Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

IIRC Conway said it was a mistake not to use the saddle holster.

Ahh interesting, I actually tweeted him and asked why he wasn’t using it and - predictably (both due to sponsor stuff and time/effort of his part) - never got a reply. I assumed weight..

Be interested to see/read/here where that came up.

On his website I think. He did it to save weight (hilarious as he was riding a steel bike etc etc) said it wasn’t worth the faff (predictably).

Maiden Castle?

Kate's just bought one of those. Kinda narrow, but seems good

I was thinking Glasgow this weekend (7/8) and Dorset next weekend (14/15)

Good to know, thanks. Really thinking about one as a backup/loaner for friends/my girlfriend/etc. Can't really afford to be frittering away £20 willy nilly at the moment though. But then it's such a good deal...

Ah apologies, I was referring to the dry bag! If memory serves alpkit do the duel ended one in a 13 and a 20? Just wondered which you had for rough sizing... I ride quite narrow drops so less width and more girth (ooph) is probably more what I’m after..

I have the 13 litre one. You can pack it so full that it barely fits between the hoods, but as it is it seems to work. I haven’t ridden like this mind you...

with the appkit handlebar bags I found when loaded the straps have a tendency to slide off of either end of the bag. That can be solved by using a strap or zip tie to hold the two straps together on the underside of the bag. Hope that makes sense...

Did you want to borrow mine for the weekend?

Don’t they have rubber tabs for the straps to go through to avoid that?

yes, but only one (or maybe two) for the circumference of the bag, which wasn't enough in my experience

I'm not massively keen on my Alpkit 13l bar bag. It rolls up and down around the bars, the straps slide off to the sides, I reckon it's smaller than stated capacity (it won't fit my -10° down bag in it), it's awkward to access anything without removing it, it interferes with your levers/hoses on flat bars, etc.

Maybe it'll work better with the On One Midge bars I bought a few days ago. Will try the zip tie suggestion too, thanks @fredtc

It seems with bar bags it’s one extreme for the other. The ‘dry bag strapped to bars’ approach is dirt cheap but seems to get mixed results. All the systems that use a holster are very pricey and still seem to get quite mixed results!

Doesn’t seem to be much of a ‘gold standard’.. trial and error I guess!

Good tip on the straps - I know what you mean. I did consider putting a strap around the two straps. Will look into it.

@hippy - That could be really useful, if mine doesn't arrive. Which I don't think it will...

I'm not using it until TCR, say 26th onwards.

-10° bag

Comfort or extreme rating?

It's Rab Ascent 900, 900g of 650FP, "Rab® Limit: -18°C (0°F)". It's not ENwhatever tested but Rab Limit looks to be somewhere between ENxxx Limit and Extreme. I bivvied in it during the Beast from the East which was cold as hell but I was toasty warm in my bag.

According to Rab it's got Pack Size: 26 x 45cm/10.2 x 18in. It goes a bit smaller than that though. Maybe I need the 20l

500 in, 800 to go

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Strong beikpak, strong photobomb

I could have donated bar tape you know.

500 in 800 to go. Tell me you're not talking about miles?!

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/322324/
maybe?

That tiny bag for 2 weeks! 😬 either you're going to stink or your packing skills are insane!

And no bottle cages?! You must have a rucksack or something?