I have acquired an unwanted pannier rack from a colleague at work with a view to fitting it to my "Gravel" bike this summer and doing a bit of touring/camping.
I had planned to try and find some cheap pannier bags, however I reckon I could lash everything I need to the rack held in dry bags, which I already have lots of.
Will it all end badly? Or has anyone successfully done this before?
Lashing stuff down works fine sometimes, but for long term use, if you use stretch bungees, they can bounce off over bumpy stuff, and wear through the material of your drybags, especially if sand or grit is involved.
Or you could have a pair of panniers for a tenner, and use your drybag along the top as a trunk bag.
[url= https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/luggage/sjsc-rear-pannier-bags-black-30-litre/ ]https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/luggage/sjsc-rear-pannier-bags-black-30-litre/[/url]
I used the alpkit drybags with the loops attached, velcro and and webbing straps quite happily touring last summer- chose them over panniers because it rattled less than the panniers on rough tracks. Lighter too. Panniers are more convenient though if you want to, say take your stuff into a hotel- we were camping so alwats close to the bike.
Found a picture- https://www.flickr.com/photos/80976333@N08/28847017446/in/album-72157668448247434/
(Never seem to be able to embed on my phone)
The bungee is just to hold on flip flops, waterproof jackets, that sort of thing
I use panniers for longer tours and a dry bag bungied on for shorter trips or non-camping trips. Panniers give more space but the temptation is to then fill that space. A dry bag is lighter and better on rough ground but fiddly if you need to get in and out of it during the day and if it's very heavy it affects the handling more than panniers with the same weight.
Horses for courses.
Also, if you use a dry bag you can be on-trend and say you're bikepacking but with panniers you're just a crusty old tourer.
Depend how much stuff you're carrying - panniers are not so good offroad, can snag and break brackets if you're not careful. Drybags generally lighter as you simply can't carry as much stuff
For touring, if you are not trying to get into tight spaces, I'd say panniers are a better idea. Lashing on dry bags is fiddly and, and they are inconvenient if you want to get at stuff. With panniers, click, unroll top, grab camera for a photo or put your jacket away, roll and click. You're done. It's easier to root around in a pannier on a rack without taking everything out.
You don't have to carry lots of stuff in panniers. Just be disciplined!
Soft bags that are lashed to a rack will eventually wear through. Panniers will also wear eventually, but they have a rigid back that is designed to stand up to the rigours of long miles.
Also, if you use panniers you have the instant credibility of looking like a crusty old tourer, instead of a glossy-magazine-reading, hipster bikepacker.
The Alpkit drybags with loops that swanny mentions are a heavier material than the Exped drybags so will last longer. The latter don't take well to abrasion at all.
Have tried most things (ooerr missus!) and it depends on how long you are touring for and weather, poorer weather leading to more robust clothing which in turn is bulkier and heavier, but generally panniers for road and bikepacking style soft bags for anything technical off-road. Panniers tend to catch on stuff off-road, try riding singletrack through heather for example 😥
No matter what you choose, to begin with you'll think: "I'll never get everything in there!", a year or so down the line and you'll be looking for smaller bags as you've got so much space to fill.
Just to Clarify I already have a couple of the Alkit "Drylock Extra" bags already a 20L Dual, a 13L single end opening and the Tapered 13L (Seat pack type one), plus several cheaper, thinner unbranded ones in the 10-20L range.
I'm used to using drybags and either strap them to the beam rack on my commuter or my bars every other day for commuting and gerneral duties, but you're right, using my whole "collection" for a few days touring might become a bit of a Faff.
the £10 set midlifecrashe linked look like they might be useful with 30L capacity.
They're certainly cheap and would leave the top of the rack clear to carry a tent/sleeping bag but @1.2kg they're going to add more weight and being canvas anything I want to keep dry will still probably have to go in a drybag anyway, or I'll need some covers.... I'll probably have a Drybag on the Bars too so it would be easy to get together ~ 60-80L luggage capacity plus tent and sleeping bag on top... so that's plenty
I think I might just buy those bags to see if they're any use, they're certainly no pricier than buying yet another alpkit drybag.
