The Cycling Chat Thread

[beesonthewhatnow]

I did a fun, short-ish (100 mile) trip over the weekend, with a night in a B&B in Lincoln. Great fun but made me realise how unfeasible it is to do trips like this with a backback: even with just a few items it became pretty weighty quite quickly. Any hints and tips on non-pannier bikepacking options welcome!

I have a set (seatpack, framebag, handlebar bag and top tube pack) of Pro Discover bags (PRO Discover Seatbag | Pro Bikegear). They’re excellent - really well made, easy to use and all of decent size. The seatpack lives on my commuter most of the time as it’s the perfect size for a set of clothes, my lunch, and my day to day bits, and means I don’t arrive at work with a sweaty back. Rucksacks on a bike are horrible.

 

[han]

Ortlieb.

Bikepacking Bags | ORTLIEB

If you want to feel simultaneously free and at home in nature, the combination of biking and sleeping outdoors is just the thing for you. What you need: a gravel grinder, a mountain bike or fatbike, a thirst for adventure, and light baggage. The bikepacking equipment from ORTLIEB lets you set...

www.ortlieb.com

We did the Hebridean Way with Mr W using the seat bag, frame bag and bar roll. I had the bar roll, an Osprey backpack and a cheaper Altura seat bag. The Altura bag leaked in a heavy downpour but none of the Ortlieb stuff did.

Ooh I didn't know Ortleib did bikepacking kit.

Ortleib are great aren't they? Worth the investment. My Ortleib panniers are still fine and waterproof after 15+ years of heavy use.

 

[purves grundy]

We did the Hebridean Way with Mr W using the seat bag, frame bag and bar roll. I had the bar roll, an Osprey backpack and a cheaper Altura seat bag. The Altura bag leaked in a heavy downpour but none of the Ortlieb stuff did.

I have a set (seatpack, framebag, handlebar bag and top tube pack) of Pro Discover bags (PRO Discover Seatbag | Pro Bikegear). They’re excellent - really well made, easy to use and all of decent size. The seatpack lives on my commuter most of the time as it’s the perfect size for a set of clothes, my lunch, and my day to day bits, and means I don’t arrive at work with a sweaty back. Rucksacks on a bike are horrible.

Brilliant, thanks folks - gonna look into those today.

For the handlebar bags / rolls, if you're riding drop bars do you need a smaller bag to squeeze between the bars? Or does the length not matter, given the way it attaches and sits i.e. not between the bars?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Brilliant, thanks folks - gonna look into those today.

For the handlebar bags / rolls, if you're riding drop bars do you need a smaller bag to squeeze between the bars? Or does the length not matter, given the way it attaches and sits i.e. not between the bars?

I think it very much depends on the way the bag mounts - how high etc.

 

[Winot]

Ooh I didn't know Ortleib did bikepacking kit.

Ortleib are great aren't they? Worth the investment. My Ortleib panniers are still fine and waterproof after 15+ years of heavy use.

Reckon mine are coming up to 25 years old. Amazing kit.

 

[nick]

Keep on casting my eye over the Tailfin web site - any views on their pannier "solutions"?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Keep on casting my eye over the Tailfin web site - any views on their pannier "solutions"?

They look very smart, but a bit pretentious to be offering pannier racks that offer an 'aerodynamic advantage', they are pannier racks, to hold panniers, ffs.

And one of the pictures seems to show a rack mounted on the back of a full sus mtb, how does that work?

 

[nick]

dunno bout the full suss MTB, question
One thing that appeals is that it is apparently very easy to remove and replace the whole rack assembly in about 10 seconds, so you don't end up with a rack attached to your bike when not needed (I'm thinking akin to the Raceblade mudguards that I an clip on quickly only when it's wet)

Of course it's pretentious - it's cycling kit. Everything is twice the price of anything else because "technical" and 1 gramme lighter.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I think the main selling point of the Tailfin system is that you can mount it on road bikes that don’t have the usual mounting points for a rack.

 

[Cid]

They look very smart, but a bit pretentious to be offering pannier racks that offer an 'aerodynamic advantage', they are pannier racks, to hold panniers, ffs.

And one of the pictures seems to show a rack mounted on the back of a full sus mtb, how does that work?

Pivot points presumably.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

I've found bike packing bags great for when you're trying to eat up the miles. If you're touring/camping and have more gear then panniers are far more easy to use and less hassle.
Bike packing bags are a pain to pack but the advantage is you take less and thus weight and drag are reduced.

