Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

in all seriousness without ever knowing about this I did make my own shoes from silicon, gaffa tape and sport socks, just kept reapplying new layers when it wore down. The down side was rain.

Treat yourself to a DD jungle hammock

Can anyone recommend a frame, saddle and seatpost bag? Cycling from Faro to Malaga next month and thinking of taking a road bike instead of my mtb (which i havent started building yet)

Have recently purchased a Blackburn frame bag from always riding that I'm very happy for my surly ogre.

I've just bought the new ortlieb handlebar bag - got 10% off from Scotby cycles by signing up to their newsletter, and I'm pretty happy with it.

Although I've just re-read your message and you aren't looking specifically for a handlebar bag so maybe this isn't the recommendation you want...

Slightly desperate request to any kind soul who has a bigxtop small rando bag (the ones with the klikfix mount) - I leant mine to a mate and just realised it's been returned without the metal bit to connect to the mount. Touring France a week Today and away in Yorkshire from tmw morning. Any chance anyone has one to lend/sell? Gratitude would be eternal and payment forthcoming. Collecting may be logistically tricky but I have favours I can call in. This is stressful!!

Cheers

Has anyone here done the Tour De Manche loop; south coast UK / North coast France with seperate ferry crossings? about 1,000km riding but there's also a shorter route that's 400km. Apparently 75% is greenway and traffic free.

Thinking about going for max hipster kudos and fixie bikepacking it.

http://www.biroto.eu/en/cycle-route/europe/tour-de-manche/rt00001595
http://en.tourdemanche.com/thecycleroute

No, but that petite Tour de Manche is now in my plans for next summer.

It does look good on it's own. Might do London > Start > Petit loop and home. There is a guide book for that one..
https://wordery.com/petit-tour-de-manche-cross-channel-cycling-route-mark-porter-9780955508288

That looks awesome, I need to do that too!

Returned yesterday from the 4 days Cornwall touring, very pleased with the trip.

Had to load all on my bike to unload gf's one (bad knee) so it was: saddle and handlebar bag, plus two rear panniers.

Much fun on the 25% hills!

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Final routes here:

https://ridewithgps.com/users/560962/routes

Almost 95% ok, only things to change are:

• Didn't find a trail between Newbridge and Frogwell west of Callington, had to reroute on A road through Bicton
  
• Sketchy and slippery steep climb before Trebarwith
  
• Sick climb on church Hill after Port Isaac
  
• Don't follow the coast path east of Polperro there is a diversion, we had to push bikes for 400m uphill and lift them over fence
  

went for a small trip. The cheapo KTM bag works okay, even though i broke a plastic buckle on 2nd day. Good thing new buckles don't cost anything

I had not heard of the route until reading a sign in a car park in Bude, Cornwall last week which had a bit of information about the routes. It also mentioned the Velodyssee which also looks good.

Hey, what size of apidura saddle and handle bar did you get? Any photos of clearance between the two shifters on the handlebars? Did it get in the way at all?

Sorry, don't have a picture, but you can google plenty, for example.

I have the regular handlebar: https://www.apidura.com/product/handlebar-pack-regular/
And regular saddle bag: https://www.apidura.com/product/saddle-pack-regular/

The saddle bag is perfect if you ask me.
The handlebar one not as much.
According to the length of you head tube and amount of spacers you might easily get it to rub on the tire (that's why I lock the buckles over the handlebar, to keep it higher). Laterally you can adjust it significantly, it's roll top both sides, so the width of it adjusts to what you put inside and how much you can compress it. You will have to sacrifice some capacity to save room for the shifters movement.

It's a bag developed for flat MTB bars. If you use it with road drops you only use it to say 40% of its capacity.

Also, according to your cable routing around the handlebar, it might compress/bend slightly your cable arrangement and affect bike performance (extra tension in the shifting/breaking cables)

Agree about the handlebar bag. I had to be very careful packing it so it was the right shape not to rub on the tyre, even then it was about 5mm only. I got a lot in there without having to loop over the handlebars, and the roll ends didn't get in the way of shifters luckily.

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Cheapest option for frame and saddle bag right now?
Waterproof would be nice but not necessary.

Any experience with http://eng.uraltour.com/ ?

I keep have the KTM bag, you need to use some extra velcro or webbing straps so it will hold tight. It's water resistant, add on a dry bag from somewhere like sports direct and you're golden.

KTM must be the cheapest option, but I'll gladly be proven wrong.

Does anyone here have the compact Apidura saddle pack and if so is it any good?

Out for a full rig test at the weekend with Mrs TSK. All thing seemed to go pretty well.

Both of us had a slight problem of rubbing on the bags in the harness when bottoming out on the suspension. Going to resolve that by putting in a bit of vinyl sheet and taking it a bit easier on the bigger drop offs.

Mrs TSK not completely thrilled with the Restrap harness as it seems to work loose. I'm pretty pleased with the Alpkit one as the acres of velcro don't seem inclined to let go at all.

Route was over the Trans Penine Trail from Sheffield to Charlesworth and then picking up bridleways to a bivvy spot above Kielder Reservoir. Back home over the Penine Bridleway to the top of Rushup Edge and then down the broken road into the Hope Valley and up Surprise View after Hathersage.

By far the best bit was the Penine Bridleway. You can't escape chunks of hike a bike but most of it is really lovely riding broad riding with great views. Going to have to make an effort to do a lot more of it.

Just back from a 4 day trip to the lakes. Soooo good but sooo brutal.
Used the Lakeland 200 route as a general guide. Should have read more detail, some of the passes are serious hike a bike. Highlight was the descent off the Walna Scar west and round to the most welcome pub in Seathwaite. Every night was another awesome wild spot. We started in Staveley and called it quits in Keswick as the weather turned and we were fooked. Can't wait to go back.
My 27.5plus Jamis Dragonslayer was the perfect bike for the job. Even fully laden i was ripping down descents with no fear. It just ate it up.

Alpkit 13 liter drybag up front for tent,mat and sleepbag. Attached via their cheapo Joey harness (don't know why you'd spend more). Spare clothes in an Alpkit airlock tapered drybag out the back. An extra strap to keep it secure round the saddle rails. Again, not sure why you'd spend more...
I had stove and a light down jacket in a 5l drybag lashed to a salsa anything cage in the frame. This is the one thing I'd change and I'm going to invest in a full stingray frame bag for next time just to get as much weight off my back as possible.
Other stuff (food, water and most of the tool kit plus bits and bobs went in the back pack).
With the weather we had I think it was probably the best 4 days I've ever had on a bike. The lakes were at their stunning best. Just need to tone down the route in terms of massive passes. Epic.

^^ & ^ both sound great trips

cheapo Joey harness

+1 these are great, can't diy for cheaper if you factor in time & material costs.

Do you have a photo of your setup?

Unfortunately not. I'm a bit camera deficient at the moment for various reasons. It was quite nice going for a big ride without the feeling of wanting to stop for a picture, but I do now feel a bit gutted to have no evidence of our adventure.