The system of frame bag, seat pack, and backpack has proven itself functional, highly adaptable, and lightweight. A frame bag places heavier items low and in the center of the bike for better handling, and items like maps and food close at hand for easy access while riding. Seat bags have evolved rapidly since Boatman's original, with the most common contemporary incarnations being highly adaptable. A seatbag can carry a large percentage of the kit for less technical sections, thus removing weight from the pack and thus stress from the butt and feet. A lightweight, small, stable backpack can then take more of that weight and bulk back for technical sections, when having a lighter bike makes riding easier, safer, and more enjoyable. There is a good reason why variations of this rig have become almost universal amongst discerning bikepackers. A lot of folks add a handlebar harness for yet more gear. I've never seen the need for so much stuff, hate having weight on my bars, and thus don't use them.
Variations of this system apply to the three types of bikepacking outlined in the introductory article. Dirt touring favors more weight on the bike and less on the back, and places fewer demands on the pack as far as stability and compression are concerned. The last photo in the introductory article shows Chris Plesko's Tour Divide setup, which used a very light backpack only when lots of food and water needed to be carried. Under comparable, non-technical circumstances, heavy items like food can be placed in the seat and frame bags, with clothing and sleeping gear in the backpack. For technical riding, the reverse can be effective. For hellbiking and winter riding, a rear rack might be efficacious. Both of the seat bags tested for this article max out at 800 cubic inches, a generous but not munificent volume. Lots of insulation, foam sleeping mats, and weird shaped things like packrafts are better carried on rear racks.
ARTICLE OUTLINE
- The History of the Seatbag
- The Review
- Conclusion
# WORDS: 2540
# PHOTOS: 11
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Companion forum thread to:
Rackless Carry Systems for Lightweight Bikepacking
Thanks a ton for posting this series. As someone who is an avid backpacker and occasional mountain biker (and I use my mountain bike for commuting to work). I feel like I have no excuses for not doing some bikepacking, I don't even have questions after reading the posts! Thru hiking the Colorado trail we observed the mountain bike race first hand, thought they were crazy, but I'd love to do it one day. You can cover so much more ground that it puts less of a dent into your vacation balance for the year.
Great series, David! Can you speak to how exactly you pack your seatpack and frame bag?
So far I've only really found Fixie Dave Nice make an attempt at that level of detail beyond just a raw gear list, and I doubt I'm the only one who's interested here.
Thanks again for these write-ups.
Obviously the packing strategy changes with each trip, but the following might be a generic 60% dirt road, 40% singletrack 3 day trip under typical Rocky Mountain summer conditions.
Seatpack: tubes and food for the next day(s) against the seatpost, tarp next, sleeping bag last (in trash compactor bag).
Frame bag: tools and pump in the bottom, food for the day, maps and clothing likely to be used through the day (arm and knee warmers, rain gear), and camera on top.
Pack: water bladder, thermarest, insulating clothing, stove, pot, odds and ends.
I'll often have a light and GPS on the bars, and perhaps an extra bottle in a cage under the downtube.
All this easily fits if you don't bring tons of extra stuff.
Thanks!
Another option I like is to just use a seat post rack. They are light weight and you can just strap down a sleeping bag and a few other things in a waterproof bag for the same result. I have used that method bike camping on the resurrection pass trail here in AK.
A seatpost rack is NOT lightweight. It is quite heavy at 690g/ 25oz for the rack alone, then a bag and straps need to be added to that weight.
Comparing that to 420g/15 oz for a seatbag, it can in no way be called lightweight.
The stability is also not as good as a seatbag, and there have been reports of them breaking.
If you have a full suspension bike and need to carry something big and awkward, it might be the best option, but for normal camping gear they don't offer much advantage.
I looked into rack setups recently and didn't find anything close to the low weight a seatbag/framebag/bar bag setup affords for bikepacking. I think I would be tempted to overload a rear rack had I gone that route.
I have a seatbag coming in next week from Cleaveland Mountaineering bags and am closer to being on my way.
Carrying a large amount of water is the one area that doesn't seem to be discussed much in bikepacking circles. Desert riding in NM offers almost zero water opportunities, especially down south where I'm at. So I will need to get creative.
Salsa Anything cages? Bladders? Alternative bottle cage locations?
I thought the standard setup for water was a bladder in a backpack. A small backpack is pretty standard equip for bikepackers. For extra capacity (desert riding) a large bladder in s large triangular frame bag would seem to work well.
One reason hydration bladders became popular for mtb riding (I think they where first marketed to mtb riders long before hiking, etc) is because when riding off road bottles mounted in cages in the frame get covered in mud. Obviously, it won't be that pleasant to drink from a muddy bottle spout.
Eugene, when I lived and rode in AZ standard equipment was a 6L Dromedary with hydro hose in a backpack. With a good pack I found this comfortable, even when full. Some people don't find packs as desirable. For them, a similar bladder in the bottom on the frame pack, with a hose long enough to tether to the bars, works well and keeps the weight low.
Posted in the wrong forum. Apologies.
What is a practical weight to carry in a backpack when riding? It seems that a CamelBak with 3 liters H2O and another 18 liters of storage is practical (I own one), but I'm curious how much others are carrying.
Dale, that pack sounds fine.
I prefer to bike (or bikepack) without a backpack (I'd rather carry the extra weight on the bike), but if I do have to carry a pack, it's usually an Osprey Talon 22L. I usually throw a bladder and my camera equipment in there. Everything else usually ends up in my seat bag, frame bag or handlebar bag.
You could probably easily set up your bike with a cheap rear rack and bungee a dry bag to it to carry a good chunk of your gear.
This was my set-up for a recent 3-day trip near the AZ/NM border. No backpack was carried (I'm not a camel if it can be helped when its hot), and water resupply available once/day. The packs with a little food left and all gear/tools (not including bottles) came to almost 12 lbs after the trip. The same kit in a zpack zero xs was about 7 lbs. Not sure if all the extra weight was in the burly revelate bags, but I really don't think I missed much (I know I forgot to include the pump and spot) when repacking into the Zero to re-weight it. I'll try to get verify the weights when I get home. Even with some margin of error in those weights, I was surprised at the weight gain using the dedicated bike bags. However, I like to use the bike bags for ease of access to everything during the day. Also, the amount of abrasion (between bike and bags)experienced due to the additional vibration and dust (compared to backpacking)while riding for a number of days really shows the need for the burly fabric of the bike bags.
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