I've been thinking of a frame bag for my Pact, in order to create a little more luggage space for longer trips.

I've wee legs so the frame triangle is fairly compact - i.e. a couple of 750ml bottle nearly fills it.

I'm loathe to start strapping bottle cages to my forks, though I do have an extra set of "anything" cage mounts on the underside of the downtube.

I'm currently thinking of;

(a) Cutting down to one in-frame bottle and having a custom-made bag to fill the remaining space. I reckon keeping the seat tube bottle would work best. I might be able to fit a Shimano BA01 battery mount adapter to let me move the cage down a little and hence fit a slightly taller bottle in too.

(b) Getting a custom (or off-the-peg) frame bag and using a water bladder in it. I'd still have the option of using the 3rd bottle cage mounts too.

2016-12-15_11-39-11 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

FWIW the existing cages are side-loaders and work really well.


Any thoughts from the collective?

I use elite 'strap on' bottle bosses and mount 'whatever' brackets to move cages on frames. The elites have covered 20,000km trouble free riding (despite looking abit plastic)

Have custom 'cut out' frame bags for spearfish and hardtail with one bottle. Never felt the need for more water capacity in the uk but do have a 1 litre pouch for gathering water for evenings.

What about a big bottle under the down tube and a headset bottle mount like the one from Alpkit? That will let you run a full frame bag and also keeps the bottle close to hand! Alternatively use a couple of "feed" bag either side of the stem?

Colin, would you have room for one of these and retain the seat tube bottle cage?



Fully waterproof and £23.

I'm with Ian and never feel the need to carry more than one bottle in the UK but do carry a soft bottle for evening water duties.

Still like my u/l myog gaffer tape holder and cheap bottle. Easy access on stem, weighs 32g all in. More water = tap/shop/cafe/steripen. Then again I'm also happy as a minority of one .

R

I'd go for option (a) and keep one bottle on the frame. Easier to clean the bottle and to top up as you ride, and you can easily see how much you have left. Plus you won't get that sinking feeling when your water bladder makes that 'slurping' noise to let you know you've run out and you've no idea where the next chance to fill up is.

I made a partial frame bag to replace my full size one so I could go back to bottles on the frame. It's much easier at cafes etc. to hand them the bottle to fill for you than to pass them a bladder. It's also easier to fill the bottle using my mini-filter than the bladder would be.

How about a custom bag with a separate pocket to put a bottle in?

Easier to refill than a bladder but more hygienic than an exposed bottle!

Reg's MYOG duct tape stem cell was quite impressive actually

I'm clearly in the minority of using 2 bottles nearly always when bikepacking. On jaunts into the wilds then one of those is a filter bottle (Drinksafe) plus a normal piss bottle. I guess if I was using one bottle then I'd pay more attention to topping them up all the time

I also carry a 3 litre wide mouth folding canteen which is using when stopping over. My food tends to be dehydrated and I'll have at least 2 coffees so that's about 1.5l in water straight away

Thanks Ben

Very interested in this, as I'm running a medium Krampus, and have the same issues.

ianfitz wrote:I use elite 'strap on' bottle bosses and mount 'whatever' brackets to move cages on frames. The elites have covered 20,000km trouble free riding (despite looking abit plastic)

Have custom 'cut out' frame bags for spearfish and hardtail with one bottle. Never felt the need for more water capacity in the uk but do have a 1 litre pouch for gathering water for evenings.

Mount skidmore is the proper name!

Fwd: HT by Ian Fitz, on Flickr

Never felt the need for more water capacity in the uk

You see that's where I have an issue- I'm diabetic, and tend to get through a lot of water while I ride..

Another "perk" of Diabetes..

I can use 2 x 750ml bottles on a winter ride, on a hot summers day I have used a 3l camelback !

I've used a half bag but it's very tight even with a medium Ogre..
IMG_0833s by Richard Picton, on Flickr
But I can use the braze ons under the down tube as well

Nothing further to add here other than to post this, cos it's Colins' favourite gate!
P1030114 by Richard Picton, on Flickr

I can use 2 x 750ml bottles on a winter ride, on a hot summers day I have used a 3l camelback !

