Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Talk about anything.

Moderators: Bearbonesnorm, Taylor, Chew

Post Reply
Adventurer
Posts: 405
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:31 am

Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Adventurer »

Does anyone use cuben fibre when bikepacking?

Could be a tarp or tent, a bivi bag, dry bag, ditty bags, bike bags, stuff sacks, wallets or even clothing?

It seems to be quite big in the lightweight backpacking community and I've seen the odd reference to it by cyclists.

It's got my interest and thinking about a few ditty type bags to put small items in to keep together and organised.
Also the dry bags that I can put inside a larger dry bag for organisation might be good.

The pros seems to be its lightweight and strong, waterproof.

The cons appear to be the cost, the noise when using as a tarp or tent, the colour (not very stealth), not very abrasion resistant.

Do you use it?
User avatar
FLV
Posts: 4245
Joined: Tue Aug 28, 2012 9:12 am
Location: Northern Edge of the Peak - Mostly

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by FLV »

nope.

Its lighter yes. but.

Crinkly, bulky and see through.
User avatar
Scattamah
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:18 pm
Location: Beyond The Black Stump

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Scattamah »

Yes.

It's a noisy fabric most certainly, but very light. And of course, when you're playing the weight game with anything, the cost does go north the lighter you go.

I've had one cuben dry bag out of 4 fail me, but this was due to me being overly rough and stretching it beyond its limits. My tent, on the other hand has taken a pretty good beating at the hands of Mother Nature and is still going strong.

I wouldn't use it as a front harness bag again, but as storage bags inside something that is robust, or for a well made tent, it's a winner for me.

Greetz

S.
trail717
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:52 am

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by trail717 »

I have used various ZPack and other suppliers Cuben Fiber items for numerous bikepacking events. Like all gear choices Cuben Fiber has its pluses and minuses.

Within reason “best choice” is always determined by how we individually choose to optimize characteristics. But to optimize “light weight and superior waterproofness” Cuben is a strong candidate if not the top choice.

And as pointed out this material can be noisy and prone to rub thru. Overall, for my individual priorities, it’s a favorite go-to choice.

I will be using it in my bivy for the HT 550
User avatar
ZeroDarkBivi
Posts: 1267
Joined: Fri Jun 27, 2014 9:18 am
Location: Somerset

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by ZeroDarkBivi »

Yes. Tarp and bivi bag. Very happy so far. Would like a frame bag, but hard to come by.
User avatar
Cheeky Monkey
Posts: 3915
Joined: Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:48 pm
Location: Leeds ish
Contact:

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Cheeky Monkey »

For the sake of a few diddy bags is it worth it? I can see the savings for big items like tarps being worthwhile but for diddy bags it seems akin to chopping the handle off your toothbrush off :ugeek:

HYOH mind :cool:
User avatar
Bearbonesnorm
Posts: 23904
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:53 pm
Location: my own little world

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

For the sake of a few diddy bags is it worth it? I can see the savings for big items like tarps being worthwhile but for diddy bags it seems akin to chopping the handle off your toothbrush off
No, it's not really worth it. I make them 'because', there's very little (if any) practical benefit :wink:

As already mentioned, the killer is abrasion. Even with stuff sacks, you need to exercise great care when packing to ensure the bag won't rub against anything else. Otherwise your ultralight cuben bag will steadily get heavier and heavier as you administer yet another layer of Gorilla tape first aid.

Obviously, the thicker / heavier cuben will stand up better to rubbage but lets be honest, those amongst us drawn to cuben, don't want to be using the heavy stuff, right? For something like a frame bag, the new cuben / dyneema hybrids would be worth a look but they're not cheap.
May the bridges you burn light your way
User avatar
GregMay
Posts: 3806
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2015 12:57 pm
Location: Calderdale
Contact:

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by GregMay »

Stu - what do you reckon to using Tyvek?
Image
User avatar
Bearbonesnorm
Posts: 23904
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:53 pm
Location: my own little world

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Stu - what do you reckon to using Tyvek?
It's good stuff, easy to work with (cut, sew). Reasonably hardwearing, virtually waterproof (depending on grade), breathable and very reasonably priced when compared to cuben or even sil' and it's not slippery or noisy.

Downsides are, it's a little bulkier when packed, a bit heavier and slightly 'hard' feeling but that can be reduced with a trip through the washing machine.
May the bridges you burn light your way
Fat tyre kicker
Posts: 982
Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 8:39 pm
Location: Cheshire

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Fat tyre kicker »

Hardly pushing the boundaries.....I've got a cuben Peg bag :-bd
u02sgb
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:14 pm

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by u02sgb »

I've seen a few people saying they use it for a bivvy bag - I didn't think it was breathable?

I sometimes get condensation inside an eVent bag so interested how you cope with a down sleeping bag.
User avatar
Bearbonesnorm
Posts: 23904
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:53 pm
Location: my own little world

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

I've seen a few people saying they use it for a bivvy bag - I didn't think it was breathable?
Base only generally ... a full cuben bag wouldn't be nice, although Z-packs do list breathable cuben. How breathable it is, I don't know.
May the bridges you burn light your way
ianfitz
Posts: 3642
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:33 pm

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by ianfitz »

Bearbonesnorm wrote:
I've seen a few people saying they use it for a bivvy bag - I didn't think it was breathable?
Base only generally ... a full cuben bag wouldn't be nice, although Z-packs do list breathable cuben. How breathable it is, I don't know.
I looked into it but there didn't seem to be any published figures. I found very precise (!) values between 'not very' and 'amazingly'

I'm guessing that Cuben in bivis is used for the base (my borah one for example)
Image
u02sgb
Posts: 240
Joined: Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:14 pm

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by u02sgb »

Re: Cuben in the base - is it less or more slippy than Silnylon? I've got a Borah bag with a Silnylon base and it's slippy!
User avatar
Scattamah
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 4:18 pm
Location: Beyond The Black Stump

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Scattamah »

After a while, the Cuben bathtub in my tent got less slippy. That said, it was never silnylon slick to begin with.

Greetz

S.
ianfitz
Posts: 3642
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 1:33 pm

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by ianfitz »

u02sgb wrote:Re: Cuben in the base - is it less or more slippy than Silnylon? I've got a Borah bag with a Silnylon base and it's slippy!
T'is a bit less slippy than sil I reckon
Image
User avatar
Bearbonesnorm
Posts: 23904
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:53 pm
Location: my own little world

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

A greased eel's probably less slippery than sil'. :wink:
May the bridges you burn light your way
Artie Fufkin
Posts: 692
Joined: Mon Dec 09, 2013 9:11 am
Location: West Yorkshire

Re: Cuben Fibre and Bikepacking

Post by Artie Fufkin »

Words of wisdom from a wise man, there !
Post Reply