Riding without a pack

I’m looking to ditch the backpack for shorter rides and use a bottle on the bike along with the tube.

I’m looking for ideas for storage for a small tool, phone and keys. I have been thinking of a very small bumbag I can wear under my jersey but I’m not keen on having my keys in there should I crash. And I like to crash.

Any ideas guys?

Seatbag (although droppers can be a problem)

Small frame bag – http://www.deutergb.co.uk/products/bike/front-triangle-bag/

I use a weecog saddle bag for just this. I don’t take my phone but have a ”special” phone that slips in a pocket in case I need an emergency call. Just a small water resistant shock resistant phone that I put a free SIM card in my wife and a few friends have the number and it has all their numbers on it. Cheap enough to not really worry about it, but not had any issues so far. *Touches wood*

Shorter rides? What length? In winter I’ll gladly do 30k locally with tools in a tool bottle, no water, and a tube taped to the frame.

I hate my pack , I’m the one with pockets stuffed with tubes etc.

Spesh swat tools are a neat solution

A combination lock box saves me taking keys with me. Just google surfer key box

A lot depends on your appetite for risk, plus your appetite for water and consumables.

I’d be a lot more likely to head out with a multi tool, tube and pump if I was doing something fairly public like one of the major bridleway routes (TPT etc) or towpath type bimbling. I guess I’d include trail centres in that.

If I’m going somewhere I expect to hardly /possibly not see anyone then I want to be able to be s bit more self sufficient just in case it all goes wrong. That means first aid kit, silver blanket, more water than I expect to need, a jacket and hat if I’m not already wearing a jacket, and possibly a bit more tool coverage- certainly spare brake pads, spare gear inner, spare hanger, OS map covering area and a compass. Relying 100% on a phone or Garmin is a bad plan. If I was going far enough out I’d probably start including stuff like a bivvy bag, some extra food and means of starting a fire / small Brukit type stove. This will all fit into an average size Camelbak. (The stove is starting to push it and possibly wouldn’t) Nobody wants to need rescuing, but it’s only a big crash or mechanical away, especially if riding solo in remote places. Phones are great, but you can’t always guarantee coverage so again if I’m going to be solo anywhere remote I’ll let someone know where I was going and when they can expect to hear from me again.

I sound like Mr Paranoid! 🙂

I also wanted to go packless, bought some of the spesh swat bibs. They’re great but after a while I got sick of loading up my pockets with gear before every ride and decanting everything at the end. My pack is packed and stays packed. Just found it easier to grab that and go in the end… no doubt I’ll re assess the situation come summer….!

Alpkit stem cell?
Would take a phone keys multitool easily. Not vulnerable in a crash.

Raceface Rip Strip: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/mobile/race-face-rip-strip-lumbar-belt-2016/rp-prod146908

I find bunbags bounce around whereas this is held tight to your lower back. I carry a phone, 2 tyre levers, 1st aid kit & silver blanket, tube, 2 canisters, bank cards, car keys, multi tool, & a small bag of assorted bits (chain links, zip ties etc). With all that, I barely notice it’s there plus it hides nicely under a jersey/jacket.

Great bit of kit imho.

lezyne caddy in bottle cage, tube taped to bike, nathan branded runners bum bag with bottle for keys and water – for shorter ride.

for longer a raceface stash (?) bib – got a sleeve for a bladder plus 3 decent pockets – add that to the caddy and the taped on tube and i can go all day without riding in a pack. less sweaty, more comfy.

Small saddlebag on each bike with:

Tube / patches / chain link / multitool / tyre lever / derailleur hanger / duct tape / zip ties / tyre boot;

Pump on a bracket behind the bottle cage on each bike;

(Fat bike has the all the above in a small frame bag)

Phone and emergency £10 in a zip-loc bag in the shorts pocket.

Key in another (zipped) shorts pocket – only one key – leave the rest of the bunch in the house / car.

Can fit an OS map in the back pocket of Endura Humvee shorts if you don’t mind it getting a bit dog-eared, but by this stage, I usually want to pack some food / extra clothing / more water, so the back-pack comes out.

Short (couple of hours or less) local rides I just go with a Wee Cog Slider and no bottle/drink. Tube, CO2, tyre levers, minimal multitool and a Leatherman is enough. Phone and keys go in zipped shorts pockets.

Less than an hour and a half on my fatty I take nothing, working on the principle that if I get a puncture it’ll take so long to pump the replacement tube up I might as well have walked home.

I just beck a pint of water before I set off.

*neck*

Osprey Talon 6
Comfy for all day rides, 2 neatly shaped bottles, enough room for the essentials, and you can cram a fair amount in there if you really try. I leave one bottle behind on shorter rides.
I’ve not used a backpack for over a year now – I love having a non-sweaty back!

Mini frame or saddle pack from http://www.beerbabe.co.uk

Road jersey under a normal baggy with bits in the pockets.

Shorts have zipped pockets so phone can live in there, car key in another zipped pocket.

tool bottle in the 2nd bottle cage.

I’ve not ridden with a pack for over 18months. I use a come of 1 or 2 bottles and a restart frame bag for everything else.

Love riding without a pack. Bottle in frame and tube, multitool, phone and small pump fit fine in back pockets of a roadie jersey.

A bottle in a cage, spare tube, mini tool, old small phone plus quick link in small saddle bag, pump on bottle cage mount, snack bar in rear pocket on jersey and van key on lanyard around neck.

