Tours ~~ Carry Capacity

I think I've mentioned this before. It bears repeating. On a tour your carry stuff. You should plan to put the stuff on the bike and absolutely not on your body. You want your bike ot be your beast of burden. After all, you have to supply the power to move all that stuff down the road, and over every hill along the way. Do you also want to expend the energy necessary to support it as well? Unless you are a complete glutton for punishment, the answer must be a resounding "Nyet, No, Non, Huh-uh, Nien, Nix, and not no way!"

I just had this lesson reinforced. Yesterday I did the Audax 200K. I like ot do this ride on a light bike. The trusty Y-Foil has no carry capacity. As ride leader, I tend to carry a bit more "stuff," first aid supplies, tools, clothing, food, etc. I put it all in a pack. I can do this for one day. Believe me, brothers and sisters, when I say, I am stiff and sore today, and I dearly regret that pack.

All of that was a bit of a longt winded introduction to the topic. How does a cyclist carry "stuff"? The answers vary with the individual, and their approach to things. The dedicated minimalist could do something like the upcoming Cheaha Two Day Tour out of a large under seat pack. Two tubes, mini-tool, tire levers, a couple of band aids, a toothbrush, some soap, some cash, and a credit card would just about do it. Of course this rider will forego a lot of amenities and creature comforts, fresh clothing among them.

For those who are contemplating touring, of medium to longer distances and self supported style, what follows is a bit of an illustrated primer.

There are several considerations in making these choices. Bike size and type. Infrastructure to load ratio. Intended distance. Cost.

Bike Size and type: Not all bikes are suitable to all possible configurations. Some are just too small to handle some of the options below. Think before you buy. Bring your bike in to an expert and discuss options first.

Infrastructure to load ratio: "Infrastructure" is the unavoidable wieght of the system. It includes the stuff the system is made from, racks, supports, bags, etc. "Load" is the stuff the system carries. On longer tours, the rider carries more stuff, so the fraction of infrastructure goes down. Put another way, the heavier the load, the heavier the system to carry it. For light loads a light system is best.

Racks and bags (pannier style):

Cost: Moderate to high.
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Fair to lousy.

Upside: They work with minimal fuss.

Downside: Expense and they become a semi-permanent modification to the bike.

This is a fairly "standard" (whatever that means in the bicycle world) touring rack. It can support panniers of a trunk bag, or both. These attach to the rear of the bike. The do not work on full suspension mountainbikes, and there are a lot of road bikes that simply will not take them. I absolutely do not recommend them if your bike is a carbon fiber frame. Price on racks ranges from about $3o up to around $200. I would not recommend anything less than a $20 dollar rack, and I wonder just what you get with one that costs more than $200. (Does it pedal the bike for you? Maybe there's an anti-gravity machine in there?)


Below is one of a pair of panniers. Panniers attach to the sides of a rack like the one shown above. For shorter rides a single pannier is okay, but for touring a rider would want to use them in pairs and distribute the load evenly on both sides of the bike. Panniers can cost from $30 to $200 each. They are often sold in sets of two, but may be purchased individually. (The water bottle is in the picture to provide scale.)

A couple of cautions about panniers. Not all of them are particularly waterproof. There are "dry bag" type panniers out there. Expect to pay more. There is a huge range of this type of bag on the market. Check features and capacity (usually given in cubic inches) closely. If you are not sure, please contact me before you buy!

At left is an interesting item. This is a super deluxe trunk bag. Made by Topeak, the cost is around $80. It mounts to the top of a rack. Notice there are included, folding mini-panniers. A bag like this would be almost ideal for the kind of tour we are doing to Cheaha.

Below is a nifty little setup.

Cost: Fair (about $60)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent
Upside: Quick and easy. Included rain cover. Removes from bike quickly.
Downside: Not a lot of capacity. Do not use with carbon seatposts.

Topeak makes these. They call them the "Dynapack." The frame is part of the bag. There is an included rain cover. This would be good for that person who is almost as much of a minimalist as I mentioned earlier. There are two removable compartment dividers, and a small internal pocket/compartment for keys and such. There is also a zippered mesh compartment in the lid.

Carradice Bags:

Carradice of Nelson England have been making bags for a long time. These bags are made from waxed cotton duck fubric. The waterproofing is amazing. The bags themselves are a bit heavy, but the low infrastructure weight required to use them more than makes up for this.

SQR Tour:
Cost: Moderate (about $120)

Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent

Upside: Quick and easy. Good carry capacity. Sufficient (with efficient packing) to do the Cheaha Two day. Removes from bike quickly.

Downside: Do not use with carbon seatposts. May not work on a small frame bike.

The Nelson Longflap:

Cost: Moderate (about $140)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Excellent
Upside: Quick and easy. Very good carry capacity. about 1.5 times the SQR Tour. More than sufficient to do the Cheaha Two day.

Downside: Best if used with a Brooks saddle. pretty much requires a Bagman support rack, which is jsut about impossible to get. (See more on this below.)

This is an outstanding bag! It's my personal favorite for short to intermediate length tours. It's actually big enough to invite over-packing. Possibly the biggest downside is that this bag just about has to be used with a Bagman (tm) support rack. The Bagman is light and simple. The problem is that they are almost impossible to get right now. No one knows why. It's a British thing. I can put together a very suitable alternative out of fairly inexpensive materials. My alternative adds a bit more weight than the bagman, but not as much as a dual pannier and conventional rack set up.

Note 1: If you are planning to go this route, get on it now! It's less than two months to Cheaha and time flies!

Note 2: I would not recommend going the Carradice route unless you are very committed to the idea of cycle tourning and utility cycling.

One more possible alternative...

The bike trailer:

Cost: High (but read on!)
Infrastructure to Load Ratio: Poor unless you are carry a big load.

Upside: Carries anything you could want on this tour, and just might be inexpensive
Downside: Heavy and can be a handful when descending, especially on rough surfaces.

Okay, pictured at left and below is a B.O.B. trailer. It hooks up to the bike with a special skewer. (These are about $30). The trailer is in the range of $400. Included, and visible in the pictures, is a dry bag. I'm telling you, that means really waterproof. You could go into a stream with this and the contents of the bag would be dry.

Ordinarily, for a tour such as the Cheaha Two Day, I would discourage this as being too much stuff to haul. But here's an idea.

I own the trailer you see pictured here.

If two (or three) of you wanted to go in together, I would be willing to rent the trailer out for a very modest rate for the weekend. Each of the parties involved would need to purchase and fit one of the special skewers to their bike.
Then, the idea would be that the two (or three) of you would take turns pulling the trailer.It couples and uncouples in a few minutes. That would mean that each rider in the partnership would be hauling the load for only half (or a third) of the time. The rest of the time you would be riding a pretty light bike. How you arrange to split up the hauling time is your business. (I steadfastly refuse to get involved in domestic disturbances!)

Okay. Lots of words. (Think about how long this would have been without the pictures.) Hope that gives you lots of food for thought.

Stay in touch. It will be time for Cheaha before you know it.