Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Why do you put the soft parts of the tent in the panniers? I've never understood the logic.
Tents come with their own bag as a general rule and the tent poles probably don't fit in the panniers. This means that the tent poles ride outside of the bag...usually on a rack deck and usually on the back one...so why pack the soft part of the tent separately in the panniers?
The bags my tents came with are really long an cylindrical. I use compression sacks for them to reduce volume and a tent ball sitting atop the rack platform isnt then needed. I toss it in a plastic grocery bag and into a pannier. Nothing else gets wet and the rack platform is then available for other things.
Your comment about tent poles is interesting as I would need to keep them outside the bags regardless of where my tent is stored. So they are on the platform rack just like normal. I did lash them to the side of the top tube once, but didnt like the last minute style setup. Next shortie will involve me experimenting with how to better attach the poles to the top tube making them secure but also easy to detach. The poles I have for multiple tents are all too long to store in bags.