bikepackers – where does your water go?

Planning a trip atm.

im a serial bottle and cage user – its just natural as someone who used to race alot…..

how ever – i fitted my frame bag and noticed the obvious fact i no longer have access to bottle cage bosses.

Im not keen on the idea of strapping 1.5-3KGs of water onto my back.

Has anyone used alpkit stem cells for this use – they seem to think you can but whats the reality over rough terrain ?

How rough? Stem cells work ok but can bounce a bit. Have you got a bar harness as well? They will rest against that and stabilise the stem cell.

Edit: I carried two 1l sigg type bottles with stem cells in Iceland until we realised that water was plentiful and you could drink from pretty much every stream in the highlands. Cut down to 1l at that point.

highland rough – on rigid…. yes there will be a bar harness

yes i will be drinking from the streams as per normal – normally would carry 2 x 750s.

How do stemcells fair when your stems only 50mm long? (long top tube by design)

If you have nothing else on your back try one of the light camelback, had a 2l one that is very minimal. It’s not that bad and will give you lots of flexibility for carrying stuff.

Take a sawyer filter or oasis puritabs and don’t carry 3l with you. Unless you’re riding through a desert of course…

How do stemcells fair when your stems only 50mm long? (long top tube by design)

40mm stem here, I loop my strap round the bars instead as I couldn’t fit one around the stem. Worked ok.

What about the cages that mount on the fork legs? Not tried them but seen others use them when their frame bag blocks access to the normal ones.

I avoid carrying stuff on my back whenever possible

I use my bottle cages with a partial or half frame bag.

A stem cell works ok but bounces a fair bit and climbing out the saddle means they hit my knees which is very annoying. To the point I don’t use mine anymore

You can carry water using a reservoir or other water carrying device inside the frame bag. Or camelback with the hose pointing out

Fork leg is an option as mentioned above, so is under the down tube (use bottle cage straps)

You could use a bumbag with bottle/water carrying ability

I’ve currently got a Blackburn outpost cage hose clamped under the downtube with a 1l nalgene in it, this plus a small bottle on the top tube means about 1.5l total. The sawyer filters are really small & light, got one but haven’t used it in anger yet.

“You can carry water using a reservoir or other water carrying device inside the frame bag. Or camelback with the hose pointing out”

Now thats an idea i like ! just need to get a decent quality reservoir that doesnt leak 😀

Mike i have tried various camelbacks over the years and i do use the bags for short rides – keep my blowfish packed with pump/tube/waterproof/multitool for easy out the door and ive got a slipstream somewhere i tried for 24 hour racing a few years back to minimise my stops but i hated it after a few hours and threw it off.

good point RE knees and stemcells – never thought of that

I struggle to see the point of frame bags, sometimes.

They’re usually lighter than the water they replace, so why not leave the bottles where they are and carry the contents of the frame bag on your back?

Where are you stashing everything else?
Seat pack/rackpack?
Any spare room there?

Just fit some bottle cages to your fork, jubilee clips work fine. Do that on my fox and previously on a reba, no issues. You could use stem cells but they are not idea, being a little fat and short for good fit of a big bike bottle (sig etc. might fit better tho?)

Tried a bladder in a frame bag, not a fan. Took up loads of room and couldnt safely shove other junk in without fear of puncturing the bladder.

bedding goes in the bar harness

clothing will be mostly under the saddle bag

Tarp/tubes/tools/waterproof/food on the long day in frame bag

food/cash/camera in the fuel cell on the top tube.

will have a test fit – could possible get a 1.5litre bladder in the frame bag as well – I “might” still have the bladder from the slipstream in the freezer.

when my bike is loaded, I’ve got everything on the bike other than water which i store in my hydro pack.

its a wing nut so its further down your back and is hardly even noticeable.

never been an issue.

Carry mine on one fork leg and sleep mat on the other. Feels fine through the bars. (Rigid Fargo)

I go with the hydration bladder in the frame bag…keeps the weight low and central 🙂

Unless you really need the space of a full frame bag, and experience says that for racing you don’t usually, a partial/semi frame bag and 2 bottles is a better solution I think. I did use a full bag with a camelback for one event and it was ok but in hindsight, less comfortable than it could have been after a number of days. Camelbacks are easy to refil and use as food overflow space though, keep it to sub 3kg and it’s ok. A bladder in the frame bag seems ok until it empties and leaves a looser ‘pack’, or bulges when full. Better in a compartmented frame bag maybe.

