biketocamp

Hey all,

Wanted to share my new setup that I adapted to my road bike. I race on this bike and train with it. I recently picked up some Revelate Designs bags to outfit my rig. Everything is backed in well and the bike is very light still. I'm doing a 1 to 2 day trip leaving tomorrow morning. This is my first time touring on a road bike and leaving my Surly LHT at home. I'm pretty psyched on the setup besides having different tires but I should be alright. Enjoy the video!

DropBarFan

Looks nice, I'd rec getting those safety hook-less bungee cords. Hooks can get caught in spokes etc.

Miele Man

I found that stuff secured with bungee cords could shift on rough roads where the bungee cords expand and contract a lot. I use Arno straps instead. HTey look like really long toe straps and work exactly the same way. They make a load extremely secure.

Coghlans Arno Straps 48 In $4.47 pair by Miele Man, on Flickr

These come in various lengths up to 60 inches.

Cheers

nun

Nice set up. I will comment that you could save some weight and volume with another tent. I would bring either the nano-puff or the fleece, not both. What about some rain gear? Replace the bread with pita bread or wheat tortillas, they take up less volume. When you have a frame bag it means that you can only fit regular sized water bottles and sometimes even those won't fit. If you can eliminate that bag you'll be able to fit one liter bottles. I would take a compressible nylon back pack in case you need extra room, its useful for carrying bulky food/beer for a short time.
Here is my set up.

https://wheelsofchance.wordpress.com.../25/gear-list/

str

Hilleberg Akto "ultralight"?!?
))

DropBarFan

Those look pretty nice. Even the 'safety' bungees stretch as you note. However both straps & safety bungees have to wrap around things completely, regular bungees at least only have to stretch from one side of bike rack (for instance) to the other. Would be nice if there were straps that would fasten on both ends though, might offer even more secure hold.

@ Nun, I'd even suggest packets of German/Scandinavian whole-grain crisp-bread that are available in most supermarkets. They are basically dehydrated so are quite light but also wholesome.

BigAura

Nice job!

As far as ditching the bungie I'd recommend velcro one-wrap tape: 3ft x 1in tape strips that are 7 grams and hold amazingly well.

shipwreck

Sometimes you use what you have. Perhaps Hilleberg will do a collaboration with Rapha soon!

To OP. Just one more vote for ditching the bungees. Think about how many you see on the side of the road on an average ride. I use straps with quick release buckles, but some of the other suggestions sound good. Ive also used Velcro like Big Aura suggested.
Should be easy enough to grab something on the way out of town in the morning. To me it always feels weird taking off on a trip leaving the touring bike at home. Have fun.

Doug64

I've used these bungees for more than 17,000 miles of touring in all kinds of conditions without any problems. They have even held in a couple of crashes.



The only issue I had was when I inadvertently hooked my brake cable. It made for some tough riding.


I used them to haul a heavy awkward load (table saw part) home from the post office.



I fabricate them out of high quality 1/4" marine shock cord and standard hardware.

str

ah yes? will it be black with some white and pink on it?

I use myself the Akto, it is the by far the best tent out there.

bransom

Nice setup. I'll be interested to hear how it all worked out.

antokelly

STR im not being a smart ass but why do you think the akto is the best tent out there,.i had one myself hated it nothing special about it ,serious expensive imho just not worth the money.

str

long time experience selling tents every day, in Germanys biggest outdoor shop, online and in real life.

antokelly

i bought a pop up tent in aldi for 25 euro its been pitched in my back yard all week 5 days so far , a day hasen't gone by it wasn't raining heavy,not one drop of rain got in so far .ok so its not great for cycle touring because of it's shape and its a bugger to get it down but i can tell you the akto ain't 450 or whatever better thats for certain.

str

so you went from a Akto to a 25euro aldi tent, thats fantastic.

nun

I looked at a lot of tents before I decided to buy a Tarptent. I wanted a tent that could fit in my saddlebag, weighed less than 2lbs and gave complete protection against bugs, so that eliminated simple tarps. I considered Hilleberg, Big Agnes and Terra Nova, but the best combination of price, size and weight was the Tarptent Contrail.

antokelly

eh no not quiet.i bought the popup for my grandkids to have fun in so far it's working great they love it. your living in fantasy land if you think the akto is the best tent out there.
again i don't mean to be rude but there just not worth the money .

mtnroads

Really great review of your setup Biketocamp. Extremely informative and not too wordy. Thanks for sharing that.

AdvXtrm

On the topic of straps, I'm wondering if any of you use or have used these ones before. I think I'll be trying them out soon,

Miele Man

I use an Arno Strap vertically and another one horizontally on my panniers when i'm touring those dirt/gravel logging/mining roads in Northern Ontario Canada. They stop my panniers from coming off no matter how bumpy the road or trail is. Plus they're easily loosened to allow quick removal ove the panniers. My panniers had plastic anti-launch hooks (LOL) but I cut off the part that went under the rail of the rack. That was because in cold weatherthey were a real pain (sometimes literally) to lifth the racks off the rack because the retaining part under the rail wouldn't disengage as it should have. I also use the Arno straps to secure gear like sleeping bad and sleeping pad and tent to the racks.

Cheers

mtnroads

I used to use Rok straps all the time on my motorcycle.. they're great, but they don't have the stretch of a bungee cord so you need to have a couple different lengths so it's close to what you need.

DropBarFan

One size of Rok Straps goes from 12" - 42", pretty good range for most stuff. If motorcyclists use them they must be pretty strong I assume.

AdvXtrm

I ordered up some Rok Straps yesterday. I'll report back once I get to use them for a while.