I'm waiting for a Borah Side Zip bivvy to arrive from the States. I plan to use it with an Alpkit 3.5 or under my Trekkertent Stealth 1 outer depending on the forecast. I've been looking at the SMD Deschutes as well as a future option. The Stealth is good but it can be a PITA crawling in and out pas...

As has already been stated, I don't think you'll have any issues if you're discrete and arrive late/leave early. I've done the same thing plenty of times over on our side of the Management Zone (further west) and been fine. The byelaws were introduced to stop the car camping, boozed up, cheap tent i...

A loop around Cowal with a bivi (including being overtaken by somebody on a Salsa with drops and Tribars and Puking Gnome forks, anyone off here?) Nice scenery and weather and very quiet on the offroad sections. https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D4qrnZWiQEE/WuYIFAgvU2I/AAAAAAAAFrM/zU6OlkdTkuc4XR4uRxaeeH30A...

One Used to be two; though from TLS training dropped one. My inner "what if" monster wants to take a second spare; however, the TLS kicks in. The chances of getting two flats that require a tube are thin but I really struggle overcoming the "what if" monster. Must try harder! :l...

Hmm, so it seems I may not be being overcautious carrying two tubes then, I was kind of hoping to be told to TLS and cut down to one. :roll: I've found that I get hardly any punctures running tubeless (the lack of pinch flats is particularly welcome) but on the one occasion when I have had a punctur...

I was just wondering how many spare inner tubes you tubeless users carry during a trip? I can't bring myself to leave home (bikepacking) with less than two but I'm guessing that this will be regarded as overkill by many BBers. Do you take one tube and some spare Stans fluid? Sticky strings? No spare...

I ride a Ramin 1 as my bikepacking bike (I looked at the 3 but I specifically wanted a 29er not 650b+). I can say that it's a great bike for the money and there's no need to worry about the "own brand" thing (unless you're a brand snob). Mine's mutated quite a bit from it's original spec a...

An MSR Trailshot (after the recommendations on here). I already had a Travel Tap which is okay but a bit bulky if you don't actually need to carry it full of water. With the Trailshot I hope to save a little space (albeit with a slightly lower level of protection).

The station is a good suggestion but if you're heading west there's parking at the foot of the Rest and be Thankful at the Ardgarten forestry visitor centre. I've often left my car there when out for a few days. I usually drive just over the bridge over the Croe and park there (NN26895 03725). OK w...

ScotRoutes wrote:Of course, what you really want for the Wee Mad Road is a motorcycle....

It's nice on a motorbike but you still have to be very careful on the blind corners. I rode it on my KTM 690 which was quite an agile bike but it still felt a bit "big" for a road like that.

I drove the "mad road" in my VW Transporter and it's fine as long as you don't meet an idiot going too fast the other way (same's true of most winding singletrack roads though). My dad did it in his Hymer (big motorhome) a few years ago and found it quite traumatic though!

Stem cell would work if you could fit them. My bike is smaller and a stem cell hits my knees when I stand to pedal. Being able to carry stem cells does up the load carrying options considerably I've posted this before but I had this problem as well and ended up fitting the stem cells in front of th...

I go for the water bottle in stem cell option as well. It works fine, the bottle is very easy to access and out the way of flying sh*t. Downside is the weight is higher up than other options.

The station is a good suggestion but if you're heading west there's parking at the foot of the Rest and be Thankful at the Ardgarten forestry visitor centre. I've often left my car there when out for a few days. I usually drive just over the bridge over the Croe and park there (NN26895 03725).

Depending on the size of the AB direct mount chainring and whether it's a boost compatible version there may be another timing mark on the other side allowing you to reverse the dishing (if the ring is dished). I had this option on mine but IIRC the extra mark is only on the smaller rings. I corresp...

I'm Arkose curious as well, I'd like an Arkose 3 to replace my CX bike. I bought a (Pinnacle) Ramin 1 for bikepacking and it's massively exceeded my expectations bearing in mind how cheap it was. The wheels on that came with tubes but set up tubeless very easily using the stock tyres. The Evans shop...

Yeah just to double confirm it, I have a Saint BB on my fat bike running with RF Aeffect cranks (and previously Middleburns until they self destructed in the middle of nowhere). I made my own plastic sleeve from a Berocca tube which seems to work okay (obviously Shimano don't make a fat bike specifi...

We're on a bit of a BearBones roll here. I just received a box with an RF stove, some Permavent and some cool button badges too. Very quick delivery (especially considering the recent weather issues). Thanks Stu.

Pogies for me too. I have the basic HotPogs and I've never needed to wear anything other than my summer gloves (even while snow biking on my fat bike). They really are very good if you can get past the weird looks.

Is there is an pressure equalisation value in the bottle to replace with air the fuel volume lost? A very soft fuel bag might overcome this problem to some extent. Medical drip bag perhaps? I think this question was addressed earlier in this thread (there's no valve but it works okay with the squas...

I've just ordered one of these. I currently use a Vargo ti stove which is great but I often end up refilling it to continue cooking my Cordon Bleu bikepacking meals. Refilling a hot stove can be a bit exciting at times (although they do bloom very quickly on re-lighting :lol: ). Then I often end up ...

I like that a lot.

I had some over trousers made of Sympatex and they were quite leaky. Kneeling on wet ground was enough to force water through the fabric. They did breathe well but I deemed them not fit for purpose due to the aforementioned issue. Waterproofs that aren't waterproof aren't waterproofs in my book.

I've been going tubeless on and off with varying degrees of success. I decided to hack up a blast pump, but after three attempts I gave in spent £50 on a specialized one - regretted it immediately and then saw the post above about the garden sprayer.. Doh. Don't feel too bad, I used to use a garden...

Interesting information. My Ramin came with those cheapy Shimano brakes and my wife's bike has them as well. My wife's brakes have been fine but I've had to bleed the ones on my Ramin. The front brake has always been weak and doesn't really bite hard which makes me wonder whether I have this micro l...