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?

nope.

Its lighter yes. but.

Crinkly, bulky and see through.

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.

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

Yes. Tarp and bivi bag. Very happy so far. Would like a frame bag, but hard to come by.

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

HYOH mind

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

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.

Stu - what do you reckon to using Tyvek?

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.

Hardly pushing the boundaries.....I've got a cuben Peg bag

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.

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.

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)

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!

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

Greetz

S.

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

A greased eel's probably less slippery than sil'.

Words of wisdom from a wise man, there !