plactagonic

This one is near Slavonice part of light bunkers museum. I don't know if it wasn't covered or if it is uncovered as a part of exhibition.

Near Vratěnín there is this one part of art project Bunker Cut. More on this here: https://www.ondrejbelica.net/bunkercut

Near Bratislava there is this one in flood prone region. Double deck let's you use the higher level while lower level is flooded.

And some NCD use I found for them. It is excellent wind cover when you need to make dinner on the road.

So ~14 days ago I begun my trip in Brno to Mikulov, join EV13, ride for a week and then return to Slavonice where I was cooking on summer camp for kids.

So on and off (with previous trips) I rode on EV13 from Bratislava to Vyšší Brod.

Tldr: It is amazing route, with little traffic, under appreciated, history, nature and every kind of surface you can imagine.

First few impressions/general feelings:

• Austrian side is pretty much empty and dead, Austrians in these border regions go on the bike ride to Czech Republic for beer...
• It is interesting to cross border few times per day, see differences in each country.
• It is really under used I met 3 people who rode this route.
• You never know what is ahead - sparsely populated region, nice roads, bad roads...
• Plan your trip that museums and stuff that you would like to visit are open. I didn't do that and I didn't visit anything.
• don't trust EV planner on their website, I am apparently insane so can average ~100km/day so 7,5 day trip took me about 6 days.

Austrian part Expect nice asphalt or smooth gravel roads. No traffic for most parts. But nothing in a case of pubs, coffee places, restaurants or stuff like that, just few stores here and there.

Czech part Expect everything, nice roads, more traffic, totally broken asphalt roads, forest roads, trails, panel roads... but nothing that needs full suspension, 35+ mm tires with reasonable tread is enough. Pubs and other places here and there where you can get lunch for about 10€.

Notable places to visit

• Bunker in Šatov (I posted a pic there ~week ago)
• Valtice - castle and nice park
• Znojmo - castle and there are few brewerys
• Čížov - museum of Iron Curtain and visitor center of NP Podyjí
• Slavonice
• Gmünd
• Nové Hrady
• Cetviny There are more but I didn't choose optimal time so most places were closed (like bicycle museum in Retz)

Routing/signage This part of route I took has really good signage from Bratislava to Gmünd, you really don't need any computer or GPS tracker with maps. From Gmünd to Cetviny look up local routes, on cz side they are well signed and are in a process of putting EV stickers on them. On Austrian side the route doesn't look entirely finished so get GPX ready in your navigation, I found 2 EV signs on 20 km section.

And few stories along the way

• I met a guy who emigrated in 80's from CZ to A, he bitched about how Austrians can't brew a beer...
• I rode from Slavonice to border with some German guy (Joseph) and we chatted about how this route has bad surface and of course about Czech bunkers, in Slavonice there is museum of light bunkers I translated for him info sign about their construction.
• In Novohradské Hory I met totally wet French family, chatted a bit and they asked where they can find some food (restaurant or shop). When I told this to my friend he just said that he was there few months ago and had a beer in both open pubs there lol.

Last thing I want to say is that in Slavonice there is a guy who makes clocks from LP's. You can visit his shop there and he makes custom orders, so I want something like this but not on tt bike: https://www.dmznamky.cz/Hodiny-Kolo-zavodnik-d1070.htm If someone is interested I will order more of these and ship them in EU if you are interested (first one for free), we can finalize the design together.

Also I will add pics in comments when I get to it.

How it looks inside:

I just bought few postcards so first correct guess can decide where I will send it (I don't have stamps yet).

~50 km away another (same type) bike for comparison

And small earlier type (~1936)

My first thought was that it is a stick, but then I saw that it's moving.

So I have "new" bike (subjectively) about 9 months. And I spent about 2000 € on it (bike, and some accessories - rack, bags...) and I can tell that it is lot of bike for not that much money.

So now when I look back I can't see it as "expensive" bike, just as reasonably priced for its purpose. I use it every day to commute and as bikepacking/touring bike so now it has ~6000 km.

So how much are you willing to spend on bike?

Edit: So I read your comments and I probably need to clarify little bit.

• I use the bike for everything instead of car so even nicer more expensive bike for me is justifiable.
• I also think that the bike industry is bonkers right now about shiny new expensive things.
• For me there is few types of riders and all parties try to upsell them some shit, there aren't any 500€ bike with flat bars and rigid fork where I am. All of the bikes at this price point have shitty suntour fork, bad saddle, useless pedals and shitty tires. From my perspective they are expensive on the parts that don't matter and cheap out on stuff that matters. If someone sell something like that (flat bar gravel with quality parts where it matters) it would be gamechanger.
• I had to build my bike, nothing like that (full steel gravel/bikepacking/do it all bike) wasn't on the market/second hand market. It add to the price a bit. And it was about month before the prices get down to reasonable levels after pandemic.

Just a rundown what is wrong on it:

• totally destroyed drive train (cassette, chain, chainrings)
• wheels aren't true/ lose spokes
• rear derailleur is loose (I couldn't tighten some bolts) and has bad springs
• bent V brakes (I don't know how he managed to do that)

If you want to know how the trip went look in to [email protected]