Well, you asked for it, so here it is
Bike Stuff
My approach has been to choose and fit parts for reliability and simplicity, cheapness, and hopefully universality, so I can get replacements easily when things do go wrong. As nothing has failed dramatically yet, I can't say how realistic the last element is, but hopefully that will help to explain the decisions I made when buying and fitting the equipment.
Tyres: Schwalbe Marathon 1.75". No problems. They've done more than two years' service on my commuter and some touring, all rock solid. I've had my sister post me replacements - some Schwalbe Marathon XRs which I got at a good price, and which I shall fit so as to have a bit more grip for the rough roads ahead. At the moment I'm wondering how necessary that is, but I'll still fit them when they arrive, and ditch the vanilla Marathons, as I don't want to carry around another kilo of tyres! I'd happily keep using these Marathons though.
Wheels - front is a 32-hole Shimano DH-3N71 which I built into a Mavic rim and have used for commuting and touring for two and a half years. Keine problem. Rear is an XT Parallax 36-hole hub built into a Rigida Sputnik rim by the LBS and which I rode for about 600 miles before the trip. No problems either. Double butted spokes all around, DT or Sapim, I think.
Frame is a 531 Peugeot Dakar from about 1984. I had it resprayed and v-brake bosses added and crappy u-brake bosses taken off. Then, when a crack developed around the seat clamp, I had the seat tube replaced (a 75-something tube, I think it was: Kevin Winter, a local framebuilder, did the repair, and I'm responsible for the paint job) and downtube lever bosses added. All a bit much for a factory Peugeot, but it fits and has performed admirably and I love it. I've treated it with Framesaver.
Forks: Kona P2 with a 1" steerer. I was also incredibly lucky that they came with bosses for low-riders. The one minor issue I had was that they came with really inconvenient lawyer lips which made removing the front wheel an utter pain until I got around to filing them down. They make for a good ride and seem utterly reliable.
Saddle: Brooks B17 special. Say no more.
Seatpost: I only mention this cos CrinklyLion gave it to me before I left, as the one I had kept slipping. It's from Bontrager, and it's been fine since I fitted it on a rainy morning in Beverley, ninety miles into this journey.
Bars: Salsa Bell Lap 46". I really like these bars, I have the same on my Dave Yates. The width suits me, and I love the shape of the drops.
Brake levers: Tektro v-brake levers. Brake OK and are OK comfort- wise. They are the best solution I've found to the issue of using v-brakes with drop bars. The hoods have started to disintegrate in the rain (this pre-dates the trip, and in fact little on the bike was new) and with wear, but electrical tape is a good enough bodge.
Shifters: Shimano Ultegra 9-speed downtube jobbies. I have them set to friction as I'm using a 7-speed cassette. I've tried to pick my parts to be simple and reliable, and these epitomise that approach: they just work.
Brakes: Shimano XT on the rear and LX on the front. They've been fine. I'm using Koolstop brake pads front and rear, which are simply excellent. I think the front are Salmon, but I couldn't find any more of those online, so the rear are black Koolstops. The only problem I've had is that I've lost the pin on one of the rear pads, so it falls out if I brake when holding the bike on a hill. I've become quite adept at slotting it back into place, though, and I can't really blame Mr Koolstop for this.
Chainset: Truvativ something-or-other which I found at Darlo tip. I have replaced the chainrings since then, though. The middle ring, which I use the most, is a Middleburn ring. One of the few things I bought new before this trip. The outer ring is TA and the inner is Shimano. The spread is 26-36-46, and I spend most of the time in the middle. The cassette is just a Shimano HG 7-speed jobbie which I've had a while, combined with a Sachs 8-speed chain. I think the largest sprocket is 30-tooth, and I haven't had to walk anything yet, apart from where the grip has failed on mud or sand.
Mechs: the rear is a Shimano LX 9-speed. I've been using it for some while now, so it must be approaching 10,000 miles. It has worked uncomplainingly so far. Front mech is a Shimano something-or-other which I bought for a quid from Chain Reaction before I left, and shimmed out with cans of Stella I blagged from my neighbour. I don't really drink lager, except where there's no alternative. It shifts fine.
Rear rack: Tubus Cargo. Sturdy and solid and trustworthy.
Front racks: Nitto thingummy with the aforementioned bodge. Tubus low-riders which have been fine.
Rear panniers: good ole Carradice Super Cs. A classic. I had the seams replaced before I left, and though they're not entirely waterproof, they're big and rugged and lovable.
Front panniers: Ortlieb. Awkward to fit and they have a tendency to sway about, making the steering juddery. The hook adjusters on the left have gone west somewhere, so I've padded the low-riders out with electrical tape to stop them rattling. But they're waterproof, and quite easy to get on and off.
I've had very few mechanical issues: there was an annoying knocking sound which developed in Austria. I thought it might have been the cassette, so I tightened that, but it persisted through Hungary, to the point where the French couple I was riding with commented on it. But it went away by Serbia, so I'm not worrying about it. I've had to re-wrap the bar tape and bodge the brake lever hoods with electrical tape. I've had to tighten the bolts on the low-riders. I can't think of anything else - it's all been very minor stuff.
I am carrying plenty of spares - a spare rear mech is probably an extravagance, but I already had it, so I'd rather carry it than buy another XT mech on the road. I'm also carrying a spare headset, which is ridiculous, but since 1" threadless headsets are bastard rare, and I had to buy the whole headset to get spare bearings, I thought I may as well carry the whole thing. Other than that, I have a spare tyre, tubes, inner cables, spokes, brake pads, patches. Nothing extraordinary.
