I'm curious - why frame bags versus water bottle cages?
#26
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Let's see,
4 traditional panniers with matching color and slightly faded no less...check
bar end shifters....check
cantilever brakes....check
triple up front with square taper BB....check
steel is real frame....check
horizontal top tube...check
36 spoke wheels...check
Yea, this pretty much screams " Old fart "
(Ha Ha, of course I'm being silly)
4 traditional panniers with matching color and slightly faded no less...check
bar end shifters....check
cantilever brakes....check
triple up front with square taper BB....check
steel is real frame....check
horizontal top tube...check
36 spoke wheels...check
Yea, this pretty much screams " Old fart "
(Ha Ha, of course I'm being silly)
#28
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You call that color coordination?! I even color coordinated the background

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Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
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#29
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#31
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My brother in law who was into casual biking wanted a serious bike. He went to the LBS where they convinced him to buy a $3k gravel bike, and full bike packing bags. He mounted them and kept his rain jacket and a spare tube and a light. Then after a while, he realized he will probably never use the bags. I should have offered to take them off his hands
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Let's see,
4 traditional panniers with matching color and slightly faded no less...check
bar end shifters....check
cantilever brakes....check
triple up front with square taper BB....check
steel is real frame....check
horizontal top tube...check
36 spoke wheels...check
Yea, this pretty much screams " Old fart "
(Ha Ha, of course I'm being silly)
4 traditional panniers with matching color and slightly faded no less...check
bar end shifters....check
cantilever brakes....check
triple up front with square taper BB....check
steel is real frame....check
horizontal top tube...check
36 spoke wheels...check
Yea, this pretty much screams " Old fart "
(Ha Ha, of course I'm being silly)
#34
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There is no way I am sticking my hand into the spokes fumbling for a water bottle. I think fork mounted bottles are stupid.
I do like a small (2,5L) frame bag to store my rain gear but mine permits traditional water bottle placement.
I have wondered why the love for those full sized frame bags with ultra racers. I doubt there is an aero benefit.
I do like a small (2,5L) frame bag to store my rain gear but mine permits traditional water bottle placement.
I have wondered why the love for those full sized frame bags with ultra racers. I doubt there is an aero benefit.
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#41
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Full frame bag means I can carry 3 litres of water as opposed to a single bottle as I only have one bottle cage mount in the frame (the joys if an XS frame). My custom frame bag can fit a 3 litre apidura hydration bladder and a couple of spare tubes and not much else.

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I’m more bothered by the sleeping bag stuff sack and tent stuff sacks.
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Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
Stuart Black
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Days of Wineless Roads. Bed and Breakfasting along the KATY
Twisting Down the Alley. Misadventures in tornado alley.
Last edited by cyccommute; 08-02-23 at 05:50 PM.
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#46
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So I opted to buy a frame bag (that I can velcro on). MOST of the time, I'll be riding where there will be plenty of opportunities to find water and food. I live on the east coast - you are never far from anything. This option just allows me to distribute weight better and I can take a heftier tube that won't fit in that tiny under seat pouch as well as a tire pump and lock. I didn't opt for a bladder version. If I EVER venture out so far as to need to hold a lot more water, I'll change up my gear, but I don't see that in the foreseeable future.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be carrying water, But I keep that usually at the handlebar area.
Don't get me wrong, I'll be carrying water, But I keep that usually at the handlebar area.
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Decades ago I had a single bottle holder that was in front of the handlebar, the bottle was centered over the tire. And if I had ice water in the bottle on a hot and humid day, the condensation on the bottle would drip onto the rotating tire a few times every minute, and each drop would result in riding through cooler air for a split second as the cold water vaporized from hitting the rotating tire.
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#49
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I used a TA handlebar cage back in the '90s ...

Here's the only photo I could find of mine in use ...

edit: Mine may have been a Blackburn, not a TA (I found closer photos). Blackburn would have been more common in the '90s.

Here's the only photo I could find of mine in use ...

edit: Mine may have been a Blackburn, not a TA (I found closer photos). Blackburn would have been more common in the '90s.
Last edited by BobG; 08-06-23 at 01:40 PM.
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