Cheers all.
60-80 litres! 😯 Keep the volume down and you'll be less inclined to take stuff you won't actually use.
Plus tent and sleeping bag....whitestone - Member
60-80 litres!
whitestone - Member
60-80 litres!
Plus tent and sleeping bag....
Didn't realise that bike touring was part of the DoE Award 😉
I've done drybags strapped to a rack and panniers - I'd always go panniers if I needed to carry that much stuff.
It's much more convenient to be able to pop them on and off - I know that it seems like you wouldn't need to do it that often, but like, fixing a flat, changing clothes, being able to pop into pubs and stuff with them, it adds up.
For any kind of long tour, getting drybags packed just right so that you can bungee them to the sides with suitable heel/tyre clearance gets really tiresome, too.
Are you planning on carrying the car on your helmet or on a car rack at the back?
I'm talking Upper Limit here: ~30L on the Panniers plus 20L on the Bars would make it easy to have 50L capacity, I could easily have more just by adding a couple of drybags, 50L Will probably be more than sufficient. But Yeah, in theory it wouldn't be that hard to get 80L of luggage capacity.
I'll not be bothering with a framebag, anything mounted on the fork or stuff strapped to the underside of the Downtube...
I will more than likely not use all of that potential volume, and note I didn't use the term "Bikepacking" I wrote "Touring", I'll not be stripped down to the bare minimum I'm planning to take a few creature comforts, and a tent...
Are you planning on carrying the car on your helmet or on a car rack at the back?
Early start in the pub today?...
Early start in the pub today?...
Most people carry a bike on the back or roof of there car and all there posessions in the car.
80litres sounds like you're trying to reverse that.
I don't think you should be stripped down to the bare minimum - you'll likely get arrested 😆
Even without going to extremes (or bikepacking as you call it) you really don't need much kit at all: one set of cycling clothes and one of evening wear - two if you want to be posh - some spare socks, waterproofs. A small bar of soap, micro-fibre towel, toothbrush and paste (no need to cut down the handle, we're not being silly here), saddle cream or talc powder. My ultra cheap synthetic sleeping bag takes up no more than five litres add a litre or so for the sleeping mat. Tent would be the biggest item, I've a Lasercomp which is probably five litres when packed. Cookware will add a bit of bulk if not packed carefully.
Think "need" not "want", the two aren't the same.
Just as an example, I did 3.5 months around Europe with camping and cooking kit using two Ortlieb rears and two Ortlieb front panniers which works out as 65 litres theoretical maximum. That wasn't too cumbersome, and I managed to ride stuff like the Galibier and the Stelvio OK. It's not just volume that matters, but how much weight you're carrying.
You can obviously cut corners and go really lightweight for short trips.
Just a follow up.
Cheers for the input all, those cheap panniers arrived from SJS and they'll do nicely, my tent fills most of one and my sleeping bag fills the other, I should be able to cram cooking kit, food, tools and sundries in around them, dry bag on the bars for clothes.
So yeah it is going to be more like 40-50L [u]including[/u] tent and bag...
In late June I'll be riding from Oslo to Copenhagen, ~780km.
I'll be using a pannier rack with 3x Alpkit Airlock Dual 13L strapped to it.
In addition I'll use a Fuel Pod M, Stem Cell and borrow a Possum-like tangle bag. Without the borrowed Possum I have 40L. -Still unsure if a handlebar bag is needed though.
I'll report back after the trip with pictures
I found velcro luggage straps much better for strapping stuff to the bike than bungee's as they don't bounce around on every bump and work themselves loose...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Luggage-utility-Fasteners-Craft-Tyagi/dp/B00KP02KOO
https://goo.gl/photos/r5mNxYfY97FnpgeYA
When strapping the drybags to the rack and 2 extra straps at each end it becomes a decent setup.
Also used a Wolftooth B-rad 2-slot for the bottle cage but have to tinker a bit more with the setup.