znomit

I did an overnight 400km with the Pika this week (plus a topeak bento bag: medium sized fuel tank which was great). Worked out OK. I did take more food and gear than usual because I was alone in the middle of nowhere at 3am. I did curse when I had to pretty much empty it to get at sunscreen (and later rain pants).

I might get one of those Topeak Mondohydro bags for easier day trips.

mander

Sweet, thanks for the update. I'm almost definitely getting a Pika. Yes there is a fine art to packing small annoying stuff in a way that prevents having to dig for it. One nice thing about re-enactment French handlebar bags like my Acorn is that they facilitate this kind of packing via abundant external pockets and pouches.

njkayaker

You want to put heavy stuff closer to the seat post. And, ideally, things that you need ready access to closer to the opening.

One idea is to use small stuff sacks. That might make it easier if you have to unpack the Pika (or similar) to get at what you need.

I went with the Pika because I can only use a small handlebar bag on my bike.

mander

I will try and get a good handle on this when I have my Pika. It took me forever to get good at packing my Acorn, and that's relatively easy. I am moving away from that because like you,rs my brevet bike isn't ideally suited for front loading; and the Acorn weighs almost a kilo unloaded.

I guess there's also always jersey pockets for storing small, lightweight things like sunscreen-in-a-ziplock. When you're fatigued and inclined towards a bad mood, rummaging around looking for things can feel very unpleasant.

njkayaker

I don't usually carry stuff in my jersey. I use a Long Peak Pfeifferhorn (nice and simple but a bit too tall). Or a Topeak seat bag mounted to the handlebar mounted with the top towards the rear of the bike and the rear of the bag up. Yes, it's a little odd but it works (for me) and keeps a lot of the handlebar free to use.

bmike

i've used carradice camper and nelson, and the sqr tour (the mounting block weighs as much as my current bag). i also have the ortlieb in medium and large. and i have a full revelate kit for bikepacking - but i've used it on brevets.

i'm not anywhere near as fast as i used to be, and even then, i wasn't riding brevets to race... so changes to my kit were based on weight and what i like to do with my bikes (rando as well as dirt road rides, bikepacking, snow bike rides into the deep woods, etc.)

my current IF setup, for fall, with a mark's rack up front for rolling a coat, or for a hopefull dry bag for an S24O. (i go back and forth on the rack):

IMG_1906 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

alternate with my ortlieb upfront:

IMG_0725 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

on a 400k brevet with a revelate (from back when he was 'epic') seat bag:

IMG_1592 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

and full kit on my fargo for dirt road / single track / pave / touring:

ready to roll, day 2 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

this whole kit can move to the IF, and i've since added a full frame bag, which is pretty handy.


IMG_9474a by mbeganyi, on Flickr


note that for a brevet, anything that can stay stowed, goes in the seat bag... as it takes time to move things into and out of it - so extra layers, rain jacket, night gear, etc.
i try to keep other stuff in easier to reach places - feed bag, gas tank, h-bar bag, etc.

znomit

I got one. Had to cut off the bottle holder because clearances were tight. Tried on an overnight 300k and worked OK. Easy to find stuff inside it. No compression so things can rattle around, as I needed to stow the overnight clothes I took food out so it was full the whole time.