I had a couple of bike issues at the end of my time in Vietnam. Although I had brand new Schwalbe Marathon tires, I got a flat. When I fixed it, I found a small metal wire had burrowed its way through the tire.

The more annoying issue was my water bottle cage breaking. I got the Topeak Modula Cage XL because it’s designed to hold a lot of water (1.5 L) and instead of holding extra water in my panniers, I wanted to distribute the water weight around my frame. I bought a special 1.5 L Sigg aluminum bottle for the cage too. But the welds on the cage just fell apart as I was riding, and the bottle fell out. I stopped by a couple of welders to see if they could repair it, but they couldn’t because it’s aluminum.

I’ve since bought a new normally-sized water bottle and cage, and I have to carry around the big 1.5 L aluminum bottle in my pannier.

Note: Every touring cyclist I’ve met has Schwalbe tires.