Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Same.

FYI, the carradice bikepacking support rail thing is very slightly wider than the alpkit one. But with a small squeeze in a vice works perfectly with the 13l alpkitbag. I prefer it to the alpkit rail as it doesn’t require altering the seapost height.

I'm thinking about getting one of these for the missus. Not sure we'd go the whole hog of the Super C but it does depend if we get out of lockdown any time soon and do a much longer trip. It does look bloody massive.

I love my Nelson longflap. Used with qr expedition bagman it’s now my main bag for long tours with bar bag and tent strapped to mini front rack. Here it is on last years NZ trip. So much easier than panniers, I think it looks better too!

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What make/model is your front rack?

Nitto m18, bought many years ago before they were £100!

On the note of Carradice-bags in Nelson/Super C style, I can highly recommend TimTasRek. He has a lot of options for fabrics. I think my saddlebag in Liteskin was around 130 euro so quite competitive prices imo

Link

They do look nice and his handlebar bag with the fidlock closure looks very good, but if you're after a bargain right now a superc is 70 quid from sjs

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/luggage/carradice-super-c-saddlebag-black-23-litre/

Does that need those saddle clip things or can it be used with a QR bag mount of some sort?

the obvious QR mount of choice is this one:

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/luggage/carradice-original-bagman-quick-release-support-expedition/

which people have been talking about here and in the carradice saddlebag thread. I have used one with a smaller saddle bag for commuting (without the steel supporty bit) and found it great. I think this massive bag would need the wire support though unless you had acres of clearance between saddle and rear wheel.

I have rid to brizzle with 900g tent, sleeping bag, mat, change of shoes & shirt, rain gear and a few personal effects all wedged into a Super C. It’s the nuts. However the Super C doesn’t belong in this abomination of a thread. It’s not bikepacking. It’s putting a saddlebag on a bike.

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You do you, honey. It's all good. ✌️

“Rid to brizzle” is a keeper.
I’ll eventually come up with a meaning that works for me.

Caen Hill Locks?

Csb: I bailed at Cheltenham the time I tried to ride from Cov to Brizzle. The (post 3 day bender hungover) ride back was abandoned much sooner, I rode to a greasy spoon then headed on to Temple Meads. /csb

What if you use in conjunction with a framebag? We all good then? :P

Just done my first moderate excursion out of London and very much want to go down the bikepacking hole

Thinking of getting some bags for potential August Transatlantic Way and Jan-March Shetlands touring and I'm the sort thats trying to buy nice rather than buy twice, trying to do my research to minimise stepping stoning up and leaving a lot of wasted products in my wake

Before splurging wanted to see if my setup ideas were overkill/missing any considerations, for the Shetlands I'll have an indoors base so won't go out in ridiculous weather, but the tent would ideally to hold up to Jan-March climate and a constant sea breeze

Got:
Trek Crockett 2017 (CX with minimal bolting options)
Mack Half-frame bag
2x Stem bags

Thinking of buying:

Front Bar roll - Big Agnes Copper Spur Bikepack UL2 or MSR Hubba Hubba NX

Saddle - Revelate Spinelock 16L or a custom Wizard works saddlebag (have a Carradice Exped QR already, was tempted to go custom thinking I could add on a detachable padded hip belt to the Wizard to use it as a trail hiking pack)

Top Tube bag - Wanted to get a custom Revelate Magtank-esque bag - sucker for the magnets - but in a larger 1.7L size or so, with 2 split flaps
Straight Cut guys just released a top tube bag with voile attachments and a firmer steering attachment, thought I'd request these features too over the traditional velcro and loop cords? https://www.straightcutdesign.com/products/top-tube-bag-v2
Basically here I'm bombarded with a lot of marketing which I'm wary might be gimmicks - so with the top tube bag and wanted to verify these all features would have real merit to them

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Handlebar front bag for road bikes ie. drop bars - what's good? Oh, I've got aerobars so it'll probably need some width-adjustable straps.

ie. https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/best-bikepacking-handle-bar-roll-bag-for-use-with-drop-bars/

Revelate Harness w/ some kind of small bag

Alpkit Joey: https://alpkit.com/products/joey

Restrap: https://www.wiggle.co.uk/restrap-bar-bag-holster-food-pouch-dry-bag
Doesn't say how wide the bars need to be.

Or ignore the harness things and just try strapping tent to bars?

Or ignore the harness things and just try strapping tent to bars?

This would probably be my starting point, probably with the tent in a drybag or similar to guard against abrasion.

The Alpkit Joey is pretty useless as such, would be more secure to just strap the tent to the bars. I made my own, using some of the material from the Joey, a tent pole and webbing, inspired by Revelate Pronghorn, which apparently is great. And my DIY version has been decent too.

I have the Revelate harness, it's good the only comment would be that when you have it on road bars, with a longer stem the harness ends up being slung more under the handlebars. I have plenty room between the bars and wheel but something to consider.

I used the blackburn bag holster thing last week. Was nice to be able to get a full handful of the bars when on the tops. Took some figuring out but managed to get a 2 man tent and other sleeping paraphernalia on the front with additional straps and drybags on top of the holster, 44 bars. Would recommend as it was flawless on the bumpy stuff but I guess it's extra weight and takes up bar space that you might want for aero bars.

Yeah, see I'm running 38cm bars and have aerobars clamped on, so I have fuck all space, really. Depending on tent or sleeping bag, it's hard to know if it will fit at all and if the clamps are fixed width I might run into trouble with the aerobars, so I'm probably looking for a strap-only solution, with no fixed-width clamps involved.

https://bikepacking.com/gear/revelate-pronghorn-review/

Do the straps allow different width fitting? I mean the whole thing looks pretty simple, I wonder if I could do something like @Samuli and hack up a Joey. Finding all the straps and foam padding means a lot more googling though.

Oh, that's different to your one: https://bikepacking.com/gear/revelate-designs-harness/

Shit, Pronghorn is like £200. I think I'll stick with Restrap. I like their framebag and they're local.

Looks like Shimano are getting in on the act too. Anyone used/seen a PRO bikepacking bag?

https://www.sigmasports.com/item/PRO/Discover-Handlebar-Bag-8L/M5WI

hack up a Joey

There's a guy on local fb group shifting a Joey for a couple of cans, if its still available I could grab it & post if helps?