Touring Equipment

I'm thinking of a new sleeping bag. A good down one. I don't get too cold.

Anyone used any of these 3?

Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15
Mountain Hardwear Phantom 32
Rab Neutrino Endurance 400

Seen them all for decent prices. The first is a lot warmer than the 2nd 2, but I'm not sure if I need that as the rab is rated down to below 0 and so with some clothes wold go down to -8 or so I'd think.

What's your budget? I'm too lazy to search for the price of those 3...

£300 ish. That's what I've found them for roughly. The 32 and 400 are cheaper as they're less down. But should be warm enpough?

EDIT: I reckon Phantom 32. Packs down really small, should be warm enough for me. Even in winter with down jacket and bottoms in a tent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVzH0c45LQg

Has anyone seen blackburn outpost front rack anywhere in stock?

OR got one to lend for the next month?

I want a front rack with a rack on top for putting on my tent.

So what solutions are there for keeping the rain off drying clothes over night? Got rained on every night on my mini tour and having constantly wet clothes hanging off the back of the tandem was highly depressing. Especially when they got rained on again after nearly drying out.

Hang in tent vestibule.
Tarp.

Tough one - quick dry clothing, especially stuff that drys even quicker while wearing is one option. Another is to use clothing that's warm whether it's wet or dry, though you didn't mention being chilled. Hanging stuff in tent to dry if the space allows?

Our tent has a little side porch thing but its quite small and only really big enough for our bags / shoes / helmets etc. Could put them in the tent I suppose but what about dripping etc?

We were frozen solid every night actually, but we will deal with that via better sleeping bags/zipping them togehter/liners/proper thermal clothes for next time.

@Hovis

To be fair, I think you actually need to ask yourself.

Why are my clothes wet?

I can ride all day in pissing horrid rain and get home dry. You need proper clothing for the situation. That's your downfall. So fix that.

One set of waterproofs. Then dry stuff in your bag you can change and sleep in, merino. And then you'll be warm and dry and night. Then if anything is still damp, it shouldn't be wet as you've had PROPER waterproofs on, you just wear it the next day, and as you'll be cycling it'll be dry/warm soon.

1 set of cycling clothes. When wet, htfu.

I think you got the wrong end of the stick there, I'm talking about wet clothes that are drying overnight because I have washed them. Have two sets of everything and alternate between them, so every night, the clothes I wore that day are getting washed.

Ah my bad. Why cold at night though?

Merino drys fast, there are other materials too. And not much you can do to help at this time of year.
Just string it up on a line if it's not raining.

your best bet may be air drying whilst cycling the next day

Sorry to hear you had crappy weather :/ hope you had a good time in spite of it.

I'm not sure there's a good answer for this one... we used our tent footprint as a cover for the clothes line a couple of times but when it's rainy they're probably not going to dry out overnight. Quick drying clothing obviously helps but we did start a couple of days with damp chamois. And I did end up wearing two jerseys at one point to dry the one on top out...

Or don't wash so much? Use antibacterial dry wash to clean your chammos and with merino base layer it won't smell.

Just be a bit dirty!!

^ This
If you want to be in a Rapha ad you need to be distressed and dirty.

If you have to wash, it might be easier to stay an extra day to ensure it's all dry before departure.

When we go touring, cycling kit gets worn twice before washing. I took three sets this year which made it easier and was handy because of the constant rain. With decent weather, 2 sets is totally doable.

Just for balance, I always take three sets and wear once before washing.

But then I do like luxury touring, with tables and stuff.

I take one set and wash em after every ride to dry overnight. If they don't dry properly or not at all I just hit the road in wet kit. It really isn't too big of an issue for me.

My mountain hardware phantom bag turned up today. Totally the nuts.

Well worth the money. So much over the £40 bag I was using!!

700g and compresses down to nothing. So warm, reckon i'll go down to -10 with it with some merino clothing no issue.

Front fork: surly cross check 1", From my understanding these have pannier mounts and will take a shimano 650 break! Any views on this fork/ any comparable steel forks?

What's everyone's thoughts on Dynamos and chargers? Spa cycles have a good deal on SON dynamo front wheels and the idea of combining with nice bright dynamo light and something like a B+M USB charger seems pretty epic/glam.

Go to dynamo thread, but in summery: dynmo is best if camping / extended touring, power bank style battery is best if using hotels and short tours

Defo going the camping route, just getting a few bits together for a week or so up north and saw Spa had a deal on so tempted to do it...