Your touring/bikepacking setup

Blimey! I'd have to sell my children to enable that sort of journey.

Now there's a thought...

butterfly bars

Underated bars. for some reason seem very unpopular now.

My girl in Malaysia.

i thought @cake was back to the uk

What tyre width is recommended for trails and paths in Europe? My widest is 31. Is that enough? I would try to avoid wet mud. Yuck. This is on a road bike with 700c wheels.

Depends on you really. I think it’s very much personal preference. Probably most people will say wider because fashion but rough stuff/underbiking types would be fine on 28s

Successes (road bike multiple trips to and in Italy) and fails (MTB TransCambrian Way) here below:

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underbiking

I had to look that up. I like it. Stubbornly doing things the unfashionable way.

Loaded up for 2 nights of bivvying this weekend.

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My Longitude set up for a 3 day on/off road trip last weekend
#basketpacking

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Yes, I have one and used it for a few short tours last year. Worked well for me. No wobbling and easy to get on and off. It's probably a bit heavier than other saddle bags (like apidura) but benefits from being a bit sturdier and having a support rack.

great, thanks! there are some deals on it out there and i already have the cyclindrical bar bag and I fancy going matching

Set up for 10 day tour.

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I have the bar bag as well. Great combination! 😃

2024 Summer tour setup prepared. Leaving Sat.

Have strong regrets selling the larger Super C now, but the drybag / voile works for the tent well enough.

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How do you find the front super Cs? For me they're always a bit small. I think ideally I would run 18L front panniers (carra are 14 I believe?)

Yes they are a bit small tbh, I wouldn't mind something a bit bigger. Yes 14l each, including the pocket I think.

I can just about fit all my clothes in one, then camping mat, sleeping bag and pillow in the other with a bit of space for a (cover your eyes Hippy) towel.

They are a cool shape though, and the little pocket is great for first aid kit and my emergency instant noodles.

I've toyed with the idea of using rear panniers, but think they might be too cumbersome. The Tara takes 18kg though, and the two panniers loaded togethet are only 6.6kg so loads of weight available.

can just about fit all my clothes in one

Perhaps a vacuum bag would speed up the packing?

I really liked Altura Arran panniers, thought I was upgrading when I moved to super c front but not so sure anymore.

I have the super c A4 panniers which are 18 and have a mounting point which makes me think they're intended for use on a front rack but haven't used them yet.

Yes the A4s look good, quite high above mounting though could be an issue.

I've rejigged, clothes now in Super C Audax, tent in the front pannier, so no dry bag on top needed 👌

I'm a bit into small form computers, the vaios aren't reputed as the most capable? Surface Go with 8gb ram (either generation) is a proper computer and should fit in many medium bags. I haven't seen a more compact, reasonably capable option, other than some tablet or phone setup. They go for 100 quid on ebay, too.

Now you mention it, the Vaio was a bit of a dog at first. Then I disabled lots of non-essential bits of Windows and changed the screen and font and text settings. After that it was superb. There used to be sites with good advice for improving it. Sony were no help at all. But I doubt I'd get another one. I'd probably want more power for editing gopro files.

Simple and solid, koga i took from kleinanzeigen.de it needed some small modifications to make it a randonneur again.

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Oh that's pretty cool, maybe running linux would help it further? Battery life any good?

Form factor of the vaio is so on point tho, but I understand the fear of the trackpoint.

Mine had an SSD and battery life was OK. I had a giant Sony battery which tripled battery life but I didn't take it on tour. Too heavy. I had a really long power lead and could always find somewhere to charge (in the US). I like the Trackpoint. Better than a mouse AFAIC. In the end I sat on it and broke the screen. It's lost somewhere in my flat (I think.) When I used it in a public place it often started conversations. One day in a park I was using it on a bench pointing the aerial https://www.wifi-stock.co.uk/details/alfa-network-802-11n-long-range-usb-adapter-with-u-mount-awus036nhv.html at a restaurant wifi in the distance. A guy came over to talk. He managed a private island. https://www.privateislandsonline.com/islands-for-rent/united-states/florida/coupon-key The owners were away so I stayed in their house. The manager was a great guy. We cruised around in his boat, did some shooting etc. He had escaped East Germany when he was a border guard. His gun collection was enormous.

Eta: BITD I had one of these https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sony_VGN-U71P.jpg I bloody loved it. Someone took it from my saddle bag when I fell asleep on the train. In the Chatham/Faversham area. A nest of criminals.

Overnighter in yorkshire, staying in a yha so pretty lightweight, lots of extra space in handlebar bag and seat bag.

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