Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Cheers,

Yeah slightly worried about the midges sending me crazy. Will get some industrial strength deet.

Based on some other advice we are now thinking inverness to applecross then down the coast. Will try to join some of the highland 550 trail. Should be interesting.

Don't bother with deet. Super Carcinogen. Try Smidge, works a treat, made by scots.

Bikepacking crew, favour to ask...

My best mate is coming to Istanbul and going to ride back with me (not all the way just some) 2week trip in eastern E while we're there.

Anyone up for lending us their saddle and frame bag (for duration of August)? Beers in exchange.

On the midges, if your moving they are no problem, i mastered the dark art of peeing while moving without soaking yourself (it's a proper man skill) if you stop still and no midges are about in 30secs-1min you might be safe.

As with Gabes, deet based stuff is nasty..... however...... when i pitch the tent i spray the grass inside the porch area of the tent, they don't like that as they live in the grass, kinda like nuking them from orbit.

Hopefully have a chop at the highland trail in the future, but aiming for the original 440 loop not the extra added death 550 for the machines that do it in about 4 days.
Applecross is quite stunning, you may have to book for the pub as it gets busy, we overheard guests talking about lunch and one had scallops that the pub owner had dived for that morning.
It has a campsite and one of the next villages down has/had a cracking little shop (might have been Milton or Camusteel)

I go a bit Ray Mears and go mussel hunting, coupled with a bottle of white wine from the village shop to cook them in, keep meaning to take a small telescopic spinning rod and try and catch a fish for tea.
The main road is like a mini alpine route odown from Bealach na ba, can't remember if the next shop is at Ardarroch or just a pub, sure there is a petrol station/mini mart at Lochcarron. It's a fairly isolated area so plan a route and check for shops (the petrol station at Applecross is automated pumps no actual shop)

Thanks for the tips. Smidge ordered.

If anyone has any gpx files that have good routes anywhere near those areas I would be very grateful!

Skinny, I would let you borrow mine but I need them for part of august. What about getting some alp-kit stuff? Sell them on when you are done and the difference will probably be the cost of a few beers anyway.

Having been bitten by deer flies earlier in the year I'm positively looking forward to the midges!

Skinsosoft was my deterrent of choice last year, it works so-so. I've found it solidifies really easily though and it then won't come out the bottle.

A smokey fire seems to be a much better way of keeping them at bay than any spray.

Yeah good idea. Thought I'd see first, people normally like beer! And thanks.

love that smidge have this vid on their frontpage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwAptHhcJfQ

The Fuck?
spooky

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Apologies for my ignorance, but it's been a while since I last dropped by and I don't feel like searching all those pages to see if my answer is in here.

I just did an overnight trip somewhere in the French Alps, with my backpack strapped to my saddle. It's not bad at all and I've used it on a month-long trip in the past without regrets, but for the sake of ease I might just consider a real saddle bag. I use the Revelate Designs Tangle frame bag and am extremely satisfied with it, and I remembered they have a nifty saddlebag as well. After checking their website I found next to the Viscacha, they also have the Terrapin+drybag combination. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this and could tell me what the main differences and pros/cons are between the two.

That midge video is like some of the advertising vids that come out of the warped minds of Surly :-)

The first Capital Trail "ride" takes place up in Scotland this weekend, some details: https://fearlessandunique.wordpress.com/capital-trail/

Dot-watching http://trackleaders.com/capitaltrail15

For the information of anyone thinking about coming to Scotland this summer,

Midges were out in force when we stayed in a bothy on Saturday night.

I used Skin So Soft but not convinced it did much, the only time I could see them out but not feel them biting was when it was also pissing down and my skin was soaking so I think they were just drowning.

To be honest though, I think I've cracked midge survival. I said a wee while ago that after being bitten by deer flies earlier in the year that I was looking forward to the midges and I honestly think that a little htfu and just not letting them bother you is the best thing.

It reminds me of being tattooed in that when you tense up and fight the pain it only serves to make it worse, relaxing and just accepting that there's a little bit of discomfort makes it a lot easier to deal with.

My legs got quite badly bitten and those bites are now a bit itchy but I have a basic bite relief cream from Boots which is killing that.

I was with 2 mates and there were another 3 people staying in the bothy, all of them were moaning like fuck about the midges so I know they were bad.

I shared my SSS with my 2 mates and I think the 3 others were using Smidge so it's not like I was the only one with anything on.

I only find the bites painful on very soft/tender skin so really, my face. They did bother me on my head last year when I had my hair shaved but now its grown in it was fine. I'd maybe think about investing in a net to wear over my head to keep them off my face.

The 3 others in the bothy were DOE instructors and they were saying that 'midge season' is getting shorter and shorter every year.

tis grim up norf

Was up Torridon/Skye/Garreloch week before and so much rain and wind that midges never became an issue. So I guess pray for rain?

Full strength deet combats them but terrrible for your skin, especially if broken or you have Ezskema and for synthetic kit (melts your tent + waterproofs)

Midges were out in force when we stayed in a bothy on Saturday night.

You had me at midges.

(or rather, the midges had me).

Hi All,

I'll be travelling from London To Central Italy in a month time on my Colnago Tecnos equipped with Scirocco 20 wheels and campy groupset. I've set it up with Alpkit 13l handlebar bag, Alpkit airlok xtra 13l saddle bag, triangle frame bag and I'll be also carrying a Lightweight bike bag to use on trains. Now... my question is

Does anyone know if this kind of bikes can hold around 30kg of weight without any issue?

P.S. I'm mounting 700x23 tyres...

Thanks for your help

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How heavy are you?

Do the bags really weight 30kg, or is there 30litres of space? Unless you are filling them with water the two numbers don't follow.

compared to my body weight I would guess you'd be fine?! :)

30kg is a lot of weight to carry, not saying you can't just that seems a lot.

The photo of the set up of bags, is that a tent bag sideways behind the saddle ? go for a test ride and see how stable it is or if it works loose a bit while riding.

If it's a tent, you could velcro tape the poles to the main frame tube (down or top tube or seat tube if long enough) the actual tent should squash down into a smaller drybag which could be lashed to the frame elsewhere.
Failing that maybe look at lashing the black bag underneath the saddle bag, keep it inline, be better areos and more stable than the current set up.

Sounds like an ace adventure you have coming up :)

30kg is a lot of weight to carry, not saying you can't just that seems a lot.

I agree, that's heavier than my touring bike with panniers!

Bikepacking aren't suppose to be heavy.

Silly me...

Both bags are 13lt capacity so probably won't be that much of weight. I'm 73kg. That's the bike bag and I've found out today that you can fold it smaller, however that's the best way of attaching it...

Thanks for your help Lads and if you have any other advise please don't hesitate

Yeah, you're likely to be less than 20kg, if the bike is 9-10kg, then 15-18kg approx.

People suck: http://www.oregonbikepacking.com/the-death-of-the-oregon-outback/

I would definitely not go for 23mm tyres.

Not quite on the same scale , but a couple of my regular routes through the edges of the Yorkshire dales often feature in mass sportives, following these events the roads are lined with gel wrappers and other crap, these are quiet roads through small villages and farmland... Why on earth can't people just shove their empty wrappers in their jersey pocket? Especially on a sportive with feed/hydration stops (with bins they can empty their shit into) gel wrappers are 100% not biodegradable in any way...idiots