Details

I'm not sure if anyone's interested but I'll try to record some basic organisational details here about flights, bikes, pre-bookings, luggage, etc.

Flights:

We booked round-the-world (RTW) flights with "Flight Centre" in Springwood - Naomi was a great help BTW - in January 2008 and were lucky to get a reasonably good deal with "Star Alliance" partners of Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Air Canada. We joined the KrisFlyer frequent flyer program of Singapore Airlines so we could earn some flyer miles as we go. Unfortunately, the RTW ticket wouldn't fly us to Berlin from Frankfurt am Main, nor from Milan to Cluj Napoca (Romania) return so these were extra flights which we booked separately with Lufthansa (Frankfurt to Berlin ow) and Wizz Air (Milan-CLuj Napoca-Milan).
So the basic plan is to travel as follows:
SYD-SIN-FRA-TGL then cycle for 3 weeks to Milan
BGY-CLJ then drive to Tania's family village in northern Romania and return to Milan BGY.
Milan Malpensa-Zurich-Paris (CDG) stay in Paris for 7 nights
CDG-FRA-Vancouver - stay in Vancouver 2 nights (visit Norco factory)
Bus transfer to Whistler for 5 days of downhill riding
Bus transfer to Vancouver
Air Canada flight direct to Sydney.
All up we're away about 7 weeks.

Bikes:

We both have Raceline mountainbikes - these are about 7-8 years old and the ride from Berlin to Milan will be their swansong. We will box them up to take with us but we will not bring them home - we will give them both to the Romanian cousins in Milan. We have fitted rear carriers with Summit Gear and Tioga panniers as well as a Tioga front bag on my bike for navigation maps. Both have a speedo but apart from that they are fairly standard. We will run Schwalbe Marathon tyres and a Shimano LX group set throughout. these are the same bikes we have ridden previously from Sydney to the Gold Coast and from Adelaide to Melbourne and found them to be solid, strong, comfortable and reliable.

Pre-bookings:

We haven't pre-booked any accommodation for the cycling leg but we have joined the Youth Hostel Association as well as the "Warm Showers" hospitality group. We have hosted some cyclists at home in the Blue Mountains and would like to meet and stay with some cyclists in Germany.
We have pre-booked and pre-paid for pretty much everything else after the cycling though - flights, accommodation in Paris, Vancouver and Whistler.