Mountain Biking - Bike + inflatable Kayak = awesome outing?

Is it feasible to put an inflatable kayak in a backpack, strap a two piece paddle to the bike or backpack, and take off on a nice little outing all day on your day off?


The reason I ask is basically I never hear about people doing this and I've been thinking of doing it. I put this in this forum because this seems like something adventurous road biking people would be into. Also if there are activities similar to this that people go on I would love to hear about it.

My specific case, I would actually be road biking to the beach (15 mile trip each way). I would secure the bike, inflate the kayak and get to it. Its the ocean so I'm not sure what kayak I would need yet, but to give you an idea an entry freshwater inflatable kayak weights 15 lbs and starts at $50. The most rugged inflatable kayaks I have seen are $300 - $400 and weigh about 30 to 50 lbs.

One thing of concern to me is how the ocean would effect the feasibility of this. For example, in shallow water there may be more things that could tear the kayak. This may sound dumb but I am not keen on the idea of some inflatable material being the only thing between me and a shark either.

I'm getting ready to purchase a bike and will use this information to help my decision also.

Sounds cool. I've seen pictures of people carrying hard kayaks on the side of touring bikes.. not exactly sure how, but probably some way of attaching it to a rear rack.

Combining biking and paddling is cool. But you may find inflatable kayaks a bit lacking for sea kayaking. This thread in Touring shows some ways of transporting a full scale sea kayak with a bike:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=339849

There are also "foldable" kayaks which pack into a couple of largish bags for transport. This is actually the traditional way of building a kayak, with a rigid frame structure that can be taken apart, and a skin that is tightened over the frame. Their assembly takes a bit longer than pumping up an inflatable kayak, but they are much better at sea. They're also expensive :(. One of the best known manufacturers for these is Klepper in Germany (http://www.klepper.de).

--J

i would try the hard kayak, if you dont mind dragging it around

One more thing: the material of the kayak won't make any difference if a big fish gets curious about your kayak. I hear wearing bright colors helps, as their natural prey only wear various shades of grey.

--J

One more thing: the material of the kayak won't make any difference if a big fish gets curious about your kayak. I hear wearing bright colors helps, as their natural prey only wear various shades of grey.

--J

so never buy those cheap kayaks at zellers (theyre camo green and grey:eek:)