A solo, wind-powered attempt to cross Mongolia by kite buggy. Everything I'm carrying, and what it's doing.
The current expedition · Trans-Mongolia Kite Buggy Traverse
This is everything that goes on the buggy. Most of it has been in continuous use since May, in freezing nights, Gobi heat, sand, thorn and rock. Some of it has been better than I expected. Some of it has broken.
I've written a one-line verdict for each item rather than a spec sheet, because the specs are on the manufacturer's site and the verdict isn't. Where something failed, I've said so. Where I'd carry it again, I've said that too.
Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy through one, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only list gear I actually carried, and the verdicts don't change either way.
Section one
The most-asked-about thing I own. It's a custom build, so this is a build spec rather than a shopping list. I've linked the parts you can actually buy.
The frame — GT-Race, modified
Built and modified for this route by Martin Faber. Steel frame, widened for load, rear rack sized for four duffels. Not something you can buy, this is the documentation.
Front drum brakes — Honda Z50
"How do you stop?" is the single most-asked question on my channel. This is the answer: motorcycle drum brakes on the front wheel. A disc fills with sand and a rim brake doesn't exist at this width.
Kenda Speed Racer L3R Pro — 21×10×8
Replaced the stock Duros before I left. Run at 10–15 psi on hardpack, down to 3 psi in soft sand. The pressure range is the whole trick and it's what most people get wrong.
Wheel bearings — full set
6004-2RS ×4 · 6201-2RS ×6 · 6304-2RS ×2
Five separate viewers diagnosed a failing bearing from the audio in a reel before I'd said a word about it. Part numbers are in the full inventory.
M8 threaded rod — Stormcube, 250mm, 5 pack
Spare threaded rod. On a machine held together by fasteners under constant vibration, spares are not optional.
Buy the threaded rod →Copper anti-seize — Loctite 37616
On every thread on the machine, including the rear axle bolts. Stainless galls and seizes, and a seized bolt 400 miles from a hardware store is a very long day.
Buy the anti-seize →30mm socket — 3/8in drive
The tool that turns the M20 rear axle bolts. Sold as a bike fork topcap tool. Aluminium, which I'd change for steel next time.
Buy the socket →Leatherman Wave Plus
The tool I reach for most. It's in the bolt-extraction footage doing work no dedicated tool in the kit could do. 318g.
Buy the Wave Plus →Tyre plug kit — 16 piece
Plugs, T-handle probe and insert tools, vulcanising glue. Thorn punctures are a feature of this route, not an accident.
Buy the plug kit →Tyre sealant — TireJect, 20oz
Goes in before the puncture rather than after. Includes the valve core removal tool, which is one of two field repairs the buggy veterans taught me at a Mojave expo days before I left.
Buy the sealant →Electric tyre pump — CYCPLUS AS2Pro
120g, battery powered, and the reason running 3 psi in sand is practical rather than theoretical. Charging it competes with the cameras.
Buy the pump →Schrader valve tools
Valve stem removal is the other field repair I was taught in the Mojave. This is the tool.
Towing webbing — 1in, 25ft
The line I drag the buggy with when there's no wind. I have covered a long way on foot with this over my shoulder.
Webbing and buckle set — 1in
Six yards of webbing, six side-release buckles, twelve tri-glides. I made my own load straps rather than buying finished ones.
Buy the webbing set →Front light — Lezyne Macro Drive 1400+
Satin black · 1400 lumens · USB-C
Night riding was a recurring necessity, hidden drainages and thorn bushes at near-zero visibility. A bike light bolted to the front is the whole solution.
Buy the light →Wind meter — Kestrel 2000
Every wind figure I quote comes from this. On a wind-powered expedition, an instrument that measures wind is not an accessory.
Duffels
Two North Face Base Camp and two REI Co-Op 120L on the rear rack.
Section two
Five kites, 2.5m to 11m. The quiver is the engine. One machine can't work across the full wind range without a ladder of sizes, and choosing the wrong one costs you the day.
Ozone publish their wind ranges for snow, with an 80kg rider. I'm on a loaded buggy on hardpack, sand and gravel, so my numbers differ. The ladder below is Ozone’s.
The quiver, by published wind range
Ozone published figures, snow, 80kg reference rider. My measured buggy ranges are added below each kite as I confirm them.
Ozone Ignition V3 — 2.5m
Bar: its own · Ozone: 5–19 kt
The top end of the quiver. Torn on desert thorns after I lost control in gusts, through both layers. Kites aren't invincible and Ozone has never said otherwise.
Ignition V3 at Ozone →Ozone PowerPack — 3m parawing
Bar: its own · Ozone: 15–35 kt
First time I'd ever flown one. Threaded a full highway stretch on it. Worked. Wouldn't recommend it as a plan.
PowerPack at Ozone →Ozone Explore V3 — 4m
Bar: Contact Snow V5, 45cm · Ozone: 15–35 kt
Explore V3 at Ozone →Ozone Explore V3 — 8m
Bar: Contact Snow V5, 50cm · Ozone: 8–20 kt
The main working kite. Most of the distance is on this one.
Explore V3 at Ozone →Ozone EXP V1 — 11m
Bar: Snow EXP V5 · Ozone: 7–17 kt
Built by Ozone with their expedition team for hauling loads over distance, which is exactly the job it has here. The bottom of my quiver. Below this there's nothing in the bag that will move a loaded buggy.
EXP V1 at Ozone →Harness — Peter Lynn Divine Evo
With two PLK spreader bars, one modified with a welded slider. The rider-to-machine interface, and the thing people ask me about most after the buggy itself.
Spare lines — three 5-line sets
20m and 25m Ozone, 25m EXP, each on a holder. Full spare sets rather than repair line, because a line failure ends the day.
Field repair kit
ABS repair jig, double-sided tape, polyester line, sharps needles, Tear-Aid, and a guitar E-string for splicing. Everything here has been used.
Section three
Counterfeit bolts
A rear axle bolt sheared mid-route. New hardware, bought new, stamped grade 8.8. Laboratory metallurgical testing afterwards found it was soft mild steel, effectively counterfeit. The salvaged, rusty bolts I pulled from a Mongolian scrap pile to replace it were correctly specified.
That's the kind of thing you only find out by breaking something 400 miles from a hardware store, and it's why I take the rest of these verdicts seriously.
The 2.5m kite
Torn through both layers on desert thorns. My error, not the kite's.
Zippers — all of them
Fine sand gets into every zipper out here: tent, duffels, jackets, pack. They all run rough and some are close to failing. This is wear rather than a defect, it’s what abrasive dust does to a coil zip, and it’s what I expect in this environment.
A five-litre water bottle
Burst inside a duffel and soaked my clothes and my cash. Bought in a shop, not carried from home, which is the point. I don't carry dedicated water containers. Both my filters thread onto any bottle you can buy in a Mongolian town, at 28mm, and that's the whole water system.
Section four
Every item, with weights and honest verdicts, is being published as a spreadsheet. It goes here when it is ready.