Tools - a Leatherman Skeletool, tyre levers, key for my security skewers and a cone spanner to turn it (also useful if I ever need to service my hubs - I'm not carrying a big spanner, I just figure I can borrow one of those if it comes to it), a NBT for removing the cassette, spoke key, chain lube, the usual stuff. ICBA to list it all.
Camping Stuff
Tent: Hilleberg Akto. Very good indeed - light, easy to pitch or strike camp quickly, pretty roomy inside (though I do occasionally yearn for more headroom) and very sturdy. also a subtle shade of green which is useful when camping stealthily.
Mat: Exped Downmat Pump. Heavy at a kilo and pumping it up is healthy exercise, but the comfort factor outweighs everything else. It is probably more comfortable than my bed at this hostel in Istanbul I did wonder if it had developed a slow leak before I left, but I believe that was paranoia. One of the seals can make a weird farting noise at times.
Sleeping bag: Snugpak Softie Kilo. Officially a three season mat, though I've had no problems down to -10 (on a different trip) with the addition of a silk liner. No comments, as no problems. It packs away nicely and doesn't yet stink.
Bivvy bag: Alpkit Hunka. It's been great on the three nights I've used it when I didn't want to pitch my tent, such as sleeping rough in Wiener Prater. No problems with condensation despite the damp, and it was warm and roomy. It's not so heavy that I've resented carrying it, either. From now for a while, I think it may serve a secondary purpose as a sleeping bag outer if the nights get cold across eastern Turkey. Look out for future reports.
Stoves: firstly, an Optimus Nova Plus which I bought to be the solution to travelling in remote areas. Sadly, it has refused to get any hotter than a Dutch Oven since about Belgium, and I find it too tricksy and difficult. I like things which just work, which is one reason I brought the Trangia, and I am very glad I did, as I'm relying on it. As OD hints, getting fuel for the Trangia may become an issue from here on, so I'm persisting with the Optimus. Fingers crossed
Sporks (for what would a camping trip be without sporks?): I was actually carrying two titanium sporks, one attached to the Carradice with a cheap carabiner for easy access when eating yoghurts and emergency coffee, but the carabiner broke and I lost the spork, so I am now down to one spork. I am (semi) bereft. Sporks are things of beauty and a delight to use.
Miscellaneous
I also carry an iPod and a Sony e-reader, for entertainment and to ward off madness. I had an iPhone and now have another - charging these devices was always going to be the issue. Now read on...
Charging devices: Portapow USB battery, which İ charged from the computer before I left and haven't needed yet.
Secondly, a Freeloader which I used to charge my phone or iPod or ereader when the sun was hot. Not powerful enough on its own for everything I have, but useful.
And the Dahon Biologic Reecharge, which I only got cos it would directly charge my iPhone (lost in France after PBP, so even more of a waste of time). It did work, but it came with a serious flaw, compounded by a couple of secondary flaws.
Firstly, the battery had to be set to take a charge, meaning it had to be on when it was connected to the hub dynamo, or there was a chance of frying the innards at high speeds.
(the use of the past tense here should be giving you an idea of what's coming)
Fair enough. Unfortunately, the only way to tell that it was on and charging was to lift the front wheel and spin it, and look for the green light to come on. The designers had clearly never tried to use this in a bicycle touring situation, as the on-off button has no clear difference between on and off, and the green LED is only marginally brighter than the green plastic covering. Imagine trying to check this: lift the heavy front end of the bike with one hand, spin the wheel with the other, check that the green light is coming on, but the daylight's too bright so you can't tell and drop the wheel.
It was only a matter of time: I set off without checking one morning, it was wet and miserable and I was convinced I had left it on the night before. I stopped at the bottom of a huge, fast, wet descent to check, and there was no response. Bastard. As I said, I like things that work without too much intervention, and such a huge flaw as that makes the Reecharge utterly inappropriate for touring. I did dry it out, hoping that it might have been the wet which it disliked, but no. It's dead, and I suspect the innards are fried.
[I'll be sending a sharp e-mail to Mr Dahon along those lines, as well, especially considering the price of the damn thing]
But in general there have been relatively few problems. Now I've bought another iPhone I will have a greater power demand, but I hope to discipline myself to use it only when necessary, such as when navigating across cities, when lost and when bored. As I said, I never used the Portapow, so I hope to be able to manage.
Uncle Peter's suggestion of carrying the Collins Guide to the Night Sky was brilliant, and it's been a great companion on the nights when it was clear.
Anything I haven't mentioned has probably just worked without me thinking about it. For maps, I had the Michelin road map of western Europe to start, which I thoroughly disliked, though I managed. I didn't find the distinction between a-roads and m-ways especially clear, so I had a hell of a time avoiding prohibited roads, and the level of detail was disappointing. I bought maps of Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria en route. Freytag and Berndt was the mapmaker and they were PDG. The scale was 1:400,000 and I found that OK for everything except dirt roads in Serbia where the tracks I was using probably wouldn't appear on the local version of OS Explorer, and in cities, where much more detail was useful. But all the roads I would use were on those maps.
Feel free to ask about anything else, or for more details. There isn't a great deal I'd change, apart from the obvious two.