Weighs 750g (or 1.5kg for 2)



Weighs 56g

That's all well and good Stuart (I do have one of the Sawyer mini filters) but if there's no water as on a significant section of this year's YD200 then you'll be filtering thin air Ironically 12hrs later there was too much water after a thunderstorm did its work.

Edit: I get your point though and do agree. It's very rare to be more than an hour from any water supply in the UK. A look at a map should be enough to let you know if you need to stock up at any particular point. When I worked in the Middle East the basic rule was fill your vehicle with fuel and restock your water at every opportunity as you didn't know if you were going to need it.

I also have this problem, in fact my small frame 29ers can only fit 1 bottle in the main triangle; if I could fit two then I would not bother with a frame bag. The Spearfish is even more problematic, being full sus, as it means I can only carry the smallest of saddle bags. I sometimes use a 20 litre backpack to carry bladder and other gear, but prefer not to, especially in summer. So, I mostly use a small frame bag to hold a bladder (with 1500ml of water) and a few other small items - it is cramped and a PITA to access stuff quickly, or refill the bladder. I also lost the bite valve once when it went into the front wheel on a bumpy descent!

Bar mounted bottle(s) is an option I will explore, but more weight up top might compromise handling. Down tube is another option, and would certainly be necessary in arid environments, but has hygiene issues when sharing trails with cattle/mules etc...

I could live with one bottle in the Highlands where drinking water is abundant and it's rarely hot, but generally prefer to have a bit more fluids available.

That's all well and good Stuart (I do have one of the Sawyer mini filters) but if there's no water as on a significant section of this year's YD200 then you'll be filtering thin air

That's a fair point Bob but in the UK, it's probably not a common situation to find yourself in.

I wonder how heavy this stuff is?

This is a worthwhile addition for anyone considering having a frame bag made. Works very well with the twin TT on the Stooge but I'm also sure it would work with more conventional frames.

On a frame like that your best compromise for max bag space and water capacity may be a single 1l bottle or a 1.5l squash bottle mounted on the DT as close to the BB as you can get with adapters - not sure adapters would cope with that distance, maybe just needs Elite clip/s instead - then a frame bag that goes between seat tube and the upper part of the DT, a wedge-shape. If the ST was longer you could get a 1.5l bottle in there but for average to compact frames it's tricky.

TT mount cage location as Stu suggests may be good if the bag allows you to remove the jerry can?

Interesting discussion. Always love seeing everyone's different favoured setups.

I usually use one bottle on the bike and one bottle in one of my three back pockets. Which is a setup I ran happily for both the HTR and Capital Trail this year. On my old bike that was using a downtube bottle and full frame bag, but the new bike has a bigger front triangle so going to go part Framebag and a bottle in the triangle (the Ian Fitz setup pictured basically). Downtube bottles aren't the most hygienic setup!

Noticed this video of Jefe Bramham's Colorado Trail Race setup and he is using an under saddle bottle carrier with a very minimal setup but certainly could be an option for shorter riders with clearance issues under their saddles on their full sus bikes.

https://youtu.be/F-zmTSSWot4

Lightweight setup you say?!....

TT mount cage location as Stu suggests may be good if the bag allows you to remove the jerry can?

The Outdoor Research Super8 holds a bottle nice and securely on the TT / DT / Wherever.

The Jefe Bramham setup is fine if you don't use a seat pack or harness. I've used a bottle mounted on the front of the seat post as in this image from this year's Jenn Ride



Depending on the size of your legs and how far back your saddle is on the rails then you should clear it.

That setup is no more - it was just a cheap plastic mount and it broke off a month or so later on the Peak 200. The lower bottle is mounted using DMR clamps http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dmr-hinged-clamps-1/ which I might try on the seat post but the diameter might not be right.

Re: Hygiene I run mudguards pretty much all year round. The down tube one is a fat gut fender, its wide and long enough to provide pretty decent coverage to the bottle, even right down there.

In all seriousness, I'll pay some attention to the suggestions here.
I have a couple of variations for summer trips (good enough for the mild conditions last weekend); my winter bag though completely fills the front dry bag leaving no room for the bivi bag, tarp, mat and jacket that would otherwise be there. I can pack some of these into bags on the fork mounts, but after that I have the same issue with no space to put a bottle or two. I don't much like my Camelbak (bought 1999, used about five times), might have to get used to it occasionally.