Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

What's the Japanese way of making your bike smaller and putting it in a bag? I think you remove the front wheel and the bars. The bag goes over your shoulder and nobody twigs that there's a bike in it.

Origami

It's Rinko! https://bikepacking.com/gear/make-your-own-rinko-bag/

https://euro.montbell.com/products/disp.php?p_id=1130424

Here they come…

https://bikepacking.com/news/friday-debrief-132/

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That looks good, do you know what the rack is?

No wondered the same. Guess it’s part of the same project.

Isn’t it a Tailfin? Possibly with the longer version of the top stays.

Does anyone have recommendations for some nice bike packing videos? Im looking for some inspiration:)

Does anyone have recommendations for some nice bike packing videos? Im looking for some inspiration:)

Am enjoying the slower videos of always riding..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAiLKZDRiWs

Scored a Tailfin top tube bag cheap second hand. Boy, the rubber v mount things are actually amazing. No need for a stabilising strap around the steerer. Totally solid. Impressive product. The others need to sort something similar out.

Out of interest, is that on a flat profile or a round tube top tube? With a round top tube I've never found a bag that doesn't drop to one side, even with a stabiliser.

On one of these. Not flat but not the same radius as a steel tube.

I can’t imagine it drooping on a round tube at all. The bag itself also has a carbon frame which gives it structure. It’s seriously impressive.

I used one on a round top tube and it only tends to drop to one side if it’s really overloaded and takes a knock. But otherwise it doesn’t move……the v mounts are a game changer.

Drink everytime he says system..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BYL2Ae7Xwo

Almost annoyingly well thought out... https://www.tailfin.cc/guides/product-guides/complete-guide-to-bar-bag-systems/?v=79cba1185463 but haven't looked at price yet...

that mount look great, I wonder if you can buy it on it's own.

As apparently the system features systems, it’s hard not to repeat system.

Systems all the way down…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27G-wokE3TQ

that mount look great, I wonder if you can buy it on it's own.

Yup, almost certain you will, have some X-Clamp pannier bags and it is a great system clamp and they are sold on their own.

System or hack?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lwTI1ScQnY

Comes in at about £20 for two mounts, sorry systems, plus a dry bag.

TBF Tailfin looks great, especially the stretchy pockets.

Moved thread!

Bit of a tangential one…

During trips away I end up having to refuel fairly frequently at places with a crap selection of food/drink and semi-extortionate prices (train stations, corner shops).

Bizarrely, even at an airport, a pint of milk is invariably £1.20 and the fizzy pop or bottled water over x2 the price with no nutritional value. Big up British Dairy, must be utterly thankless. Thanks for offsetting my stupidly priced lightweight touring gear.

Interesting. So there's nothing going around the steerer on these?

I was going to replace my lost/stolen Revelate top tube bag with another Revelate and then I thought about the Revelate Mag-Tank ones and wondered if they were any better than my OG version - being easier to open isn't really that big of a big deal for me - I prefer to have stuff stay in the bag rather than the whole top opening at once.

So anyone used both versions of Revelate and/or Tailfin care to comment/compare?

https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Cockpit/GasTank

vs.

https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/cockpit/Magtank

vs.

https://www.tailfin.cc/top-tube-bags/

The new MagTank has a hydro bladder-type liner. Presumably these are more suited to food stuffing, whereas my top tube bag is usually holding a battery, electronics, small tools, sunscreen, etc.

I’ve used a magtank, which I thought was great. The rubberised material on the bottom and the strap which you can cinch around the top tube make it almost as good as the tailfin but it still requires a steerer strap or bungee.

The tailfin system is just better. It does give the bag a slightly higher stack height which I don’t like but it’s more robust and can be removed more quickly and the rubber straps it comes with can be used for other purposes when you don’t have the bag mounted.

Not sure about the higher stack height - Revelate already pretty high. I can't see the specs for the larger models on their site, seem to just have 0.8L design to compare.
They do look neat though and the cable ports a neat idea although I just use the double zip arrangement on mine for that kind of thing - two zips means you can get in from one side without having stuff bounce out.

They're all pre-order for end Nov and twice the price of a used Revelate but I like the idea of being kinder to the frame as well as not having to deal with a steerer strap.

Edit: I found the other versions - there's big arrows on the side of the diagram that shows other sizes.

So, 104mm + mount high, versus 127mm at stem; tapers to 44.5mm at rear. So actually the Revelate is taller.

Would be nice to see them in the flesh.

I meant the stack height of the V-mount system that Tailfin uses. It’s the only annoying thing about it.

Oh, why is that annoying? The bag itself is still lower than the Revelate and if it doesn't move side to side, I don't get what the issue with mount height is?