Originally Posted by Marcus_Ti

Saddle bags are the truck nuts of road cycling.

Originally Posted by krobinson103

I ride 200km plus at night in the middle of nowhere most weekends. There is no one who could help me. I carry two spare tubes, a mulitool with a chain breaker, spare master link, three tire levers, a small tube of lube, 4 zipties, a roll of electical tape, and small pocket knife. On top of that I have two 300 lumen flashlights on the bars, a Garmin, a lock around my waist, a 100 lumen intense tail light (usb) and an aaa powered backup. I carry 3 sets of spare batteries for my front lights as I need them all night. Spares for the mp3 player and small speaker I have to keep myself company, and also the rear lights. I have a solar panel for especially long trips and two chargers that can connect to it. One for liion batteries and one for aa/aaa either can function as a stand alone phone or gadget charger. I keep an extra set of liion batteries to charge the phone, speaker, or rear light. I take a small wall wart dual usb charger for camping trips with power available as its faster. Run hyrdos so I only carry one spare gear cable.

On the rack I have a topbag with fold out panniers. I keep my charging kit, food, some spare layers, a small towel, any extra water I might want for the ride. Does it weigh a lot? For sure. Am I ever stuck? Nope. It would take a frame, hub, or massive spoke failure to stop me from getting where I want to go. Add a tent, and money to restock I can be off the grid for days. Just the way I like it.

Originally Posted by Cue

I see some bikes here don't even have a saddle bag. And the posters say they put their tools in their back pockets. Yeah, I got pockets too, but I much rather have my bike carrying the stuff than on myself.

For example, my seatbag carries the tools, tubes, and patches. My handlebar bag carries the riding essentials such as wind breakers, warmers, gloves for when it's cold. My back pocket is for the keys, cash, phone, and food. I'm getting some frame bags so I don't have to carry the food on long rides in my back pocket.

Each to his own but it's dumb to carry all this stuff in your back pockets so your bike can look "pro".

Originally Posted by RickBlane

Right there with you. Sometimes I find a nice spot that just needs for me to spend the night. I like having the option.

I like to ride slow and take it all in. Some days I start off on a ride to nowhere and find as dusk starts to set in I have gone 100+ miles and the road is still calling to me. Exploring the side roads, the "blue lines", keeps me out for "just one more day".

I do not look down on those with "the need for speed" that must be in the right outfit and race against the clock. There is room for all of us on the road. Or should I say a road for all of us. I just prefer the road less traveled.



My riding buddy. She is happy to travel the same road I do.

Originally Posted by coasting

only an ahole would ride far from home, like say 30 miles, and not carry equipment for the most obvious breakdowns. Going well prepared requires enough stuff to need a bag and on top of that, all the personal stuff like food and clothing is plenty for the pockets. It's smply dumb to cram it all into pockets. idiotic. it is just uncomfortable.

Originally Posted by WhyFi

...... they would rather pocket one tool kit rather than outfit each bike in their possession with multi-tools, patch kits, etc - it can add up.

Originally Posted by ricohman

Really?
I ride with guys that speed along at 45kmh with seat bags.
So I put one on!

Originally Posted by GravelMN

You don't like the way my seat bag looks? Sorry, I must have forgotten to give a damn

I will admit to color matching my bags to my frames.

Originally Posted by catonec

So I suppose I am spearheading the d-baggery but a $50 investment for a bag and tools on a $2000 bike doesnt seem too extreme.

but hey it takes all types to make the world go around.

Originally Posted by StanSeven

In all my riding, I haven't needed anything except a tube and CO2/mini-pump except when I started and had a crummy bike. The seat post snapped once and the front skewer broke another time. I don't think anything in a pack could help.

Originally Posted by halfspeed

....I spent more than $2K on my bike and usually don't feel compelled to use a saddle, bar or other type of bag......

Originally Posted by halfspeed

I spent more than $2K on my bike and usually don't feel compelled to use a saddle, bar or other type of bag

Originally Posted by Six jours

A good rule of thumb is that the larger the bag, the more the guy rides. If there's no bag at all, it's safe to assume that the guy rides about thirty miles a week, all on Sundays, and never more than five miles from the nearest Starbucks.

Originally Posted by The B

and a Lyzene.

Originally Posted by PaulRivers

Roadies want to look like the pro's. The pros don't have any bags (because they have an entire support vehicle following them). Thus it's "uncool" to have bags.

Originally Posted by LesterOfPuppets

What's Lyzene? Cough syrup?

Originally Posted by krobinson103

I get wearing the 'right' kit to be cool. I get buying nice bikes. I don't get not carrying basic spares. A tube, tire levers, and a multitooll are hardly heavy. If you don't want a pump you can use co2 - again hardly huge. Would you drive your car without a spare wheel or a basic tool kit?