Morning all. I am very much a newcomer to both the forum and the world of bikepacking, so apologies if my questions have already been done to death elsewhere and evaded my rudimentary Google skills. I'm looking to do a bit of wild camping on the bike with the kids and am looking at luggage options. My suspicion is that I will err towards the lightweight on and off road touring set up rather than full on bike packing and I'm limited for the foreseeable future to a cross bike rather than anything flat bar. I really like the look of the bar roll set ups like the 15 litre ortlieb and wondered whether anyone can advise on how usable they are with normal (non flared) drops? Ideally, I'd like to be able to mount a Garmin and dynamo light on the bars too. Thanks in advance, Tom.

Something like the Ortleib or Apidura will work okay with drops but it all depends on how much you put in it. At full capacity, packs like the Ortleib are quite long and will certainly stick out well beyond the bars. With less in, it obviously won't stick out as far.

If you need to carry a decent amount, you might find that you're better with a harness that accepts a seperate bag. That way you can gain capacity by increasing diameter rather than length.

They work fine, the only things you will need to check are whether you have enough height between the bars and the tyre to prevent rubbing, and enough space horizontally for the levers to change gear if you have STI shifters. Something like the Alpkit dual ended 13l drybag strapped straight to the bars will give you a good idea whether it work for you without spending a lot of money. You can get a proper harness later if you like it.

Steezysix wrote:They work fine, the only things you will need to check are whether you have enough height between the bars and the tyre to prevent rubbing, and enough space horizontally for the levers to change gear if you have STI shifters. Something like the Alpkit dual ended 13l drybag strapped straight to the bars will give you a good idea whether it work for you without spending a lot of money. You can get a proper harness later if you like it.

And if you visit one of the alpkit shops they will let you see how/if it fits before you buy it.

Thanks folks. A visit to Alpkit would be nice, but unlikely as I'm on the south coast. I'll try strapping a bag on without harness and the free-standing harness is a good shout

Wildcat harness with Alpkit 8L drybag works well on normal road drops.

I really like the look of the bar roll set ups like the 15 litre ortlieb and wondered whether anyone can advise on how usable they are with normal (non flared) drops?

Pretty hopeless ime. The roll ends are restricted by the drops and they're far too big, once rolled down to fit between drops there's almost more roll than pack space. As said above, get a separate harness and a dry bag so the bag outer diameter can increase rather than the width, aim at 10l drybag size (13 may be OK if rolled down) and all should be OK. Even so, average 42cm drop bars and STI inward-swing shifters don't give much space unless you pack light/minimally.

Wildcat harness with Alpkit 8L drybag works well on normal road drops.

Yep, same set-up here, it's perfect. Add a bar bag to the outer front area if you need more space or ease of access.

Revelate Harness and a 13L Alpkit drybag work great on drops. No problem mounting lights/GPS either.

Thanks all - that's great advice. Are the flared drops manufactured to address this issue, or is it more of a comfort thing? I've ridden ordinary drops for years and done lots of long distance stuff, so am pretty wedded to them, plus I don't think I'm quite ready for the hipster look they conjure in my mind. Either way, sounds like a wildcat/revelate harness & alpkit bag is the way forward.

I too use a Wildcat harness with various dry bags (depending on what I'm carrying up front). A single ended dry bag will usually give more capacity IMO (because you only have one rolled up end projecting rather than two).

Are the flared drops manufactured to address this issue, or is it more of a comfort thing?
Variety is the spice of life they say! My opinion is that flared drops offer a more stable hand position for off-road use, especially descending in the drops. Having said that, I'm often amazed that drop bars are set up at the hoods and as a result rarely used in the drops because its too much of a stretch.

A single ended dry bag will usually give more capacity IMO (because you only have one rolled up end projecting rather than two).

Nail head.

Variety is the spice of life they say! My opinion is that flared drops offer a more stable hand position for off-road use, especially descending in the drops. Having said that, I'm often amazed that drop bars are set up at the hoods and as a result rarely used in the drops because its too much of a stretch.

and again ... you're on fire today Peter.

I've got the Ortlieb bar bag and agree that for normal drop bars it's not particularly good as for 1 thing you have to take the whole assembly off if you want to get into it as the drops are in the way. I'll be using it on the mountainbike which has On One OG swept back bars and then just for my sleep and shelter stuff which I only need to get at once a day.
I've been playing with a home made quick release system on my gravel bike ready for the TNR (yes I know it's in September) and am using a Rixen and Kaul clickfix bracket and backing plate that I got from SJS cycles for not much. This is bolted to an Alpkit Joey thing and will hold up to a 13l drybag (Airlock extra) and also clears the gear cables and brake hoses nicely whilst sitting between the drops. I'd post pictures but never had any luck making it work.

How about this.....?

It is a Salsa Anything Handlebar cradle.
Cannot have the bag too full (wide) as interferes with the gear shift action of the levers .....excuse for Di2 perhaps?

Salsa Anything Cradle by Asposium, on Flickr

Re the Salsa bracket, I'd be concerned about the handling effect of weight that high up and far forwards and call me odd but I like to see the front wheel, especially riding off road. My Rixen & Kaul setup has the top of the bag level with the tops and leaves about 40mm between the bag and the bars, just enough room for cables and fingers.

pistonbroke wrote:Re the Salsa bracket, I'd be concerned about the handling effect of weight that high up and far forwards and call me odd but I like to see the front wheel, especially riding off road. My Rixen & Kaul setup has the top of the bag level with the tops and leaves about 40mm between the bag and the bars, just enough room for cables and fingers.

can't really tell from the top-down photo; however, the bag is angled down.
as for weight, don't carry anything too heavy there, mainly bulky stuff.

going to try to feed bags in the gaps between the bar and cradle.

gap is ~65mm

Talking of brackets, and the TNR. I used a small (6l?) handlebar bag with a bracket. It leaves a nice gap that you then wedge an 8l bag under the stem & bracket and between the headtube and back of the bag. This also makes the bag on the bracket much more secure; no bouncing around.

Best bit about a handlebar bag is that you can get into it whilst riding and there's a handy pocket on top for cue sheet or map. Have used the same system again for 10 days around Scotland.

The salsa looks very nice, but a bit out of my price range. Might be able to stretch to a wildcat lion though.... Huge thanks for all the input - saved me from making a potentially costly mistake.

Retiredtester wrote:The salsa looks very nice, ....

TBH, and to me, that Salsa just looks like an elaborate handle-bar-pannier. Bleurgh

Ha ha! That sounds very much like my end of the spectrum.

Cheeky Monkey wrote:

Retiredtester wrote:The salsa looks very nice, ....

TBH, and to me, that Salsa just looks like an elaborate handle-bar-pannier. Bleurgh

Lol

Suppose it does; however, proving very good for the drop bars.
Nice have all usual hand positions available
Might not bother if running flat bars.

I've had good results using the smaller of the two available Ortlieb bar rolls withe some not very flared Salsa bars -

That's a good looking set up - lots of room for stuff on bars.

P1010496 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

DSC_0143 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

The 13l Alpkit bag is pretty wide, so even rolled down you can still get a reasonable amount in it. The Revelate Harness lets me pack/load it "oval" too.