Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

alternatively, you disgust me :D

That gonna be heavy as fuck.

No but think Thule also did a semi hard shell pannier?

If your carrying lots of small office things they make good (enough) sense as a regular pannier stuff just goes everywhere. I regularly only use front panniers on the back for carrying stuff as the rear ones are hopeless without a lot of items in there, the bottom of the bag can get into the wheel :s

Contemplating buying a RD Viscacha as contemplating some proper touring next year and want to start using / testing kit now. Am a bit worried it will be quite a tight fit - I do have 6" plus of seat post and just over 8" between rails and mudguards - but should I go for a Pika if it is going to be tight? Is 2l difference that much. And - really sillly question coming up - do you get any of yr tent inside, or does the tent get strapped to outside. The touring I've done before involved Ortlieb panniers.

Anything similar to this 'Fairweather' seat bag that isn't made in Japan (and therefore doesn't cost a silly amount to post/pay tax on)? http://fairweather.cc/bag

Ignoring the tyre clearance thing... I have 6" of post on my road bike and the Pika fits perfectly, still just enough room for a light attached beneath the seat collar.

Boring pic:

Tent - obviously depends on the tent but you can squish a fair bit of soft stuff in either bag. Make sure pegs are packed in something tough to stop them rubbing through your tent or out of the bag. Poles would need to be strapped on the bike somewhere else...

Almost ready for a skidder ride to Paris on Friday. Gonna have a small drybag between the bars too.

Where/what is this pharmacy shop?

Is it in London?

I'd like to look at a couple of these Apidura bags if there is somewhere in London that stocks them.

Thanks - that's helpful.I'm still agonising about whether I can confine my packing to something so small but I do prefer the idea of it to panniers.

The cafe at Flash - nice. Few hills to warm up on there.

I might be reposting something already well known here, but have you seen the KTM Saddle Bag Tour XL 18L? it is 29.99 euros from here - http://www.mkvsport.eu/mkvsport/KTM-Saddle-Bag-Tour-XL-18L-d1023.htm?tab=description

I've never seen one in real life, so can't vouch for the quality, but worth mentioning for those whom want a cheaper alternative to a lot of other saddle bags.

Locks. Do I bring the cafe cable lock and just keep the bike in the room, or lug a Krypto with me and actually ride my bike in the city?

proper lock. Riding in paris is awesome.
Obligatory lap around champs elysees

Yeah, did one in 2012 on a Velib at 3am and was top 10 on Strava segment for a while #csb.

Ballache to find somewhere to carry it tho. Might have to resort to one of those godawful frame holders.

I traveled with the combination of a £1 PX lock and a Kabrus Alarm Padlock, which is lighter and more versatile when packing than a D-lock while it does the same job and more.

did one in 2012 on a Velib at 3am and was top 10 on Strava segment for a while #csb.

Ditto. Time stamp on this one half past midnight, just checking the route ready for Wiggo arriving. No strava tho.

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Anyone got any water carrying solutions for bike packing? I'd like to have a triangle frame bag, handlebar bag and saddle pack. Possible to fit bottles to the stem? Or saddle pack plus bottle holders?

If you're using a full framebag stick a bladder in it or run one of those king cage top cap mounts or jubilee clip a bottle under the downtube... Depending on the bike you might be able to attach cages on your fork too...

Nice ideas. Feeling stupid for not thinking of the downtube option.

Does anyone have experience of this Uraltour bag?
I have emailed for a total price delivered, but no reply yet.
Too cheap to be any good? Based in Lysva, Prem, Russian Fed.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252012120253?euid=8c746ffe29434a4b9fec667e7252a1f7&cp=1

I haven't tried them yet (been looking into them for a Brompton water bottle) but these http://www.freeparable.com/product#monkiifamily seem to have a good reputation for attaching water bottles to random bike parts.

Never tried them, and wondered whether they'd rotate about the handlebars, but they came up when I was looking for something else and your post reminded me of them:-

Raleigh Handlebar Mounted Bottle Cage

King cages stem mount is good.

The Restrap bike packing stuff is now available on the website and there's 10% off for the first week with code CARRY10

I've seen the products and they are absolutely lovely, I've got a large frame bag and a saddle bag coming.

Sorry for the spam.

Is the saddlebag a collab. with Black Rainbow Project?

They look a lot like Black Rainbow stuff.