Friday October 24, 2014
6:30 a.m. Bird Nest Guest House
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I am in proud possession of my bicycle once more. Getting to the bike shop was as easy as always. It involves simply crossing the street, purchasing a subway token for 2.1 ringgit (about sixty-six cents), riding in air-conditioned comfort on a nearly empty subway train, and then exiting the subway and walking one block. I stopped at the Indian restaurant on the corner (called, appropriately enough, Restoran Corner) and had a filling early lunch. Then I walked the rest of the way to the bike shop.

I had left my bike this time at PedalSpot – the shop that dealt mainly in Merida bikes. I had gotten to know two of the clerks there quite well – Eddie and Andrew – both friendly and knowledgeable bike mechanics. Eddie was instrumental in finally freeing my seatpost from its rusty prison in my bike’s downtube.

There was little reason to stay and hang out in the bike shop this time. My bicycle was sitting there and ready to go. I thanked Eddie and Andrew again and wheeled my bike outside and started riding.

It remains to be seen whether all of this effort and expense has been worth it. The new Sapim Leader spokes could prove to be too weak and begin to snap and bend under the weight of a touring load. The new chain could stretch as quickly or even more quickly than the old one. I did some research online about this chain and I was disturbed to see some reports of this chain snapping frequently. It is a “hollow pin” chain, meaning the pins holding the chain links together are hollow and not solid. This was done to make the chain lighter, but perhaps it also made it weaker. I was not aware of that when Jason put the chain on the bike. It could turn out that the chain and cassette don’t play nice with my derailleur. My headset and bottom bracket could seize up. And my seatpost could snap in two. Worst of all, my new fancy saddle might turn out to be very uncomfortable.

It was the saddle that was on my mind for most of the one-and-a-half hour ride back to the Bird Nest. I couldn’t decide if it was uncomfortable or if I simply wasn’t used to it. Only time on the bike will be able to tell me that. After that ride, however, I’m afraid I’m already starting to think that it might end up being uncomfortable. I still have hope, though. Everyone else in the known universe says that this saddle is soft and wide and comfortable and perfect for touring. Who am I to argue? Perhaps it is time to start doing the normal thing – the things that everyone else does. I can always cling to the idea that at least this saddle is very light – at least it is light compared to my old monster comfort saddle.

Making up my mind about the saddle was difficult because I was having to get used to several factors at once. I had placed the saddle in a much higher position than I normally do. This, too, was more in keeping with what most people recommend for a saddle height. My usual preference is to have a much lower saddle. This higher saddle meant that my body was thrown forward onto the handlebars more and I had to twist my neck up much farther in order to view the road ahead of me. I was also on the saddle at a much different angle. On top of that, I had to get used to the new handlebar grips – the ones with a wide base at each end. With all these changes, it was hard to isolate any one thing that was good or bad. Everything just felt different.

The ride itself was not just confusing: it was confusing and awful. Back on the highway system and having to constantly deal with high speed traffic trying to merge onto the highways from access ramps on my left and exit from the highways as they zoomed toward me from the right. Malaysians are much better drivers than those in the Philippines, but they still are far from good drivers. They certainly aren’t safe drivers. That no cars behind me were in the exit lane and had their turn signals on did NOT mean that it was safe for me to veer across that lane and get back to the shoulder. Cars would suddenly turn sharply from as many as three lanes away and head for the exit ramp. Forget that they had already missed the exit lane entirely. They simply cut in front of all the traffic and would head for the exit ramp at nearly a ninety-degree angle – aiming right for me. It was extremely dangerous for me and very stressful. Finding my way was equally stressful and complicated. Kuala Lumpur is, simply put, not bicycle friendly.

I still hadn’t made up my mind about the new saddle when I got back to the Bird Nest, but I was very pleased when I picked up the bike to carry it up the long stairs and found it to be significantly lighter than before. It was noticeably lighter and easier to carry. This was the result of a lighter chain, a lighter saddle, and much lighter spokes. Had I gotten a modern seatpost, it would have been even lighter. And I still hadn’t changed the tires. Taking off my monster downhill mountainbike tires and replacing them with my Schwalbe dedicated touring tires (however large) would also make the bike lighter. Before I changed the tires, I borrowed a hand scale from the staff at the guest house. I’d seen them using it to weigh packages for the post office. It isn’t the most accurate of scales, I imagine, but it measured my bike (with the old tires still on it) at forty pounds. THAT is a heavy bike. And consider that it is now much lighter than it used to be. No wonder I have such trouble. My bike alone weighs forty pounds. Lance Armstrong wouldn’t have won any bike races with a forty-pound bike, I can tell you that.

I wasn’t in the mood to face working on my bike right away, and I went first to the Internet café. Why? More shopping, of course. I finally gave in and ordered a Kindle from Amazon. I had written them a complaint email about how they wouldn’t ship a Kindle to Asia. I got a reply, but it wasn’t very satisfying. It was one of those weird replies that consisted of sentences assembled by a computer program. But I really wanted to replace my Kindle, and I clicked on the purchase button. It is currently winging its way to my address in Canada. I plan on asking a friend to take charge of it and ship it to me here in Kuala Lumpur.

When I returned to the Bird Nest, I was very pleased to find a small package waiting for me. It was the Clikstand for my Trangia. It had arrived much earlier than expected and I eagerly opened the box to check it out.

