What is it with these massive rucksack/camelbak things ?

Most people I ride with probably don’t take enough stuff with them, me included. When I go hillwalking I take plenty of stuff in case of emergency because this is what I’ve been taught to do but I’m definitely a bit more blase about cycling which is far more likely to land me in bother. I always take an extra layer and a waterproof though so I can keep warm and dry if I have an accident. It’s worth taking a light weight survival bag too in winter and for high altitudes.

Interesting thread. I’ve seen such condensed asshattery since, well, the last one of these that broke out. Well done.

In the interests of balance, I’m one of these ‘big rucksack’ riders that the OP gets his kicks from by laughing at from his position of obvious superiority.

I have a rucksack that I use for riding, I think it’s 35L but could be wrong. It was a cheap one so it doesn’t matter if it gets trashed; it’s got the trappings for a bladder so I can carry more water on longer rides; it’s got my basic kit in there permanently along with acres of space.

If I want to go for a ride, I grab it and go. I don’t have to fanny about for half an hour working out the optimum pack size for the distance I’m going to ride, or which one is best colour-coordinated with my bike, and then transfer all my kit from the other pack(s). I don’t have to load up my pockets with so much crap that I’m walking like ED-209, and know that if I have an ‘off’ I’m not going to land with a multitool in my unmentionables. I don’t spend four figures on a bike, spend ages cleaning and maintaing it, and then sellotape spare parts randomly about the place.

One stop shop; bag, bike, door. Simples.

The pack itself contains the usual fettling tools; multitool, spare tube and tiny puncture repair outfit, Missing Links and so on, small roll of tape and a few cable ties. I have a first aid kit, usually a flapjack or two, and lightweight bike lights.

Essential? No. But in the relatively short time I’ve been riding, I’ve been thankful for most of it at some point. I had a small spill at the weekend, nothing major but having means of cleaning out a gravel rash meant I could carry on and enjoy the rest of the day rather than carrying on and enduring it (or turning back).

The space in the pack means it’s versatile; I can throw in full waterproofs, or a fleece, or a picnic, or a change of clothes for the destination all depending what the ride is. I can also carry stuff so that my partner doesn’t have to, cos I’m nice like that. And if I’m not carrying all that lot and my pack’s three quarters empty, that’s what compression straps are for.

And you know what? It’s a comfortable pack and not particularly heavy. It’ll probably save my spine at some point too. Once it’s on, I don’t even notice it’s there.

So, laugh it up, big boy. One day I might be as L33T as you, till then I’m quite happy with my setup.

Its the people with 10 kgs of stuff that make me laugh.

What camelbak for carrying giant straw men?

I don’t have to fanny about for half an hour working out the optimum pack size for the distance I’m going to ride

Funnily enough, neither do I!

I have a camelbak with pump, tubes, puncture kit and multitool ready to go. Grab and go, as you say, but a small pack.

Each to his/her own.

I don’t have to fanny about either – the same seat pouch goes on the bike I am taking. It always has the kit in it. Seat pouch on bike, food (waterproofs if its going to rain) in pockets, pump stays on bike all the time, fill bottle and put in cage. go.

🙂

I frigging hate seat pouches – terrible idea.

Why?

They rattle – but that’s fixable. However the weight is in the worst place for bike manoeuvrability. The saddle is the bit that moves around the most when being agile on the bike, and so weight there has the biggest difference. Which is why bikes feel really weird if you take 1lb of saddle/seatpost off.

Of course you may not care, but that is why I don’t use them 🙂

Got my first camelbak in 93, used them ever since. Their nothing new.
Prefer not to have things on the bike.
Love to cruise the ups at a fair pace and then hammer the downs. In the early days used to lose bottles all the time. They added pockets and I just moved the essentials off the bike and into the pack.
Same weight. Whats the issue here? They are nothing new.

I also like to keep weight off the bike, it aids manoeuvrability I find 🙂

I also need a big backpack. You may jest, but I like to pack a copy of the daily paper, a small radio and a hot flask of English tea. There’s no greater pleasure than sitting on top of a mountain, great views all around with a hot cup of tea, a copy of The Times, with The Archers playing on the radio. Sure, you get a few raised eyebrows from the occasional hiker (especially if it’s snowing), but who cares? Each to their own. I’m not joking.

