Whats your preferred setup?

[gairym]

I'm just sorting my kit out and am leaving on a little spring trip tomorrow.

I've got variations on my 'preferred setup' depending on the time of year.

Barbag:

Sleep system (quilt, mat and bivi or tent, mat and bag if colder).

Seat bag:

Clothing (bigger/smaller drybag depending on weather and length of trip).

Top tube bag (front):

Lights and batteries

Top tube bag (rear):

Tools, tube and spare pads etc...

Stem cell #1:

Snacks

Stem cell #2:

Space for other stuff (depends on the trip - camera, gopros, suncream, waterproof sometimes for quick access if there are showers etc...).

Frame:

2 x 750ml bottles*

*when needed I'll use a full framebag, put the tools and other bits in there, move the water bottles into the stem cells and move the snacks into the rear top tube bag.

[Sarah]

So far I've used anything cages on forks for sleeping bag on one side, pot, stove n fuel wrapped in clothes on other. Tent n clothes on bars. Tools n bits in frame bag. Clothes n flip flops in saddle bag.

Wondering how people manage with bulky light stuff, food from local shop for dinner, bread, pasta, maybe a bottle of wine brought just before camp stop. Also if taking trainers or other not so squashables?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Wondering how people manage with bulky light stuff, food from local shop for dinner, bread, pasta, maybe a bottle of wine brought just before camp stop. Also if taking trainers or other not so squashables?

I'll sometimes carry a tiny fold up S2S rucksack for the above but generally I make sure there's some space packed in my saddle-pack. Can't help with the trainers though - I leave wearing a pair of shoes and and that's it

[whitestone]

There can be a fair amount of weight in just the bags. If you have a couple of stem cells, bar bag, frame bag, seat pack thats around 1-1.5kg before you add the contents.

Steve, true to some extent: Just checked my spreadsheet Lion bar harness; Lioness front pocket; Tiger seat harness; Ocelot partial frame bag; 2 Alpkit stem cells; 3 dry bags comes to 1163g but you do need something to carry the rest of your kit. Remove the frame bag and the weight is down to 863g which is just slightly more than a large water bottle with 750ml of water.

[RIP]

'Food from local shop for dinner' - yes I still haven't fully nailed that one down either. The only food I ever leave home with is a couple of chewy bars cos I like to do my bit supporting little shops. Stu's idea seems best, to leave bit of space in seatpack. I once bought a bottle of wine from the fridge at Dolwyddelan Spar and lugged it to the top of the nearest mountain. Started off carrying it in a plastic bag (recycled ) dangling from my bars, then moved it into my bar bag containing my nice down sleeping bag. What could possibly go wrong with those two scenarios.

R

[RIP]

Just looked up Stu's s2s daysack thing - 68g. Well that's not bad at all for the flexibility on offer. And there was me thinking I'd reached 'Peak Stuff'. Next question, does it fulfil Sarah's and my wine-bottle-carrying expectations.

[HaYWiRe]

I pretty much get all my meals from shops and usually pig out on the curb so needing to carry it isnt an issue, all my trips are based around various tiny villages so god help me if i venture anywhere more 'wild'

I do carry a kilo in snacks though for grazing, helps for when my sugars dive and running out of carb could be disastrous for me.

On the last leg of a trip i once commited sin and resorted to the golden arches! Those bungie cords on the front were essential in alowing me to carry on riding while dipping a hand into my 4 McDonald's happy meals on the harness that day!


As for wine...isnt that the real reason Alpkit created those XL stem cells?

[Scattamah]

Bar harness with removable dry bag holding the sleep gear.
Gas tank for things I reach for on a semi-regular basis.
Jerry Can for tools
Saddle bag for night clothes, rain jacket, spare tube, bike lock, spare gloves/socks and food.

Sometimes have a waist pouch for food or drinks and sometimes I don't take a saddle bag and just strap a tube to the seat post. It all depends on the weather/my attitude at the time.

Greetz

S.

[ZeroDarkBivi]

Steve, true to some extent: Just checked my spreadsheet

So glad I'm not the only one who does this...!

As my Spearfish is currently configured:

Wildcat Harness + 8L dry bag
Revelate Framebag
Alpkit small seat pack
2 x Stem Cells
Revelate Gas Tank
=850g of baggage

Only slightly more than my Osprey Talon 22L Backpack (782g) that has a similar capacity, but a bit less convenient & comfortable.

[thenorthwind]

I've also got one of the Sea 2 Summit packable rucksacks for carrying corner shop supplies the last few miles. Wouldn't want to use it for longer than that, but it's ideal for that purpose and weighs naff all. I've been in the situation Reg describes. You have to laugh when you're on the best part of a grand's worth of bike, covered in specialist kit for carrying stuff on it, and the best you can do is dangle a carrier bag off the handlebar

[Bearbonesnorm]

Next question, does it fulfil Sarah's and my wine-bottle-carrying expectations.

Perfectly capable Reg ... although as a non-drinker, I've only ever tried it with milk but the principle's the same

EDIT: thinking about it (although untested) you might actually get a bottle of vino in an Backcountry Reasearch Super8.

[Scattamah]

@Reg and Sarah...the heathens amongst us decant their drop into a clean water bottle before leaving. It's there for you all day long then. Refill in the evening if required.

Greetz

S.

[RIP]

Thanks for the helpful tips folks. I really must take a leaf out of Stu's book and jump on the wagon but in the meantime I might have a go with that s2s thing. Wine in the water bottle is a good plan but too tempting on the bars all day. I get a bit of milk somewhere each evening, bung some into a handy 175ml minimilkbottle for breakfast and drink the rest. Last night I asked a very nice young lady at the pub if I could blag 175ml straight into the bottle and she kindly obliged - I'm in lurve (yet again).

[RIP]

Wasn't going to add another setup to the mix but since I'm here and since I've just unpacked it and littered the whole house to dry it to the consternation of Mrs Perrin:

8l barbag with tarp+pegs etc, mat, pillow, pump, tyvek sheet.
13l barbag with sleepingbag and down hat
Stemcell (overkill) with milk bottle and minilock (but not my £2 ebay glasses which pinged out somewhere en route)
Patent gaffertape 'stemcell' with 500ml waterbottle
Koala seatpack with toolbox, kitchen, bathroom, spare base top, hyper-condom-w'proof, and a pair of Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I really must take a leaf out of Stu's book and jump on the wagon

I wouldn't bother Reg. I didn't stop due to some moral, health or religious standpoint, I stopped because I broke my neck ......... rather ironically, by falling down some stairs while pissed

[RIP]

Blimey that was a bit of a conversation-stopper . Belated commiserations and sympathies.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Blimey that was a bit of a conversation-stopper

Not really ... I didn't find out for a couple of months, just kept wondering why I had headache.

[MuddyPete]

...by falling down some stairs while pissed...

A few years ago a colleague was on his way home from work by train after a few beers; he was standing in the gangway between 2 carriages (the wobbly bit), dozed-off whilst standing up and collapsed, breaking his leg.

Another mate was cycling home from the pub one night on his MTB a looooooooooooong time ago; jumped off the ramped kerb and went straight into a hole dug in the road by the waterboard (before they put those barriers around them) and broke his jaw.

Finally, a mate of his fell off his MTB and broke a leg whilst cycling down a flight of stairs....in his mum's house.

The common factor in all of these tales is...they're all great stories .

[Ian]

At uni a mate of mine was riding home very early one morning after a night on the lash, head down, pedalling hard.... right into the back of a milk float