Sick as a dog so, show me you Bivi / Bikepacking / Adventure racing gear…..

PSA – Just found an inflatable pillow in Poundland.
I bought it to experiment with bonding some foam to one surface to see if I could make a comfortable alternative to the usual rolled-up clothing-in-a-drybag I normally use.

Then I tried it and thought it was pretty good un-modified. It’s got a flocky/microfibre surface and I like it a little under-inflated.

Anyway – it’s 43g and a good size (over a foot wide)

This weekends very, very wet and windy (and my delayed) Welsh Ride Thing.

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Not sure if it counts as bikepacking as i cant abide camping (unless with a hammock which i will do again next summer) but here are the set ups ive used for overnighting. Genereally hostels.

Carlton ‘gravel’ Singlespeed.

Gazelle Mondial Road tourer.

And the newest member of the family. Genesis Vagabond custom build (which i love but cant really justify so feel free to make a decent offer. XT m8000 1×11 with an oval CR)

Ooh love the Carlton. What front rack does it have? Where did you get it? Looking for something like that for my tourer.
Cheers
Keith

rack is a homemade job. bent up some steel ando bolted some wood to it. add some point clips, and you have yourself a working front rack.

p clips… not point clips

@SkatefurtherBen

How did you manage to build a Shimano 1×11???
what derailleur/shifters are you using on your Vagabond?

It all works fine with m8000 short cage, 105 shifters and a JTek Shiftmate 8. oh and an absolute black 34t oval.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/cables/jtek-shiftmate-8/

ive heard that the lindarets version of shiftmate is better, but havnt tried it and didnt have time to order one

Ben that Genesis looks outstanding – make sure you don’t regret selling it! I think I’m a bit envious as my bike looks like quite a hideous creation in comparison 😀 It’s purpose is getting me a few miles out into the wild and then I make a coffee and chill for half an hour (got a 3 month old baby, so some quiet time is nice)

Skatefurther Ben – Nice bikes! What bag is on the front of the Carlton out of interest?

Putting some kit together to do some bike packing over winter.
I’ll need to mount 2 bottle cages to my forks (Rigid Stooge) to clear space in the frame for a frame bag, and I’ve spotted a fair few on here doing it. What are you using to mount them?
Looking at getting 2 cheap alu cages and then mounting them onto the forks with 2-3 jubilee clips and rubber pads. Would that be secure enough to hold 2x750ml bottles (1 each side)?

JohnClimber – Member
Last Friday nights beach ride and bivi with 2 mates and a drone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfbnNXqwZNM

You do know you’re spending the night in a well known cottaging area John? 😯

Jubilee clips will be absolutely fine unless you’re planning to do anything majorly gnarr

I have fargo forks on my bike so it has mounts on the fork legs already

full load for a 1400km trip

Had an interesting 62mile loop yesterday evening/this morning as a mate and I loaded up our cx bikes; his commuter, my racer, and went looking for the Grwyne Fawr bothy. We’d planned for worst case scenario so were fully tipi’d and bivi bag’d up but the bothy was empty so we had it to ourselves when we got there at 9pm after some hike a biking.
It was a little easier to see this morning!

Home now and bike stripped and ready for tomorrow’s race.

Anyone doing the capital trail next weekend?

(Particularly if you’re planning on doing it over 3 days and driving from the SE, there’s places left and I’m tempted, but can’t even afford petrol at the moment!).

BB200 the following weekend for me. (Capital Trail would be a damn sight closer mind you!!!)

How do people find the Alpkit Joey harness? Tempted by cheapness but does it flap like sleeve of wizard?

Also considering DIY as I have some cordura at home. Have seen a few bits on Google but has anyone got anytemates.or plans?

I bought a Joey but sent it back before using it. I found the webbing and straps were in the wrong place for my bike and it was going to sit too high and not really protect the head tube which is one of the reasons for getting it.

If you like the idea and you’re handy (which I’m guessing you are given you’ve bought material) it’s very simple so you could knock something up quickly.

I went DIY after that, but admittedly haven’t perfected it – due to lack of time more than anything.

After looking at the pics of the Joey I thought that maybe the case so looks like diy is the way to go.

When you made yours how did you pad the harness, did you use foam or anything to stiffen it?

Also did you do anything to keep it off the cables like with Revelation stuff?

