Kurt's Take: Rack + panniers versus seat bags for bikepacking and touring
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Which setup is better for bikepacking and bike touring - a big seat bag or a rack with panniers or a bag on the deck? Neither is better - it just depends on the trip, the style of riding, and personal preference. Here I break down what goes through my mind when I'm getting ready for an adventure and need to get all my gear onto my bike.
I had some micro panniers (9 litres each) made for me by Alpkit (UK) using the Karrimor mounting system. I attach these to my Old Man Mountain rack. I put some silicon tubing on the lower parts of the rack & attach the bottom of my panniers to the rack with double sided velcro. Absolutely no movement or rattling from the panniers. Perfect!
Great explanation, short and to the point, no long drawn out fluff. Thanks for your thoughts
Agreed. I just sold my Speedy 35 luxrul (I did keep the brown one), my Sofia Coppola perforated LV clutch, my blue Damier clutch I bought in Japan, and the By the Pool vanilla clutch. Kept an orange epi Alma. It feels great!!!
Very thoughtful and experiential. Thanks.
Nicely presented. There is no substitute for practical experience.
Best overview I’ve seen! At 5’0”, I will likely never use a seat bag…
Nope, you probably won't! Fortunately, there are some other great options out there 🙂
Great breakdown Kurt!
Happy to have your back on your adventures Kurt! Thanks for the continued support!
I've got to agree with you. I keep wanting to get back to a seat bag for the simplicity but.. I just did Ragbrai with some cheap panniers and it was good. Felt good, heavy but good. I probably loaded them up with a little too much weight but.. I'll be looking into those micro panniers. I tend spend most time on crushed limestone and gravel. I love how well panniers work for camping out of and making mid trip lunch out of. Stay cool man.
Great info and insight. Thanks!
Great overview, I have similar reasoning.
Tailfin (rack) is great for convenience and very stable. It's easy to pull something out and put it back. But it is heavier.
Saddlepack is light but harder to access and swings about a bit. Also changes size and shape depending on what you take out/put in during the trip.
So I lean towards the rack for fun trips and the pack for fast, light bikepacking races.
I have a Tailfin out back with no panniers and a 12 liter Bags x Bird top load bag in front. Revelate 1/2 frame in the middle as I like to use bottles. That was a nice balanced ride for gravel and really helped on some slippery descents. Never done a road tour, but what you wrote makes sense. Sleep! Don’t just replace your pillow - get a better pad like a 25” wide Nemo Tensor - they work!
Get Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT Velikost R value 7.4 and 7.5 cm thick. The best option.
I love my Revelate Nano panniers! so does my Surly 🥰seat bags are ok but these bags kick ass 🥰🥳👊🏻
Thanks.
I'm shocked that a guy with your credentials has only 80 subscribers. Where is everyone?
Ha! It probably has something to do with me only getting around to posting a video every 4 months or so on average...
@@kurt.refsnider Regardless, thanks for the content and for the insight.
I recently started using my bob trailer on a few grav rides. Kinda crazy how difficult it is to feel it behind the bike! I admit, it was for a more luxurious ride where I took my cooler with drinks, hammock, chair, etc lol but considering I had like 25 lbs in the trailer it cruised along great!
I like your mini pannier set up! I BP on a full suspension MTB, and use Arkel Rollpackers front and rear. I carry the weight really high at the rear but it doesn't bother me on fast gnarly single track.
The Rollpackers are bags on a frame, so inbetween what you have just reviewed.
Good info ..
HeY from denmark thanks for Sharing. 👍
I don't think I'll ever get used to hearing "pannier" pronounced that way (in Canada we typically pronounce it like "pan-yay").
Haha! I love it - I've never heard someone pronounce it that way, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense.
On the Toronto island ferry the other day I heard it pronounced “paneer” (like the Indian cheese). So not all Canadians say it correctly..
It seems like one of the advantages of going “bikepacking” style is that you are more streamlined and you have weight distributed over the length of the bike. In your photo, there is no bar bag or anything visible that would put a bit of weight on the front. I wouldn’t want too much weight in front, but do you think grip on cornering for the front tire would be better with a little weight forward?
Good point! I had a small bag on the bars on this last long tour (the new Revelate Designs Pitchfork bag), but it's obviously not on there in this video. That bag probably only had 3 pounds in it, though. Distributing the weight across the bike definitely is important, but I find it much less so on road/gravel than I do on trail. Shifting my own body weight forward/backward on the bike when cornering makes a much bigger difference for traction than a small bag does.
Hey Kurt! Have you played around with a front rack and panniers at all? Any thoughts on the front rack?
No, I've never actually used a front rack, so I can't offer any advice on those.
What rack are you using? I am using the Ortlieb rack, which is light and very easy to (de-)install.
I use the Old Man Mountain Divide and Elkhorn racks. They're bombproof, something I need for what I put them through.
If you use a dropper post then a seat bag won’t work well.
I use a seatbag on my dropper all the time - check out some of the smaller Revelate Designs seat bag options. They work great so long as you have enough space between the saddle and rear tire.
Isn't it obvious?
Well, my take is obvious to *me*, but it's likely not obvious to you, eh?