I’d really want to avoid water placed on the bar or fork, too easy to add weight there that has to be steered, affects handling etc. I’ll add 2x 600ml bottles to my road bike fork but have to be pretty desperate for water space to put a litre on my MTB in that area. Stem cells could be a proper pita for a full bottle over rough ground but your tolerance for rattly luggage may be higher than mine : )

Last trip I had same issue (frame bag is really good for storing food and cooking stuff, keeps weight at low c of g, just a bit heavy if there’s lots of gates etc) and I covered a 4″ area of the top tube with self lam rubber tape from screw fix, then cable tied a bottle cage on – right behind the stem. Worked well. You can also get stem top cap mounted bottle cages?.

I’ve used two Stem Cells as my default water / snack food setup, rigid, on the HTR. The bar harness keeps the bottle stable.

I only use one bottle though, refilling as necessary, never had any issues finding water. My only rule of thumb is to completely finish the current bottle before refilling at a stream in case that source is bad. If it’s the Capital Trail you’re riding, carry a filter as there are some bad water sources en route.

no racing taking place. I’m far from fit 😀 not the CTR either.

just got some holidays to use up and fancy a bit of an escape.

I saw the partial bags over at alpkit and was thinking about that as a route -but im already spending a chunk on a new sleeping bag and a tarp id prefer not to buy another frame bag when i already have a full frame bag.

Haha. I was merely suggesting if you’re following the Capital Trail route then the water is bad – the only place in Scotland I’ve ever had dodgy water.

What are you riding?

without being cheeky – mostly my bike.

i have various vague possible plans atm but all are in areas i know reasonably well – – possibly 1 of the various northern C2C routes or possibly a Cairngorm circular – or possibly just over the hills to my mates and back off road … baring in mind i live in aberdeen and he works in escape route 😉

Weather will play a big factor in my route.

I loop my strap round the bars instead as I couldn’t fit one around the stem

Stem cells strap to bar and stem to be stable.

The obvious first question is; do you need to lug around that much water. I’ve only once “almost” run out all these years in Scotland and that was because all the running water had frozen.

For shorter trips, avoid the frame bag. You can get enough kit for a couple of nights in a barbag and seatpack.

For longer trips, I don’t mind just carrying water in a backpack. The trick is to avoid trying to make use of the rest of the space and taking stuff “just in case”.

2 x 750mm bottles is too much ?

Im doing 7 days hence the frame bag

Cairngorms would be a nice start Terry.
FWIW I’m starting to get the stuff together to do something similar – hope I can get organised before the weather turns rubbish. Though I’m looking at a mini tent rather than tarp.. Idea and intent is the same.

Any under-frame bottle bosses? Or even fit some (Decathlon to a strap-on version)

1/2 frame bag & keep the cages imo.
I have some cages with the clamps that attach to the bars if required as another option.

Going against the grain here 🙄

I use a Camelbak but then I’m used to several decades of fell walking and alpine climbing and carrying kit on my back so it’s not a problem for me. Did The Sandstone Way this weekend, frame bag, seat pack and Camelbak, probably had 2 litres of water in the pack at a maximum.

You could fit a water bottle to the front of the seat post assuming you aren’t using a reverb or similar.

I use the stem cell bags but have strapped a cb bladder to my front harness on top of my bedding worked well but water got warm but was mainly used for cooking!

scotroutes – Member

For shorter trips, avoid the frame bag. You can get enough kit for a couple of nights in a barbag and seatpack.

Scot – interested to read that; can I ask why? I’ve always managed with a seat and handle bar bag combination but since I’ve had a reverb I’m limited on the amount I can put in the seat pack; although there’s still plenty of room for summer overnighters. As winter looms I was thinking of getting a frame bag of some sort – should I reconsider?

Scot – interested to read that; can I ask why? I’ve always managed with a seat and handle bar bag combination but since I’ve had a reverb I’m limited on the amount I can put in the seat pack; although there’s still plenty of room for summer overnighters. As winter looms I was thinking of getting a frame bag of some sort – should I reconsider?
[/quote]It was really just in a reference to T-R’s problem of not having anywhere to carry a bottle. I don’t think there’s anything inherently bad about frame bags other than (perhaps) making bike-carrying a bit more difficult.

Got it – thanks.

Someone referenced this article in another thread, interesting setup but shows how there is no one true setup, just whatever works for you. Click pic for link.

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@Motorman, that setup looks really awesome, just wondering, where is that?! It looks amazing. And Moonlander or Pugs? (:

Here was my setup for the Cairngorms loop – took a sawyer mini filter and just topped up from streams.

officerfriendly : That isn’t my pic, have a look below at this blog for more details. That pic is a pugs btw, but same set up can be done on a moonlander.

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