northern capitals – Berlin, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm – with exactly 3 days from each capital to the next.

For a better map display, click this link on your desktop computer.

Equipment – very DIY

This was my first rather efficient trip, as in: no full rack and side panniers, road-bike mode. The bike felt fantastic by my standards back then. Even though in hindsight the brakes were very squishy.

Bike & Luggage

To carry all the things – sleeping gear, civil clothes, etc. – on my steel road bike, I made use of a) a 20-25L backpack, and b) repurposed a seat-post mounted rack. The rack had an adjustable angle that was supposed to set the rack into a level orientation. I however used it, to tilt up the rack behind by seat so that the luggage would be hidden from the airstream behind my back. Under the rack I mounted the tent, on top of it my bulky sleeping bag and a drybag with clothes etc.

The rack solution was amazing because it is rock solid. The rack by Swiss manufacturer Orion held up incredibly well despite such heavy and unusual use. A downside was maybe the very high center of gravity. But I never ran into problems. I used this solution on 3 or 4 more trips, incl. Japan, Helsinki and Barcelona.

I placed one small seat-post bag in the front of the frame triangle to store tools and spare parts.