Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

You're right, was it Matthew Lee?

edit; yep

Yes. Jay rode a carbon Orbea with rigid white bros forks.

Fixie Dave Nice is currently storming the divide from South to North on his fixed MTB with flat pedals with only a front brake.

fixed.

Just though this needed to be added.

So do I ....which is why I said 'fixed MTB'. doh!

OH....you added the front brake bit.

Blimey is this some kind of Tour Divide trivia session? Scott, can you recommend somewhere to get wide velcro from?

www.acesupplies.co.uk

But It's not cheap stuff.

can anyone recommends me a handlbars bag for weird curvy Mary bars that has a decent capacity?

Decent capacity like more than the 7litres? Or would 7 be enough?

I've just got the Topeak one (which is 5l, the avenir one says it's 7) now I need to work out how to put lights on as well as the bag? Any ideas/examples...

Might have to resort to the bottom of the drops or putting the handlebar bag the wrong way round?!

By the way in case either of you are interested, my interest comes from the idea of riding to polo tournaments.

Hence not wanting to have a rack and basically wanting bags I can remove fairly easily when I get to court.

This does also mean I'll have two metre long aluminium poles which could be used structurally...

this?

rucksack with a couple of strap.

I was thinking of doing something fairly similar with a panier.

It's got different slots for attaching to the rack, they should be strong enough and with the help of the mallets (which i'm currently intending on using to extend the top tube over the back wheel if you see what I mean) there will probably be loads of ways of attaching.

Decent capacity like more than the 7litres? Or would 7 be enough?

I've just got the Topeak one (which is 5l, the avenir one says it's 7) now I need to work out how to put lights on as well as the bag? Any ideas/examples...

Might have to resort to the bottom of the drops or putting the handlebar bag the wrong way round?!

Have ordered an Ortlieb classic bar bag, 7 litres although that's not very much really - we'll see

What about something really skinny that's enough to keep the weight down and also keep it out of the way?

Here's an ultralight set up for a tour in the Himalayas, using a rack - 7.5kg for everything apart from the bike and the cyclist.

Interesting site too.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread31811.html

Hey guys, I'm trying to plan a trip to Moscow at the end of the summer (around early to mid september)> I've not toured before and was slightly concerned Id have to get a tourer in order to fit it out with panniers etc. However, Having seen some of the alternatives featured here, I'm coming round to the idea of doing it on my racer. Has anyone completed a similarly long tour with this set up? I'm looking to go through Scandinavia where I know camping is pretty well accommodated. The only thing I still see as being a problem is fixing a tent to the bike. I have seen these which are designed for a MTB http://www.evanscycles.com/products/topeak/quick-release-beam-rack-mtx-ec005811 would they work with a road bike?
I've been meaning to set up a new feed for advise on my trip, but as a new user, need to increase my activity, so apologies for jumping on this feed!

It fits on the seat post, so of you've got a carbon seat post I suggest not. Or to be more exact, you'll only be able to carry weight that when added to your own weight doesn't exceed what your seat post can take.

Also if you look on the dunwich thread someone (damo I think... Er I mean... Chalfie?) had a couple that he'd used before for sells.

Thanks dude, thats pretty much what I figured, its not carbon so I'll check out Chalfie/damo. I've got plenty to get so any second hand stuff going for a good rate would be welcome!

I would avoid those seat mounted racks, they put the weight quite high on the bike and have a tendency to swing. Can you not retro fit a traditional pannier rack? What bike is it?

On the Dun Run, I seen quite a few got knocked, and twisted after 100 miles of riding, I highly doubt the clamp could take the rack swinging left and right while sprinting.

Old Man Mountain make rack for bicycle that aren't designed for rack in the first place.

It's a fausto coppi Torino racer, I guess I could get the fittings brazed on, any idea on cost? I'm sure I could quite easily brace the race with staps from each side down to the wheel mounting point on the rear triangle to stop lateral swing.
The planned ride is about 3500km, so probably not to much sprinting involved, I guess I shouldn't rule it out though...

*rack (damn auto correct!)

Like I said, Old Man Mountain, or even Tubus that have kits to convert it for bike without eyelit (on the quick-release instead).

Old Man Mountain;

Tubus rack with their adaptor for bicycle with quick release;

The planned ride is about 3500km, so probably not to much sprinting involved, I guess I shouldn't rule it out though...

My ride is 2800km and I'm doing it rackless, just on the hunt for a sleeping bag as small as my tent and my mattress.

That's a great shout, I'll be all over one of those. Sorry for probably making you repeat yourself (new to the group) where and what are you riding?

London to Morocco, on a fixed wheel audax/light touring bicycle.

Try and draw up the pro and con of getting panniers or bikepack it (it's worth getting your gears together and figuring out which's which you'd rather leave home).