I carry a £2.99 phone I got from Carphone Warehouse with a £10 topup, a CO2 cylinder in a trigger thingy, some cash and my glasses in a rigid case, all in my jersey pockets. In a tiny Scott saddle bag permanently attached to the bike is a spare tube taped up tight with two tyre levers, a second cylinder, multitool, some Leeches, a chain link and a piece of rubber for repairing tyre gashes.

But then I road cycle from my front door.

I use a frame bag left permanently attached to the bike these days for long or short rides.
Takes a water bottle, pump, windproof, spare tube tools and food on longer rides.

Phone and keys in the stem cell.

Much prefer not wearing a pack.

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I have been using a go-outdoors cheapy bumbag hydration pack to see if I can get on with it. Much prefer it to my standard pack. I am going to order one of the better quality packs when I see an offer on over the next few weeks. I get about 750ml/1ltr of fluid which is plenty for evening spin outs pretty much all year and I can keep the basics in there. Hoping one of the better design waist packs can allow me to take a little more without it all bouncing around too much

I use the same as ajantom . its a great fit and carries everything and more. I haven’t worn a backpack in over 2 years now.

tool bottle in the 2nd bottle cage.

Me too!

Bumbag for me too, need to get one of those osprey ones now though as my current bike won’t take a bottle in a sensible place.

What are they like with one full bottle in? I don’t need two.

Specialized swat cage that carries multi tool and pump, then a tube, chain tool, links, levers, patches, cash and keys all go inside a tool bottle. Water bladder is on my back using an alpinestars vest and phone in the side pocket. You can ride as long as the bladder lasts which in winter is a long time.

One of these

Don’t bother with a bottle in it now – don’t want to get spiked by it. Has enough room for a jacket, tools, small first aid kit, plenty of food and phone.

Wouldn’t go back to having something on my shoulders now.

What are they like with one full bottle in? I don’t need two.

Fine, and the empty side is just the right size for a rolled up waterproof if it looks like rain.

ajantom – Member

Fine, and the empty side is just the right size for a rolled up waterproof if it looks like rain.

Tidy! Cheers, will pick one of them up.

Lezyne qr caddy plays nicely with a dropper, plus you can buy extra docks and easily switch the pack between bikes.

Used the Osprey Talon for years too – great piece of kit.

Tillydog has it spot on IMHO. Same here for me too … each of my bikes has a pump and Topeak saddle bag with the said items with the edition of a CO2 canister so they’re ready to go.

Food, and if necessary a packable rain top goes in back pocket. Anymore than that for more remote rides, then the rucsac comes out with pretty much the stuff that vincienup mentions (maybe with the exception of the BruKit/Jet Boil!!)

Being an BC MTB Trail Leader, ML and member of an MRT, and massive plus one for the comments about not reallying on phones/GPS for navigating and for carrying a map and compass when out more remotely than your local trails or trail centre. Top tip here is to print out or copy the section of map you need rather than use the full map (but keep that in your pack as a backup).

I sound like Mr Paranoid! [/I]

No, just someone who is prepared.

We had a group ride on Tuesday at Glentress and one of the guys got a hole in a tubeless tyre. One lad had a pack of ‘worms’ so sorted it out.

While he had his pack open another of the group commented about the first aid kit he was carrying, as in “why, expecting to use it?”

Then I pointed out that the reason my mate, me and many of the others always carried first aid kits was that once on a short night ride we had to try and patch up one of our groups’ face with very little after he’d sliced it open on rocks. We used all our meagre plasters etc to just get something to hold him together while another went off to get a 4×4 to bring into the forest to get him out to hospital.

Since then, always carried a first aid kit along with everything needed within reason to recover from mechanicals etc. Plus living in a rural area, we’re often a couple of hours walk from the nearest road etc.

A nice and tight roadie top with secure pockets so nothing can move around or fall out. Tube and pump will be taped to the bike.
If I’m riding anything techy the backpack goes back on as good roadie tops are too fragile and expensive for the inevitable crashes.

What br and hairylegs said!

I know it feels great to ride with minimal kit, but occasionally things go wrong.

In winter, I don’t consider some trailcentres as being “not remote”. We’ve had to stop and help a few times – kind of fed up giving away blankets, buffs etc where people have broken themselves with no equipment at the more outlying points of trail centres. If you can’t move (we’ve seen broken legs and a broken hip) then it is many hours until you’ll get rescued (air ambulance won’t carry you down Hully Gully – they’ll wait for MRT).

Bottle on frame and a Lowe Alpine 7l bum bag for me. Fits tube, co2 & one of those Topeak pimp/co2 inflators, multitool and a few bits & bobs plus an Endura Packajac. It’s got mesh pockets on the strap bit where my keys and phone go. Mind you my phone is in a Lifeproof case so I’m not as fussy about it as you might need to be.

kind of fed up giving away blankets,

space blankets? They have exactly zero insulating properties.

But they have great windstopper properties and windchill can be crippling when you’ve been sweating up a hill and are then incapacitated.

I have a Backcountry Research Race Strap that goes under my seat. It holds a tube levers and co2 and clears on a full suss with dropper down at full compression, although this may not be the case with every bike design.

Chain link taped to seat rail. I’m slowly moving things from my back to the bike but still carry a pack for drinks, food and waterproof mainly, but am on the downsizing path to get (most of) them on the bike eventually. Although a few soft items on your back may be useful in a fall.