 

[Dogsauce]

I used the onboard storage compartment rather than panniers when I did London - Lands End (via Brighton), everything I needed in the front, although I did abandon a lot of clothing and ET when I got to my parent’s caravan in Dorset due to it being thirty degrees for the next few days.



(There is a tent and sleeping bag in there - I borrowed a Mountain Equipment one-man thing from a friend that weighed something ridiculous like 800 grammes). No stove because cafes/takeaways exist.

 

[a_chap]

The Pashley Guv'nor kitted out for Race Around the Netherlands in 2019.






There's a two-man tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, stove, gas cylinder, changes of clothes, a stupid amount of tools, lights, batteries, food - including a kilo(!) of porridge oats (I kid you not)

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

My knees hurt just looking at that

 

[Artaxerxes]

My knees hurt just looking at that

Netherlands so it’s flat innit

 

[nick]

respect to you both. You do realise that gears are a thing now? (nice fenders Chap)

 

[DownwardDog]

Netherlands so it’s flat innit

Limburg isn't. They often do the Vaalserberg climb in the Amstel Gold Race.

 

[Dogsauce]

respect to you both. You do realise that gears are a thing now? (nice fenders Chap)

oh yes, my Pashley freighter comes equipped with slow, slower and slowest gears. At 24.7kg unladen you do need a good ratio.

Most painful attainment was getting it up Swain’s lane. With a two-year old on the back and probably about 5kg of camera stuff in the front. Still not on speaking terms with my knees.

 

[Cid]

oh yes, my Pashley freighter comes equipped with slow, slower and slowest gears. At 24.7kg unladen you do need a good ratio.

Most painful attainment was getting it up Swain’s lane. With a two-year old on the back and probably about 5kg of camera stuff in the front. Still not on speaking terms with my knees.

That's just daft.

 

[a_chap]

respect to you both. You do realise that gears are a thing now? (nice fenders Chap)

It's got three of Sturmey Archers' finest in the rear hub!

And the mudguards are indeed lovely, thanks. I got them from this chap: Woodys Custom Wood Bicycle Fenders -- highly recommended.

 

[miss direct]

My Mum says I can have this bike:

It's been in the garden for a few years, has two flat tyres, a rusty chain and is covered in cobwebs. But does it look decent enough? Is it worth doing some work on?

 

[DownwardDog]

Leave it in the garden.

 

[weepiper]

My Mum says I can have this bike:
View attachment 273578
It's been in the garden for a few years, has two flat tyres, a rusty chain and is covered in cobwebs. But does it look decent enough? Is it worth doing some work on?

Probably budget about 80 quid for new tubes/tyres/chain and maybe a cable inner or two. A brand new similar bike would probably cost about £350 (but there's nothing in stock anywhere). We do a lot of fixing up this sort of thing at my work right now because people just can't find cheap new bikes. Take it to a local bike shop and ask them what's the minimum they think it would cost to get it roadworthy.

 

[iamwithnail]

I did one that was a lot rustier than that and got it back working, it was about £140 in all - the stuff weepiper said, plus some extra labour because a couple of bits were seized/rusted on and they had difficulty getting it off - was done as part of a 'full' service, which is £80 i think at my LBS.

 

[sleaterkinney]

I wear a backpack for commuting but the problem is you're bearing the weight instead of the bike especially if you stand up, and your back gets all sweaty.

We've used this cheapo saddle pack from planet x which has been good.

Saddle Packs | Planet X

www.planetx.co.uk

I'm not sure you can beat panniers though. I've got a topeak rack which clips onto my seat post and is almost perfect but it rubs against my thighs.(not in a good way)

 

[sleaterkinney]

Keep on casting my eye over the Tailfin web site - any views on their pannier "solutions"?

Expensive.

 

[miss direct]

Thanks for the replies. I do have a bike but its a bit big for me. Would be nice to have a smaller one and especially to have two so a friend can come out with me.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

It's got three of Sturmey Archers' finest in the rear hub!

And the mudguards are indeed lovely, thanks. I got them from this chap: Woodys Custom Wood Bicycle Fenders -- highly recommended.

The guards are beautiful but probably weigh as much as my entire bike

 

[hash tag]

Netherlands so it’s flat innit

A few years ago, I rode from Paris to Amsterdam. Once in Belgium it was a straight as a die, flat as a pancake and as boring as hell.

 

[iamwithnail]

My mate rode round the world a couple of years ago, he said the Benelux was deathly boring when we met him in Hungary. Saw him again at the end and he said he’d misjudged and in fact the Gold Coast of Australia was a thousand times worse, just endless nothing and flat along the coast in baking heat.