Satanorm - I'd looked at Needlesports earlier and the bug liner has sold out.... And Rudedog - sure someone earlier in the thread said those two were inner first, and both together only? Maybe I'm misreading things, to be honest between trying to decide on the tent quandary and looking at sleeping ...

My Cumulus M350 down quilt arrived this morning from https://www.bivvyonsummit.de (5 days from order so pretty quick). Seems a very well made product. It will be getting a full test shortly when we do the Cairngorms outer loop in a few weeks.

very nearly pushed the button on the zephyros, then that Vango Zenith......however doubts about inner first pitching stopped me. I've kind of resigned myself to spending more now. Not sure why! I'm not sure I follow you here - both those tents can be pitched with inner and outer together or outer f...

I got it from http://www.bivvyonsummit.de - they were only EU supplier I could find that had the M350 down quilt in stock. Its a bit of a shame as I wanted the hydrophobic down upgrade but this is only available from Cumulus direct. Despite my pleadings they wouldn't sell to me direct :(

I ended up going for the cumulus down comforter 350 as I like the idea of being able to open the foot box up of needed - hopefully should be here any day now

Last time I was at Glentress, we got chatting to a couple of guys - turned out one of them was a guide who was taking the other on some natural trails. They turned off the black route not far after the mast (just before the boundry trail starts). The guide said there was a natural route across the h...

Are you running a tubeless set up?

As has been said, bigger volume tyres would be a better solution.

From looking at your pictures, I'd say you have too much stuff on the handlebar bags and not enough in the seatpack - if you swapped stuff about, the load would be better balanced and hopefully you'd be able to ditch one of the front drybags? Also, it looks like you've got the Kanga attached to the ...

It depends on your intended use - You don't need to spend silly money on a shelter to get something decent if it's use will be general bike packing duties. The wild Country zephyros can be got for £100 (it was down to £75 the other weekend) Much of the expensive stuff is designed for adventure racin...

Here are some pics from my couple of trips, hopefully will give you a bit of an idea of what to expect : Loch Lomond Sections : http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q230/rabthecrab/bikepacking/WHW/IMG_4904_zpsn9bw5sv8.jpg http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q230/rabthecrab/bikepacking/WHW/IMG_4913_zpsq...

benp1 wrote:
Easier to stick with proper food though, plus can't exactly bikepack with a shotgun (I'm sure the Americans take this to another level)

I remember a thread in the myog section on bikepacking.net about a top tube holder for a hand gun

We did it in may last year and only time walkers were an issue for us was when we got within a few miles of Fort William - otherwise we hardly saw any. I think it's a great ride, really accessible, well serviced and tons of cracking scenery.

We did the top of Loch lomond with just the bikes (no gear) and it was bad enough. We passed some Germans on town and country/shopping style bikes who looked as though they had given up the will to live.

As far as Scotland goes, the West Highland Way would be a pretty good introduction to bike packing as its really accessible, well serviced (plenty of places to camp/eat etc) and not too long. If driving, You can leave the car at Milgavnie station and then get the train back down from Fort William. I...

charge spoon for me

I've also been interested in the new Thermarest Evolite mat. Appears to be a cross between a self inflating mat and an air mat. The problem I had with that style of mat was that I kept waking up having rolled off the mat - one of the major benefits of the synmat for me is the cradling effect the 2 ...

I love my Synmat UL but I've spotted the new Exped Syn Hyperlite mats ... similar price but lighter :-bd Oooo but does that mean fragile?? The hyperlite is a tapered/mummy shape so the trade-off is comfort for a 100gm weight saving and smaller pack size. If you are a side sleeper or move around a l...

I had the multimat superlite and it developed a slow leak that I can't find. I've now got an exped synmat ul 7 which is more robust, warmer and much much comfier.

I've had 2 multimats - they've both failed and neither were particularly comfy to sleep on.

Are any of the cumulus owners side sleepers or move around a lot at night? I'm thinking of getting one instead of a new bag but I'm generally a side sleeper and also move around a lot at night and so I'm a bit concerned they might be a bit drafty in colder conditions.

cheers

Rob

Just to throw something different into the mix, I'm quite tempted by this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fi ... r-all-cycl I saw that and I thought ... wouldn't this contour to the shape / confines of a jersey pocket much better? http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41arQjOPUjL._SY300_.jpg ...

Thanks for the replies - that vango-catalyst does seem a good deal, the only thing thats putting me off the is that it doesn't have a full zip. Being able to open the bottom of the bag for ventilation is something I've really missed on my current bag.

Yeah I did think about that, I'm generally a warm sleeper and was thinking I could put some clothes on if the temp drops below 4 degrees though. I've got an alpkit down jacket which worked OK as a quilt inside my bag before when it got cold - its not ideal but there's always a compromise when you lo...

I'm after a new bag for a trip to the Cairngorms in May. My budget is around £100 and I've narrowed it down to either the Mountain Hardware ratio 45 or the Montane Featherlite. Both are down and are similar weights, rated for similar temps, similar price (£115) and have full length zips - I'm leanin...

Myself and some mates are doing the outer loop on the 16th May - anyone know what kind of night time temps we should expect? Just trying to figure out which bag to take.

cheers

Rob