….I also go over the bars on a fairly regular basis and if you pack the contents in the right way, it makes for a much softer landing.

I recently bought a bumbag in Halford’s for a tenner.

It holds enough for most eventualities, and I can tuck a raincoat into the under-the-seat wedge thing.

Keeps my back from being all sweaty and horrible which is what I find happens to me with a camelbak.

Obviously it makes me look even more of a total wally.

my mates got a large camleback. yet mines smaller, he carries less tools, but more bloody food. hydration packs with some space for tools, money and food are a necessity on a decent long ride. i mean who doesnt take a bag of tang fantastics at the minimum on a long ride? they would annoy me in a pocket.

Did I just read that someone has a 35 litre rucksack for riding WTF. I can only dismiss that as a joke. Agree with TJ. Proper seat pack with velcro straps that doesn’t rattle with tube, puncture kit, multitool and tyre levers. Pump on frame, 2 bottles on frame.

I know where KKF rides and its not even gnarley (i.e to warrant shinpads and full face) – and given that manchester is less than 15 miles away I would hardly say its the depths of the wilderness – yet you do see people with rucksacks the size of a sink (even though their cars are a best a 20 minute walk should their frame snap in half).

Bumped into some lads round rivvy the other week at the top of a climb. By the time they had f’ked about lowering their seats and pi55in about feeling how hard their tyres were for the ‘downhill’ we’d all descended, gone home had a shower and our tea.

My point being that you dont need hydraulic seatposts with bar mounted actuation , 5 tubes (as someone posted – 5!!!!!), 6 inches of travel and a Chris Bonnington rucksack when you are riding along a few fire roads. Stop readin magazines and getting sucked in (why anyone gives a toss what the likes of Fat Loretz says anyway is beyond me).

Would like to pull the thread back on line, too much talk about bags/sacks/pouches and equipment in these storage devices.

My OP had a line in it saying “They are defo missing the point of MTB’ing”

I dont know what the exact point of MTB’ing is but look up repack MTB on youtube, and this gives you an idea, puts you in the right direction.

Take JUST what you need on your ride, not x-ray specs, kitchen sink,solar stills,73 rear hangers, track pump and enough keys to sink a battleship.

Just come back from a 2hr off road night ride round Rivington in Horwich. Had a big drink of water when I set of, stuck one bidon in my cage and pump and mobile in my jersey pocket,

IM BACK ALIVE, NO DEHYDRATION/HYPERTHERMIA !!!!!!

Told my lovely fiance my rough route and that we should eat for 9pm. If im not back by 9.30 and no answer on my phone somerts gone wrong.

Still love ever ride I do no matter the conditions if its on my road bike, TT bike or MTB after 24 years of doing it.

PLEASE LISTEN, JUST ENJOY RIDING YOUR BIKES NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE GOT ON OR WHAT YOU ARE CARRYING. AMEN

(I know spelling is bad but im rushing as somert smells reet good, seeya)

I dont know what the exact point of MTB’ing is but look up repack MTB on youtube, and this gives you an idea, puts you in the right direction.

The point of MTBing is downhill racing? And doing so in large enough groups that if you do have an accident or a mechanical there’ll be someone there to help you or commiserate?

and pump and mobile in my jersey pocket

so does your mobile convert into a spare tube ? or a patch ? 😆

his tube’s on his stem …..read the thread

WTF 6 pages of waffle about big rucksacks! Get a life you lot 😆

You dont need dropper seatposts? You obviously cant jump a bike? And I dnt mean a couple of inches. Oh and if u did drop your seatpost you would find you can descend more in control and faster. Dropper posts allow you to hit jumps, drops etc with out stopping.
People ride for different reasons. Some cruise all day with out a care of time, some are out to race everyone rnd trail centres for their ego boost, and others cruise a climb just for the descent.
We are all different and get what we want out of the sport.

his tube’s on his stem …..read the thread

ahaaaa 😆

I would say ‘odd place to put it when you could use a rucksack for these things’, but maybe I shouldn’t… 😛

WTF 6 pages of waffle about big rucksacks! Get a life you lot

+1

I’d been ignoring this thread cause it looked kinda boring, but just started wondering why it could’ve got to so many pages…

Take JUST what you need on your ride

Well that’s exactly it – we disagree on what’s needed, clearly.

