Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Flared bars - yes or no? Am tempted, but then there's a world of which ones, etc. Main advantages would be (a) bit more space for bar bag, and (b) nicer position for longer riders / off road segments

Yes, it's great for using STIs with a barbag and the extra leverage in the drops is nice when you're descending. Ritchey EvoMax and Salsa Cowbell have a nice small amount of flare, I think @jambon runs the Ritchey bars. Don't go silly (eg woodchippers) unless you want them as dirt drops.

Yep really liking my Ritchey EvoMax bars, after using FSA Omegas for years wasn't too sure but they're flared just enough (12°)

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I have some Neo Classic bars and they're near identical except the flare. If you want to get some of the evo max @andyfallsoff then I'd be keen to share some postage from Germany (I think bike24 was cheapest by far).

Id also be interested in splitting for some. Much cheaper than 40? Think sjs or something had them for 41.99

Bike24 has them at €36.20/set + €5.95 P&P. Rose has them much cheaper, but are out of stock (and have been for a while).

i've got the evomax bars and i like 'em - very comfortable in the drops.

Sounds good to me. Dont mind saving a few quid. Pm me?

Will post in FBNPNA too just in case anyone else wants in. Last call for @andyfallsoff

Here's my setup from last weekend.

For longer trip I'll get a medium fuel pod, anything cages and a full frame bag.

The saggy bar bag is due to my restrap holster totally failing to work with the 22.2mm loop section of my bars, I almost had a horrible accident when on a fast bumpy decent it came loose and I managed to grab it before it fell onto my wheel. I had to ziptie it on after that, need to have a word with restrap, because it could be dangerous.

thanks for @Hulsroy for the pic

Am interested (although had been considering the WCS for weight savings) - maybe the weight differential isn't worth the £ though; so yeah I'd be interested although where are you based? If collection is a pain might be easier for me to order direct to me

my wildcat bar holster goes super saggy as well. you tighten it up to hell and then after 15mins it's loose again. does anyone else have this issue? maddening.

Based in London, Live NW10 and work SW7. Probably won't post in the UK but do travel around a reasonable amount. They also have the WCS version for €73.50 (~£64) if you really want to throw £££ at it.

I bought them both: neither fit my bike very well (it's a tiny frame, and the out-front mount for the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt didn't play nice with the handlebar bag). Boyfriend ended up using the frame bag which was great. Was quite jealous.

This ended up being my set up for 12 days:

That's a 15 litre Brook Street Saddlebag. Worked fine for the first 3 days, but after that it had issues hitting the back wheel over bumpy ground, which was disappointing given it didn't do this in my testing. I've thankfully resolved the issue with the guys at Brook Street, so it's okay. Next time I would add a top tube bag, but in reality everything I needed for a day's riding was kept in jersey pockets.

Couple more things:

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are great for cycling aren't they? I had a blast. 12 days and not a single drop of rain, pushing 30 degrees most days, absolute bliss. Managed to clock up nearly 1200km as well.

I now have a Uraltour saddlebag going spare, as I doubt I will ever use it again. It's one of these: http://eng.uraltour.com/saddle-packs/ in red, only used on a trip last year from London to Paris so it's in excellent condition. Think I paid about £46 for it -- does anyone want it for £35?

While we are at bar setups.

Here is mine:

I think it works rather well with Alpkit Airlok drybag and these bar extensions from eBay

If you want to see photos from our trip they are here

SW7 or NW10 are pretty far off my radar - if the saving is just a share of (e)5.95 then the difficulty of me getting to you is probably not worth it!

The WCS / Comp options are only a mild dilemma which is mostly just because this is a bit of a "best" bike, given its built up with a Mason Frame, Di2 and some other nice bits - although I appreciate the weight difference probably isn't worth the cash....

and @spotter how do you find the re-strap saddle packs? Have been looking at a holster system and had ideally wanted the Porcelain Rocket Mr Fusion but availability seems to be an issue. My cheap KWM pack gives too much sway and is breaking so am looking to invest - would you recommend?

Alpkits own brand 'love mud' flared bars are excellent. Not too wide. Really comfy

Really well! Used it for 27mi in last night's rain and on a few other long commutes and it's been absolutely solid and kept my stuff completely dry. The little backpack-type snappy clip things (is there a proper name for them?) don't look or feel particularly heavy duty, but they've held up fine with a fair bit of weight in the pack.

Anyway, would recommend.

Mine was given to me by Scooter. It is first gen which had some issues but these have been corrected by my lady and her sewing machine.
I think it work really well. It is fairly stiff and I like that you can leave the holster on the bike and just pull out the dry bag. I think the straps and magnetic buckles are great. They make packing and dismounting easy.

Comes to £33.40 inc P&P rather than £42+£5P&P from SJS. I don't mind making a trip further East, especially if I can drop off other stuff too.

Same as he said really, works well, easy to use, sways with a larger bag, but only the supported porcelain rocket one really fixes that.

I'm SE23 live / EC4R work so I can quickly see the postage discount being outweighed by the hassle factor - if you'll be visiting either anyway, let me know, otherwise might be easier if I order separately. Thanks either way, though

and @Hulsroy

Thanks both - they do sound good; it's the sway control of the PR that I really like the look of but good to hear the reviews are positive. Might just grab one anyway...

Looks like a good time. Calming photos.

Did you and @spotter choose bikepacking set ups for the sake of testing? Looked like the other guy had a more trad touring set up, and also pretty chill terrain.