Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Cheers! Certainly budget conscious. Might look a bit mad with that height on my road bike but I'll give it a shot I reckon

I find a proper feed bag is more convenient. You can store drink bottle and/or food in them.

Hippy's right that a larger bag (never used a stem cell so can't speak directly to them) is much more convenient and well worth looking at. I floated the tri bag purely as it's a third of the price (and probably size).

Best way to stop a dry bag strapped to the bars from flopping around? Thinking about a bungee around the headtube.

If the contents are all soft you can try to make it as flat as possible and then use straps to wrap it wound the top tube, a la:

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@alialias

Topeak Tri Bag.

I have one you can borrow for it if you like? Would have to grab before this Fri night though...

with a bit of bodging a chalk bag works equally well too if you wanna go real cheap

https://www.evanscycles.com/topeak-drybag-tri-bag-EV162217

I've got one of these you can have for free, if you can pick it up from Lewisham

I had a chalk bag that you could have. I just don't know where it is. I may have already got rid of it but I don't remember

Keep Pedalling :p

I've got a full frame bag so that's not an option. With the bar bag properly stuffed it actually seems better anyway. I might see what I can do with some shock cord, but hopefully it shouldn't be a massive issue.

Thanks very much @mustardbeak but @rhb is a lot more local to me than Lewisham!
@rhb I'll have a look in Keep Pedalling today, need to nip in for some decals anyway, I'll give you a text if I don't find anything? Can collect tonight no bother.

Also thanks for the suggestions all. A stem cell will be bought come payday, perfect for a bottle on the sweet fixie too.

So last year I made my first attempt at making some bike packing bags for my 29er which came in handy for hammock camping trips in the remote north eastern forests of Cambodia where I worked. This summer I'm gonna be touring Europe on a Awol so I thought I'd have a go again. The biggest problem with the first saddle bag I made was keeping it secure over rough terrain and the typical 'wagging' out of the saddle. So for a while I'd been lusting after a porcelain rocket Mr. Fusion, and whilst I like being able to support small independent manufacturers after the shipping and customs charges it was gonna be way too expensive so I thought I'd make my own. Got a cheap pipe bender off ebay and some steel tubing from B&Q and I'm pretty happy with the result so far! Also made myself a half frame bag and a top tube bag.

oops heres pics!

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Really decent effort! What's the fabric and where from?

Thanks! The camo fabric is some kind of ripstop stuff I picked up in Cambodia, everyone is mad into wearing camo over there and a lot of the markets sell end of line fabric from the garment factories for cheap. All the high rub area's of the bags and the linings I did with 500D cordura I bought online. I also made a handlebar bag that works on it's own to carry extra stuff for long day rides but then borrows the design of the outershell drawcord bag and uses the same clips to attach to a stiff harness to hold a dry bag as well.

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these look awesome!

Rawland makes a couple of front racks that looks good. I've been tempted to order the bigger version of the two. https://rawlandcycles.com/collections/gear

Awesome! Pics of the not-a-rack without the saddlebag?

Fair play, you've done a great job! I've got a sewing machine recently, and will be having a go soon!

I see talk of a Topeak Tri bag up there ^, do you mean this thing,

Time was, proper cyclists wouldn't be seen dead with one of them. They were reserved for the Halfords type that bought a £200 and attached another £100 worth of lights, bells, locks and bags to it.

What has happened to you all?

It says "prepare to ride". Then take the car?

Friend has one. He doesn't like to spend money. He says it's shit.

What has happened to you all?

They saw how sexy I looked during 24hr TTs...

its call fashion. Try it sometime.

Much like skinny jeans and tracksuits, those Topeak abominations are not a fashion trend I'll be following.