On the one hand, you are telling us off for doing what we want, then you are telling us to just go out and enjoy ourselves. That’s what we were doing, then you started moaning at us! 🙂

I vote we move to grading riding by pack size and forcing people to expand or shrink their riding to fit the size of pack they carry. So if you want to ride around with 25-30L of kit space you have to either:

a) Go to the shops
b) Do stuff that requires body armour
c) Take up laydeebike photography / landscape lurking
d) Go out for more than 24hrs

So there is no such thing as too big a rucksack just the wrong size of riding.

Personally I don’t care for Camelbaks not enough space for essentials, this is my setup

however on the last ride I did tape it to the stem…

to the op, does it really matter? i mean really? does it do you any harm? i hate these types of threads, theyre doing my frickin head in. get over yourself. ride your own way and let others do the same. 👿

Please don’t ride with me, I couldn’t bear to explain why I need a comb, nail file, lip salve, flask of coffee, picnic, emergency food, pack of tissues, first aid kit, loo paper and at least 50 other items.

I have some tools too.

Somtimes there is no knight in shining armour on the trail. 🙄

I have the kitchen sink cinnamon_girl.

i am poor there for i only have 1 pack , a leyzene allpack thing, good for stints to dartmoor etc , or local stuff up haldon, FFS ask your selves , does it really matter what some weirdo like me , or like most on here , wear when they are on there bikes, enjoying the gnarr of it all,i may decide one day to put some stuff in mine. 8)

Bunnyhop – do you have room for a sewing machine too? 😉

I’m actually ashamed I don’t have a gingham tablecloth in my CamelBak. Some of the blokes here carry a full chorizo in there 🙂

I came across this today which pretty much sums up why I carry all that crap in my ‘Bak

Date: 2010-07-26
Trail: SRAM&B-Line
Riders: wolfie
Description: he fixed our bikes and also fixed us after a crash[/url]

PS My nickname is Wolfe or elLobo in these parts & I moonlite as a guide 😉

It really depends on the kind of riding you plan on doing, doesn’t it? If I’m going to a trail centre, I may take a spare tube, pump and a puncture repair kit.

If I’m planning a day out in the mountains, I’ll take as much as I can comfortably carry, in order to carry on riding (almost) whatever happens. If my mate turns up without a bag and asks me to carry his 2L bottle of lemonade he’ll be offered a carrier bag to hang off his handlebars. I’ll be more than happy to lend him a tube though…

peteroughton169, read my last post “JUST ENJOY RIDING YOUR BIKES NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE AND WHAT YOU HAVE GOT ON OR WHAT YOU ARE CARRYING”
If you dont like the thread, dont read it MORON.

Trent Steel, great post..fridge taped to stem, love it. 😛

Anyway, no one asked about what I had for dinner last night, feel a bit dejected, my fiance was sat at the table waiting when I got in, had to take a photo for you, think she had had a bath as well, she smelt lovely.

Please don’t ride with me, I couldn’t bear to explain why I need a comb, nail file, lip salve, flask of coffee, picnic, emergency food, pack of tissues, first aid kit, loo paper and at least 50 other items.

And a spare brake lever eh CG? 🙂

Steady on, kingkongsfinger, this isn’t YouTube, old chap.

i hate these types of threads, theyre doing my frickin head in. get over yourself. ride your own way and let others do the same

Like a lot of threads, it has the potential to be useful.
Different people do similar things in different ways.
However, instead of it becoming an opportunity to share advice and experience;
“Oh, so you tape your spare tube to your stem, that would be a good way to save space in my pockets” or
“You carry a spare mech hanger ? Why didn’t I think of that ?”,
it becomes an opportunity to insult anyone who has different ideas.

But i do both anyhow, i ride minimal with no pack, sometimes in jeans and tee with no gloves lid or pack when i ride local, or i take a pack with the kitchen sink, armour full face and the works when i think the need calls for it.. am i just weird or is it just my split personality rearing its head again?

This message was brought to you today by personality number 127. Thank you.

Margin Walker
kingkongsfinger

Your replies are like “war & peace”, keep simple and smooth, same as when your out on the fire roads, may be then your can keep the pace when needed.

Grow up Sonic bum hole, you cant keep up at he best of times 🙄

Some of the blokes here carry a full chorizo in there

I find stuffing it down your shorts saves weight and looks good.