Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Yeah, not much of an argument to be had but first time I've seen anyone produce numbers-which even if they're not 100% accurate as a ballpark calculation you'd be saving an hour on a 400km day which is pretty huge for races like TCR, even more if headwinds involved, much less if they weren't/depending how big a shit you took that morning etc etc.

For choppers like me it doesn't really matter-as hippy says both panniers and packs have their place depending what you're up to. I much prefer not having all the weight perched over my rear wheel if nothing else

So is a trailer with an eksy.

I have a large Revelate Viscacha saddle bag and I've used it for heavy stuff and it's been fine. Now I have framebag options I can use a smaller saddlebag and keep it for lighter, bulkier stuff so it doesn't do anything to bike handling, doesn't add as much weight and saves me watts of aeroz. Depending on the ride, I could get away with no saddle bag, ie. last weekend's 400 had no saddle bag. This weekend's LEL I will put the saddlebag on because I want to take a bivvy and sleep kit.

So are frame bags and jersey pockets

Belly.

Someone

Jack Thurston of @thebikeshow, should know better perhaps?

@jackthurston So how big are saddle packs going to get before #bikepacking rediscovers panniers? https://t.co/4DVELpIjCj

Link to Tweet: https://twitter.com/jackthurston/status/851493766867406848

..Except you waste that saved time packing/unpacking/compressing/fiddling with straps..

OT: is there a seatpack/mounting system that works with dropper posts yet?

OT: is there a seatpack/mounting system that works with dropper posts yet?

https://porcelainrocket.com/collections/store/products/albert

However a cheaper way of doing this could be to get something like a Carradice Bagman Support and strap a dry bag on.

Depends on how much drop you have as it may hit your wheel, but I guess its easily bent to fit.

Theres also the wolftooth Valais which limits your drop to the point you clamp a bag on

Depends on the setup really... Shite one yes, good one no

Cheers. Seen the PR, but it's mad spendy. The carradice might work if bent up.. but I'm beginning to think a rack and panniers or anything/salsa cages is better for off road.

You could make the carradice more of a 'scoop' which is basically what the PR is. It all depends how off road you're going. I think panniers would be fine for south downs, but anything more mad I'd be tempted to go for a dry bag strapped along top or maybe heavily strap down your panniers to stop them rattling and bouncing. The other disadvantage is that panniers may it harder to go down narrower trails.

mack is doing something: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSHBL8dFrpQ/?taken-by=mackworkshop

Panniers have gotten me over South Downs a couple of times, but I want to go back on the krampus and take some of the more fun sections a bit faster :) There aren't many narrow bits unless you head off into the woods in the country parks.. might just work out a frame bag.

Something that Scott at porcelain rocket already did years ago and which several other companies have also copied.
It always feels like a bit of a slap in the face to the person who actually HAS come up with something new and original when the people who then take those ideas for their own products post pictures without giving the slightest bit of credit to the person they clearly got the idea from.

It's a seatpost mounted support hoop. Hardly novel is it?

Well it was certainly novel in the field of bikepacking specific saddlebags, which is why when everyone else was still trying to figure out how to get their bags tight and stable, Scott was the one who was designing, prototyping, and testing a specific support, for the specific purpose of eliminating movement.
I didn't see anyone else doing it until porcelain rocket had reached version 3.

The carradice bagman support uses a clunky attachment, and was really just trying to make something that had many problems work a bit better, and still didn't stop the movement of the bag.
I'm just of the opinion that people deserve more credit for their ideas when other people use them.

I'm just saying: it's not inconceivable that Mack came to this stage of the design without even having seen PR's efforts. The support itself is very basic.

"it's not inconceivable that Mack came to this stage of the design without even having seen PR's efforts"

Thanks man... I needed that! :)

To be fair, I reckon plenty of people have used carradice cages with dry-bags and so-on. Is this not just a finessing/extrapolation of that?

Yes the Mr Fusion support is a metal support for a saddlebag, it's not a cure for cancer... But the difference is that it was a unique product that didn't exist until he made it. There was no other support that was designed to work specifically, and integrate perfectly with a bikepacking saddlebag in the way that the porcelain rocket design did. Hence why it received so much positive feedback from those in the bikepacking community.
When it was created, there wasn't anyone else making anything that worked for this specific purpose and looked this way... However, for the years following its release, there has been.
So if someone now releases something that is basically exactly the same, then at least give porcelain rocket credit.
Maybe I just see things differently?

Carradice did it before Porcelain Scott was born

Feel free to show me a carradice saddlebag support from over thirty years ago that works specifically with a modern bikepacking style saddlebag, clamps around the seatpost, and is lightweight.
I'm not claiming porcelain rocket invented the first ever support for any saddlebag.

I'm happy to eat humble pie if you can dig up the picture?

At the end of the day, the carradice support is for a completely different type of saddlebag, is a completely different shape, and mounts in a completely different way to the porcelain rocket Mr Fusion support...
The Mack support is for exactly the same type of saddlebag, is exactly the same shape, and mounts in exactly the same way as the porcelain rocket Mr Fusion support... It really isn't (porcelain) rocket science! :)
Just give credit where it's due.

Anyway... Back to bikepacking business... i'm off my soapbox now! :)

I reckon you could modify a carradice to hold that soapbox, no problem ;-)

I've lost one of the straps that came with my Alpkit Airlock Xtra drybags and they don't have them as a separate item on their website.

Should my local camping type shop have something similar?