Was thinking of using some thin foam or plastic, maybe both if it doesn’t make it too rigid.

Also did you find it better to attach it to the forum crown or headtube?

While I’m at it can someone point me in the right direction in terms of decent thread and what to use as binding for the edging please?

Noticed your post on BB stayhigh. There’s some pics of my harness on a thread in the MYOG forum from not too long ago. Should answer most of your questions. Yes I know it looks proper s*** 😀

http://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7719

There you go

Thanks for the link NW, I kinda like the anarchic spotty look 😉

Saturday nights excursion into the Chilterns.

The original plan was to bivi in some woods I’d found on the map, a nice small wood on top of a hill, miles for anywhere. Anyway, I got there, there’s a big no entry sign as it’s a wildlife reserve for nesting birds and judging by the noise there were a lot of them!

Continued back down the hill and decided that pitching in the corner of a field was probably the sensible option rather than pressing on in the dark without any real plan of where to go. Stupidly I’d not bothered to bring a map as it’s an area I know the trails well enough!

20miles there, 20 to the outlaws for a fry-up in the morning, and another 10 back home, just enough to feel like I’d done some work.

And proof you don’t need to be in the middle of nowhere to enjoy a cheeky night under the stars and wake upto a lovely inversion/sunrise!

2016-10-10_10-20-51 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

2016-10-10_10-21-02 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

2016-10-10_10-21-12 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

2016-10-10_10-21-43 by thisisnotaspoon[/url], on Flickr

Kit list:
Alpkit kanga + airlock with a vango self inflating mat and an ME Daragon Series sleeping bag (no idea what rating it is/was, but it’s chuffin toasty even at 5C outside!)

Ibrea Bike frame bag with a Gelert solo tent.

Alpkit Koala with down jacket, waterproof, ronhills, merino LS top, silk bag liner, 650ml Ti mug, bearboned 18g stove, roasting tray windshield, foil bubble wrap pot cosy, travel shampoo bottle of meths and striker.

Camelback with 3l of water and bike stuff.

Podsac chalk bag with a bag of wine gums, bar of choclate and phone.

Dinner was cous-cous and choritso cooked in a bag in the pot cosy whilst I brewed a cuppa in the mug. Genius , whoever came up with that washing up saving idea!

The Bearbones 200 was last weekend and I thought I’d give it a go..

http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/2016/10/bearbones-200-wales-for-weekend.html

You make it sound easy scotroutes….

Consider that the fast folk were getting round in under 16 hours. That’ll put my performance in perspective.

Indeed, some fast and fit folk out there

Even so, 200km is a good achievement in a day and a bit.

You make it sound easy scotroutes….

How hard can it be? 200km is only 120miles! That’s an easy road ride 😉

Aye and the Tour Divide was done in what, 14 days?

So that’s just shy of 200 miles. Every day. For a fortnight…

200km, Pffftah, stroll in the park! 😉

The first half was an easy road ride 😉

Enjoyed reading that Scotroutes. Cheers. I made a few notes of my loop to Grwyne Fawr http://shedbrewed.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/hurrah-bikepacking-actually-doing-thing.html?m=1

The first half was an easy road ride

Especially at a girls pace 😛

The first half was an easy road ride

Indeed, I seem to remember it being mostly downhill as well 8)

Haha. True, but only myself to blame for trying to keep up!

Getting ready to head into the hills later in the week.

Ortlieb & Wild Cat set up:

Ortlieb Packs & Wild Cat frame bag by Metalheart-UK[/url], on Flickr

Wild Cat & Revelate set up:

Wild Cat Harness & Dry bags, Revelate frame bag by Metalheart-UK[/url], on Flickr

Did you resolve the sleeping mat issue?

Did you resolve the sleeping mat issue?

Wrapping the bivi with the mat and using the bivi stuff sack to stuff the sleeping bag into allows everything to fit into the front. There’s even enough room for the tarp that way! But it makes the front pretty wide and a little too heavy (and the tyre can rub on the u/s of the pack if the fork compresses most of its travel). Need to raise the fork pressure a little I fear.

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Ortlieb Handlebar Pack by Metalheart-UK[/url], on Flickr\

So, in the short term, yeah.

/untrendysuggestion

Can you not pop a couple of old ‘ski’ bar ends inboard of shifters, and use them to up the bag and stablise the bag more?

/untrendysuggestionend