My Genesis Longitude setup for a 5 day trip in Norway last week. Pretty much stock bike with a mix of Alpamayo, Alpkit and Apidura bags, and Blackburn fork cages.

A Genesis Longtitude (or something similar) would be a good starting point. Can run 27.5, 27.5+ and 29" tyres, has "old" 100mm/135mm QR dropouts and rack/cage mounts everywhere. Can also be set up singlespeed or hub geared thanks to the horizontal dropouts. Stick a dynamo in the front...

Remember reading about this a while back:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ta ... d-panniers

As above, I wouldn't use a carbon rack though, I imagine any movement from the luggage/straps would eat through it fairly quickly.

A friend of mine was telling me about this a while ago, could definitely be handy for cheeky bivi spots! He's in the police and thinks it's also a drug dealers dream come true, but that's another matter...

OsmAnd+ with the relevant regions downloaded will give you backup* GPS navigation should you need it.

*Or primary, it works for me!

For the money you could get 2-3 sets of Roswheel luggage off Aliexpress, quality looks about the same from the photos.

If you're worried about the phone dying, most people have an old dumbphone lying around in a drawer somewhere. Put a PAYG sim with some credit in it and leave it switched off in your bag in case of emergency. Nothing can kill a Nokia 3310!

I follow the guy on Instagram, to be fair he seems to live off his bike year round, is currently travelling around Scandinavia. Probably does more miles than anyone on here and if his setup works for him, what's the problem?

The new Specialized shoes look pretty good, particularly the 2fo 1.0 which is lighter than the more DH models. Not sure when they'll be released here though, I'm either going to get them or some Adidas Trailcross to replace my Shimanos in the near future.

Same here, also carry some plasters, ibuprofen and a pair of tweezers for little stuff but rarely more than that.

As above, I'm firmly in the smartphone camp, use OSMand+ for mapping and charge via dynamo & cache battery. You can get a cheap silicon mount like the getfinn or something more solid like Quadlock which will set you back £20-30. Not knocking a dedicated GPS but for my needs the phone does what I...

Do the cheapo other bags do this too?

The wilko ones are reusable, and tough enough that I haven't had any leaks, even after using them "boil in the bag" style. They also free stand when full, I just put it on the ground with my hat over it while the food hydrates/cooks.

Wilko do packs of ten for a couple of quid, they work for me!

No involvement other that general dot watching, but very happy that they could keep it going after Mike passing away. Good luck to everyone taking part!

I run OGs on my current hardtail. I've not tried inverting them yet. How much lower do the grips end up in real world terms? I didn't measure it, but I'd say at least 50mm, I normally have the bars "upright" with the grips parallel to the ground. Upside down they were probably pointed dow...

The Longitude has a very long top tube, I think you'd need to size down if you wanted to put drops on it. It is great with "alt" bars though, I have on-one OG bars at the moment, will look at Jones bars when funds allow. The OG bars can be run upside to give a very shallow drop, while stil...

If you don't need them urgently, have a look on Aliexpress for 3f UL gear, I recently got a 3x3m silnylon tarp for about £30 delivered. Weight is about 500gr and took 2 weeks to arrive. Naturehike for inflatable pads, although I've not personally used them. For cheap bike luggage there's the Roswhee...

For anyone who has been waiting for Alpamayo to restock their luggage, they seen to have everything back in stock now. Just got my bar harness, just in time for my trip to Norway!

What about the Genesis Vagabond? British brand, drop bars, don't know if it'll take B+ wheels though?

Depends on the bike, some handle a front load better than others. I prefer a front rack, it does make lofting the front wheel harder while riding rough terrain, but is much better going uphill, standing pedalling and pushing the bike. There are few things as annoying as having rear panniers bump the...

dlovett wrote:
Is that the internal dimension on the cowbells and is that a single or dual airlock 13l?

Cheers

Never measured them but I think it's across the hoods, and with the dual Airlok.

I've used a 13l Airlok dual with my 44cm cowbell bars, works pretty well. The fact the bars are flared means even when shifting, the levers aren't obstructed by the bag. Not sure it would work with a drybag much wider though...

@Ootini - yes, that's the one! I got the regular originally, but it was a little short for me at 6'1” so that went to the missus and I got myself the long version. I paid about £77 through the app and took 2 weeks to arrive.

Very happy with my Aegismax bag from Aliexpress (0°C, 650g, 800fp down) but as said, more info about the type of bag you're after would help!

Is that the Aliexpress ones? My friend got one and said the stitching quality was pretty poor, but cheap enough that he didn't feel hard done by. He's since upgraded to Alpamayo luggage but used the Roswheel ones a few times without any major issues.