In case anyone might be interested, here are some of John's instructional videos, on making one's own ultralight and super ultralight gear -- an ultralight bivy tent, super ultralight pack (made for about five dollars), and lightweight down bag (also about five dollars). Some of these projects mix and match the approaches of making things from scratch, and modifying or improving or utilizing components from existing gear.
A very nice 2000 cubic inch super ultralight pack, 5.2 ounces (these sorts of lightweight packs can easily be carried on a rack, or elsewhere on a bike, and can allow ultralight hiking side trips, or be used for day packs, grocery shopping, pannier supplements, or in place of panniers for those who are packing light):
Bivy tent:
Down sleeping bag:
Additional notes, details, and comments can be found underneath those videos (at
www.youtube.com).
Other videos can be found on his channel,
[video]http://www.youtube.com/user/intensean...[/ame]
More details here,
http://intenseangleroutdoors.blogspot.com/
I like the way he encourages people to use whatever they find useful for their own projects.
I'm finding it good to be more independently empowered in relation to gear.
There is also an interesting Tyvek bivy project here: