Originally Posted by
Amt0571
I commute once or twice a week on my road bike (I need to do it relatively fast, so I don't consider using a bike more suited to carry things). It's a 70km round trip. I need to carry a pair of jeans, shoes, t-shirt, underwear a towel, wallet, house keys and, obviously all bike related items (multitool, patches, spare tube, pump, tire levers, etc...). Moreover, on winter, I also carry a spare rear light and spare front light + battery since I usually have to commute in the dark when going back and I don't want to get stranded in case my primary light dies (happened before).
My bike doesn't have rack mounts, and I'd prefer something easy to remove since I also use this bike on weekends when I don't need / want to carry things.
I firstly tried with a couple of backpacks, but both of them caused me lower back pain. Really uncomfortable.
I then tried to carry everything in bikepacking backs: clothes on the saddle bag, shoes and bike tools on the handlebar bag. It worked relatively well until I noticed that the handlebar bag causes the brake line to rub on the head tube and the brake line is starting to show wear. It's almost impossible to reroute it due to the fork design. Moreover, it's hydro brakes, so I'd prefer to avoid replacing the line. The saddle bag works ok, but is tiresome to detach and reattach at the office.
I have good experience with klickfix bags on a folding bike, but I'm not sure It'll work in a road bike. I'm considering buying a klickfix handlebar bag to fit the clothes, and keep the saddle bag only to fit the shoes. Has anyone tried a similar approach? How do you do it?
Have you considered a rando type Seatbag? Like one from eoGear? The SKS attachment to the seat post makes the rolltop bags super easy and quick to remove (2 seconds) and there are some D-rings on the bag so you can attach additional gear like jackets.
Shoes are heavy and bulky, if you can leave them at the desk that would save a lot of space and weight.
Instead of jeans and t-shirt consider some light-weight travel pants and shirts from Railriders or Travelsmith etc. for commuting days. These will roll up smaller, weigh less, and wrinkle less then cotton jeans and shirts. Also, it’s a good idea to sash some exra bike clothes in the office, if you can, in case you get drenched in the morning commute and can’t dry out all your gear for the trip home. Riding in cold wet kit is very unpleasant.
Of course, always know where your towel is!