I joined this Forum so that I could learn lots of stuff to help me realise an ambition I have held for some 40 years, and that is to ride a bike from England to Melbourne. Once I get there, I will work out how I want to get back, but I'm taking a year off work so hope I have enough time to satisfy what it is that I want from the trip.

Shortly after the HUBB Meet at Ripley last year I took out Club Membership so that in my own small way I could help with the running costs of the Forum. This has been one of those threads which have made me seriously question whether or not I am up to the challenge, and I have become quite dispirited, yet, when I actually go back to what it is that has been getting me down, it's been the 'willy waving' posts which say things like "only amateurs use hard luggage", "real travellers use really light weight bikes", and "proper travellers make everything themselves and can service and maintain their bikes and kit with just a pocket knife and sticky-back plaster"

I'm going to follow Ali Baba's advice and just not care anymore. I've followed the bloggs of some of those who have advocated the above sentiments, and have been at a talk by one of them, yet I have also looked at the preparation the bike of one of them has gone through and realised that although I may have been in awe of them, I have very little in common with them, and I can live with that.

So, back to this thread, and I am still interested in how a bike handles when fully loaded with hard luggage.