The Clikstand is really not that exciting in terms of its function. It doesn’t do anything. It is just a stand for the stove itself. It was originally designed to be a lightweight, small, and efficient base for various alcohol burners, such as the one from Trangia. When Trangia developed their gas burner and multi-fuel burner, the company came out with two new models of the Clikstand (S-2G and T-2G) – ones that were adapted to work with the Trangia alcohol burner, the gas burner, and, according to their website, the multifuel burner. Adapting it was a simple matter. They cut some new slots into the side so that the burner can be raised up closer to the pot. I don’t know the reason for this, but I guess according to their tests, the alcohol burner works best when further from the base of the pot and the other burners work best when closer. I don’t imagine this makes much difference. The original base that comes with the Trangia system holds the alcohol burner and the multifuel burner and gas burner at the same height. They also cut a slot in the side of the Clikstand for the fuel line of the gas and multifuel burners.

The Clikstand T-2G delivered in certain respects – it was extremely light (much, much, much lighter than the official Trangia base) and it packed down to almost nothing. When disassembled, the Clikstand consists simply of four flat and small pieces of titanium each not much bigger than a playing card. The windscreen is nothing more than a thin sheet of titanium – almost paper thin. The whole thing fit inside my one cooking pot and took up almost no room. The difference between that and having the full Trangia base and windscreen is astounding. I think back to my trip to Ethiopia, my ride across Canada, and even my camoeing/camping trips ages ago in Northern Ontario and I’m astonished now that I carried the full Trangia set the entire time. Me being me, I didn’t even have the 1-2 person Trangia set. I had the big 3-4 person set and I carried the whole thing – base, windscreen, 2-liter pot, 1.5-liter pot, kettle, frying pan, and pot holder. It’s a giant, heavy thing compared to the alternatives. At the time, I didn’t worry about it because I thought of the weight only in terms of how it affected me and my legs. I didn’t mind the effort of cycling with a heavy load. I didn’t mind going slowly. However, I’m starting to understand that a heavy load affects the bike more than it does the rider. A heavy load wears out the bike’s components.

As I said, the Clikstand delivered on its promise in that it was very small and very light. However, it has so far failed to deliver on other promises – the main one being that it works with the Trangia X2 multifuel burner. At the moment, it appears to me that it does not. When I assemble the Clikstand, it is impossible to insert the multifuel burner. It simply won’t go in. The alcohol burner pops right into the hole with no problem, of course. But the multifuel burner is more complicated. It has a solid metal fuel line assembly and the fuel line itself attached to it. This has to be threaded down through the hole and then it has to snap back up into the slot in the side as the stove is inserted into the Clikstand. And it is impossible. As it is designed, there is no way to do it. The fuel assembly just jams into the side of the Clikstand and no matter how you position it and twist it and turn it and fight with it, it will not go in. I’ve come to understand in recent years that I’m far, far dumber than I thought I was, but I can firmly say that I’m not wrong about this. I’m not missing any obvious solution. The Trangia X2 multifuel burner will not fit into the Clikstand. And let’s not forget that this is the version of the Clikstand designed specifically FOR the X2 multifuel burner. The photograph of the product on the Clikstand website shows the Trangia multifuel burner sitting nicely inside the Clikstand. I am VERY curious how they got the burner in place, and I plan to write them an email asking them that very question.

I’m not saying that the Clikstand can’t be used with the X2 multifuel burner. I’m pretty sure I can come up with a fix. As far as I can tell, I will have to cut into the base of the Clikstand and widen the fuel line slot. I’ll have to widen it considerably at the top and then taper it down to a narrow slot at the bottom. Currently, the slot is a long and thin rectangle. I’ll have to cut it so that it more resembles a triangle – wide at the base and coming to a narrow point. This will allow the fuel line assembly to swing into place as you insert the burner itself into the hole.

Saying that I can probably fix the problem is definitely not saying that I’m happy about it. This titanium Clikstand was not cheap. It was so expensive as to be a ridiculous purchase for what it is. I was willing to pay the high price precisely because it was supposed to be such a premium high-end product – made out of super-lightweight titanium and designed specifically and exactly for the Trangia alcohol burner and X2 multifuel burner. So it bugs the hell out of me to find that I have to buy a hacksaw and saw into the thing to redesign it. I’ll go over it carefully again today and make sure that I’m not missing something. Then I’ll write to Clikstand and ask them about this issue. And if there is no solution, then I’ll go the hacksaw route. But I’m very curious to hear what Clikstand has to say. I’ve already had one email exchange with them in which they made at least two mistakes about Trangia pot sizes and which ones will fit into the Clikstand windscreen. Again, I have to ask, why is everyone on the planet so bad at their jobs? The woman emailing me seemed to know very little about her own company’s products.

The only reason I can think of for this problem is that when Clikstand redesigned their product, they used only the Trangia gas burner and assumed that if their design fit the gas burner, it would also fit the multifuel burner. I don’t have a gas burner, so I can’t confirm that theory, However, on their website, they often get the terms confused.

I’m running out of steam and privacy here, so I’ll just finish up quickly by saying that I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on the bike. I put on the new tires, the new bike mirror, and the new water bottle cage. As with the saddle, only time will tell if those things will work. So far, the tires look great. The mirror sucks. And the water bottle cage is about what I expected. With my recent success in having things delivered, I might order some good mirrors. Life’s too short to have crappy mirrors on your bike. I might even order a Bike Buddy bottle cage system. By the time I’m done in Kuala Lumpur, I’ll have my bike back in shape, but I won’t have any money left, and I’ll have to go back to work. At least, I’ll be able to gaze at my bicycle in all its glory.

Tags: Bike Buddy, Clikstand, Clikstand T-2G, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Trangia, Trangia X2, Trangia X2 Multifuel