I know for a fact there are some people who have the ability to flip the bikes up on their shoulders and off they go at the speed of a mountain goat. I, however, am not one of those people and I have a long list of excuses as to why thats not me, 63kg female with bony collar bone/spine, an already healed compression fracture of my T5, poor circulation in my arms causing them to start to go numb VERY quickly, etc!
Having ridden Nan Bield yesterday I'm now sore to touch and as usual the hiking experience was not in the slightest bit pleasant. I can see restrap do a harness and I'm wondering if anybody has been soft enough to try it? I also wondered about a padded strap on the downtube, I did have my elbow pads there but obviously the shape of them meant they soon rotated and were of little benefit.
I'd like to arrange more hike a bike days but the sheer agony puts me off. I'm not prepared to 'eat more pies' or such replies as 'it's my technique'. You come have my body off me and see how you get on with your technique!
Do you need a strap to hold the bike or would some shoulder padding do the job? I'm often wearing a bag on a big trip so the padded straps help protect my shoulders.
Hike a bike is just horrible. Did a day out recently that involved a lot of hike a bike. Wore a backpack that sat fairly high so I could rest the bike on it. Made it a bit easier than the weight being 100% on the shoulders.
Interested to see the answers here, as I ride packless and hate it too.
A few years back there was a (German?) company who had something very useful - it was basically an extendable handle that went down the back of your bag and a receptacle that went on the bike so that you could lift in to position and the bag took the weight.
I'll see if I can find it.
Found it. Called the Peak Rider https://bikerumor.com/peakrider-hangs-mountain-bike-hydration-pack-can-hike-bike-hands-free/
I had a lovely Vaude pack which had the shoulder strap mounted about 3cm down from the top of the rigid back system. It formed a perfect 'gutter' for my top tube to sit in. So easy to then just hold the end of the handlebar to balance it.
Restrap do one, the product name exactly matches your thread title
https://eu.restrap.com/products/hike-a-bike-harness
I think Seth's Bike Hacks reviewed a similar product recently also
I sometimes take a bit of lagging to put on the down tube to make it less painful. The problem is that even padded it is still the shape of the tube rather than the shape of your shoulder. I reckon you could fashion something quite good if you took a bit of time at home to work our exactky where/ how the bike sits and then build on that.
The old Karrimor Hot Ice/earth/rock rucksaks were great for HaB as they were very robust, had a frame of sorts and the crampon straps on the top pocket were perfect for strappibg a bike on for long trogs. And the Hot Earth was big enough that when fully packed it kept the pedals away from your thighs/legs
Should probably state that I'm one of those annoying people who generally ride with just a bumbag and would like to stick that way if I can. For whatever reason yesterday it was my arms that were the most painful bit, shortly followed by the lower back cramps that inevitably happens as you end up stooping to try to offset the balance point of the bike. Would be good if didn't have to hold the bike there and if it just 'sat'. Someone must have bought the restrap harness?
I think folk are too quick to carry the bike and I used to do this a lot in these situations but have found pushing the thing to be easier on the body. The bike is then taking its own weight.
Granted there's the odd occasion where you need to carry it but I find that's only very very steep rock scrambles/steps
You trade the bike taking its own weight for the slight awkwardness of pushing over rocks etc but with good timing and line choice it's not that bad I find
I do this so over all over the lakes and have no bother. I'm sure I pushed all the way up Nan Bield. If not it was just that very last 100 metres or so.
Give it a try next time? Granted I'm not a 63kg female with spine problems but I'm sure pushing more will be easier for you.
I'm a softie southerner so opportunites for hike a bike are limited. Though I do have holiday experience pushing my bike up welsh, lakes, and foreign mountains.
I can recall 1 instance of about 200 yards in Morrocco where I was awkwardly adopting a sort of cyclocross top tube carry and wishing I knew how to do the shoulder carry.
In how many situations is the terrain actually more easily tackled with carrying rather than rolling?
https://pushcomponents.com/produkt/hookabike
as featured in https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/6-new-products-you-never-knew-you-needed-garda-festival-2018-roundup/
Example of use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGOOb4I-xv0&t=129s
Also: https://enduro-mtb.com/en/peakrider-carrying-system/
Top links cheers, food for thought if I do decide to go for the backpack approach
Cheap solution. Will work for some. But not all.
I use a Topeak QR Cage Mount with a bottle carrier strap and a couple of Velcro seatbelt covers. The whole lot costs about £25, weighs about 150g and fits in a little Sea to Summit bag:
It straps onto the light loop on my saddle bag:
When I need to carry I put the cage and bottle in the carrier and put the seat straps and case over the QR cage mount. It’s not perfect, but it does make carrying more bearable (for me - first used in anger on Nan Bield last year).
Sorry about the Amazon links (and the cat - although at the very least it makes a good cat toy).