jbz255 

As Bearhawker noted above, it is the Crank Tank 4 from Adventure Hydration in Australia. Holds 4L, so when completely filled ends up being enough water for all day during hot weather. During milder weather or when I know there is potable water available during that days riding, I tend it only fill it halfway. It is also nice to fill it before setting up camp because then I have plenty of water for cooking, cleaning and drinking at camp. For refilling it without taking it off, I carry a collapsible water bottle that I can refill at water fountains/spigots/sinks etc, then pour it into the tank with the cap removed. If you look up their website, keep in mind the prices are in Australian dollars, so it's not as expensive as it initially looks. Cheers!

RB1-luvr

I'm doing a three day, two night camping trip this weekend. We're riding the Airline Trail from Portland, CT to Pomfret, CT Friday (50 miles), hiking and riding the "quiet corner" Saturday, riding home Sunday.

Last night I tested my pannier setup on the new 520. Those front panniers are dated 1980. I've had them since 1985. I can't let go of them for something more modern. I put wider "adventure bars" on the bike. It feels much better than the ones it came with. The rear rack will have a sleep pad and tent poles on it Friday.

str

str

str

Tourist in MSN

The NPS Kosciusko Bicycle-Only Campground on the Natchez Trace Parkway. April, 2023.

rivers

My gravel bike, currently set up for bikepacking- though not completely loaded. I still have a few things to add to the bags, but I've made a few mods recently so needed to check fit of bags.
Orro Terra C with 40mm pirelli cinturato m tyres with fulcrum rapid red wheelsFSA 46/30 chainset, deore rear mech with 11-42 cassette and jtek shiftmate to make it play nicely with the 105 brifters.Sonder Spitfire 40cm handlebars with 16° flareBrand X 105mm dropper postBikepacking gear: Tailfin aeropack with a pair of 5 litre mini-panniersCustom frame bag5 litre altura handlebar bag and a Restrap tech pouch.

str

Ron Damon

canalligators

Williamsburg VA. Ready to start the Trans Am, May ‘22.

djb

that's a very compact and narrow packing system, it must be rather quick.
Does having so little weight on the front cause any vague front steering characteristics?
And on the other end, how does rear tire wear and wheel toughness generally play out, given the higher percentage of weight on the rear compared to a regular bicycle.

tombc

Sorry, not fully loaded. But I just made this bag and I'm proud of myself. It is holding a lot of stuff– hammock, straps, rainfly, tube, tools and pump.

Imaginos

Planned 3 or 4 days but tapped out after two.75 miles was all I could manage.I overestimated my physical ability I think. 41 miles including 16 miles of gravel on day one was my farthest ride ever and I hurt everywhere.
31 miles on day two was torturous and I called the missus to come get me.I’m still a badass old man though.

canalligators

It’s not obvious from the photo angle, but the seating is well forward of the rear wheel. I loaded the pans with heaviest items forward. So the weight balance is good. The underseat pans are great, with the load solow, handling is unaffected. The rear is still more heavily loaded, but it is about 45/55, which is better than a diamond frame bike.

i have used just rear pans, trailer, and front plus rear. Rear-only was the worst, but it was manageable. F+R wasn’t bad, but underseat is hands-down best. Especially on fast descents.

djb

Neat, good to know the details. Ya, 45/55 is great, and I love fast downhills, so having a well behaved bike is crucial. Safe travels.

djb

mrv 

Panasonic MountainCat. - tips the scales at 37lbs with rack and fenders.
loaded for an overnight with cooking gear: added 23 lbs.
I was/am hoping to get away from paniers.
Paniers are difficult to get on the Amtrak in Ann Arbor.


I was going to try a large saddle bag. But my tent wouldn’t fit under it.



pre ride fit up

LesterOfPuppets

Lake Havasu City to Peoria, AZ a couple of weeks ago. Man was she ever heavy with a full compliment of water (12 litres). Next time I do this route I'm dropping a couple more water caches beforehand.

djb

Impressive. Looks like you went with two camel backs, one strapped onto your bars on top of the front big compression sack. Other I presume on your back.

Have you considered putting on two strong fork cages. I've ridden with a 1.5 l nalgene on one side and it works very well, two would be fine.
But whatever works right?
12x2.2 is over 26 lbs of water,. As you say, it must have been a bear to move and really nice as you used it up. How many litres did you ration per day--3?.
At least those tires are good to absorb it all.
Are those 3 inchers, 4?

LesterOfPuppets

One of these days I'll get some fork mounted gear. The fork only has one lowrider mount hole on each leg; I bought a couple rivnuts from Fastenal a while ago, just haven't spent the time on the workbench to drill and install them.

I planned on 4 liters a day. Used more than that one day when I tried to ride straight through the day. The other days I took siestas from approx 1pm-5pm, put down a tarp and sleeping pad and just chilled, listened to a long podcast, birdwatched, tinkered with the bike, etc. I did get down to under a liter once but that was just 5 miles away from a water source, although I did still worry "What if they have the water shut off for some reason?" I had a filter also even though there were only a couple of ponds available to filter along the way, but still nice to have just in case.

2.8" front/ 3" rear currently on the tires.

djb

I've never ridden where I've had to carry so much water, but you really do have to be safe in estimating don't you? 3in seem to be a good compromise for a rough/soft surface trip. I've a fatbike with 4in that are really 3.5 wide on my rims and I've ridden in summer on trails, but on other bikes have ridden 2.5s, so I can see that close to 3 would be a good all rounder.

CMAW 

Built a Surly Ogre over the winter

sam21fire

Hey Dale, what are the yellow pans? I'm looking for something similar for my Giro A20. Sam

canalligators

Radical Design under-seat panniers. These are size large. They require a rack. I like them a lot. See review at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/revi...d=0&v=Y#904541.

I highly recommend underseat pans, any brand. Bags on a rear rack can sway a lot. Underseat bags are low and pack close, they have zero effect on bike handling.

tpuglisi

test post. please ignore
EDIT: Sorry, Long-time lurker and enjoyer of this forum here. I buggered everything up with this post.. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong with this post.
Apologies everyone.