It will be fine.

I like your knife holder by the way. Neat idea.

Revelate Designs Tangle large frame bag for sale

I bought this bag in Feb 2016 and used for 4 months for road tour in Northern Africa/Europe. Good to very good condition, bag works flawlessly and has no rips, tears, zippers work perfectly. Just washed it. I have cut the mounting straps a bit shorter but they were left pretty long as the bike had super beefy tubing.

Looking $50 USD. Willing to trade for other bikepacking bags, specifically a medium frame bag that will fit in a Surly Ogre (M).

I'm located in Alberta Canada, I ship Canada Post/USPS. I like Paypal or Bank Transfers

[Thule Pack'n Pedal Rack.]

Thule Pack'n Pedal Rack.

Well used condition but works fine. I used it for a 3 month trip in Africa/Europe on a CX bike with no rack eyelets. Mountable either on the front or the back of the bike. Unsure of age as I purchased the rack 2nd hand. Was raining when I took the photo. $35 USD.

Tubus Duo Front Racks

About 4 years old with about 9000 km on them. Rust on the areas where the panniers hooks met the rack. Bottom mounting hooks are showing wear from metal hooks. Works fine. $35 USD.

Mont Bell sleeping bag liner. Very good shape, barely used. I washed recently. No smell or rips or anything. $20

Prices are OBO. I am located in Alberta Canada and ship Canada Post/USPS. I like either Paypal or Bank Transfer if your not local to me.

A lot of racers just carry car shades. Extremely light, cheap durable and can be stuffed anywhere. Slightly more comfy than nothing and shockingly warm to sleep on. Also useful for sitting on when the ground is too hot/wet/cold/having a picnic... And they can protect your inflatable mattress too from sharp objects

Another option is a self inflatable air mattress. Couple puffs of air and your good to go.

Outdoor Research Helium Bivy. Good condition overall, it worked flawlessly on a 6 month bikepacking trip in Africa. Huge amount of life left in it. Has the usual embedded dirt in the fabric in the material as expected from a bivy sack with this much use. Zippers and material are very condition, no rips or tears, haven't looked for pinholes. Stuff sack is like new, never used on the trip. Poles are dirty looking for the hood but actually unused. I cut out the small pocket inside the bivy.

SOLD

You can put skinny tires on a big frame but you can't but big tires in a skinny frame. Put up a 29'er frame and you will not regret the discussion. What you lose in speed and weight you will gain back in comfort and improved traction on the rough stuff.

A MTB crankset and 40 mm tires on a CX is fun though. Gearing galore

Running a 1x10 in a SRAM drivetrain at the moment, using a 32T x 11-36. Using it on a 10 kg Santa Cruz Stigmata cross bike, often loaded up to 30 kg at times with panniers for a road tour....

I like it overall, chain doesn't fall off the front chainring and I've got low enough gears for nearly anything I ride in the Rockies. Had no major mechanical issues so far with the drivetrain. Absolutely love the feel of the 1x chain line, feels so unbelievably efficient compared to what I was previously riding on (Rolhoff/3x10's). Components are holding up well; 5000 km so for on the cassette and chainring on 2 chains and I think I can get another 2000 or 3000 km before replacement.

Negatives of the 1x10? Really not a lot of options for different, low gearing cassettes. Almost every easy to buy cassette is 11-36, but finding a 11-42 cassette is a bit more of a challenge if you don't have access to the internet shopping (important if your riding mega miles in regions of the world where biking isn't so popular....). I've also broken a few chains more than I would like. Chains are relatively pricey ... I miss my SS chains that last forever...

Rode on a Jones bar 710 mm for the past year. I couldn't imagine riding on flat bars willingly anymore. So easy to mount a handlebar bag of virtually any size! Using the Ergon grips for swept back bars without bar ends. Super comfy.

These racks are solid but a pain in the butt to get them setup and to stop sliding or moving around hitting your tire. I had to use a piece of tie wire tied to my seat post to stop the rack from moving. Also you might need to make extra supports on the rack if your using pannier to prevent them going into the tire.

The top platform is probably the best I've ever used. So easy to put straps through to support a bag on top and the never slide around or move.

I used one on my Santa Cruz Cross bike as I was carrying camping gear for 2 people in panniers during a 3 month tour in North Africa/Europe. I had about 20 LBS max weight on the rack on a pretty light duty bike and it work totally fine.

Putting mine for sale shortly if your interested. PM if interested. 

It seems I am the only tradesperson...

Industrial Electrician by trade, usually working on Oil & Gas facilities in Canada doing a variety of work. Sometimes a maintenance guy, often doing new construction and increasingly an office guy in the winter  Specialized in heat tracing installation.

I don't care for the actual electrical work itself but enjoy the resources industry overall. Incredibly complex industry, extremely talented people to work with and your always outside regardless of the weather (-52C for daytime highs?).  The money is awesome, usually good shifts (10/4, 7/7, 14/7, 24/7, 1M/1M) and the work is there whenever you want it. The hours are terrible though and sometimes during an emergency you don't get to go home for months at a time. But your rewarded very well for your time in OT.

Probably should get a job, been a few years. Too much time bikepacking across the world again

I am really embraseed to say my hometown in Hinton and I had zero idea about this event. Joys of being gone for over 2 years of bikepacking overseas...

I don't really do the blog or writing thing, I'm kinda lazy on my adventures I'm cool if you have any question though, just give me a shout and I will do my best to answer.

Keep in mind if your building a sleep system for cooler times of the year you might need to revisit your sleeping pad if you are currently something for warm weather use.  I use a Thermarest NeoAir and it's great until about 0C/32F. After that I start to notice the cold coming from the ground and have done a few nights in close to -10C... Didn't die but was very cold even with a normally very warm sleeping bag.

Adding some insulation might be as simple as adding a car shade

On Nov 11th 2015 I fly out to Lusaka, Zambia to begin a 7000 km or so ride in Southern Africa.

I will be riding south out Lusaka, hugging the eastern mountains of Zimbabwe, then riding the Spine of Dragon route (meeting up hopefully with another member on here for awhile), maybe with a short detour into Swaziland and ending either in Cape Town, South Africa or to Windhoek Namibia (time permitting). I will be finishing sometime around mid February to the end of March.

Any one going to be in that part of the world during that time? I'm not super fixed on my route by any means and will to do a detour for drinking beer or other adventures

Check out some of the Mont Bell sleeping bags, they fit your budget (around $200), are of extremely high quality and compress down as good as anything else on the market. I had a #2 for a few years 3 season touring/camping, the wife has a #6 and I now use a #7 bag for summer riding and for use in the tropics.

A thought on compression sacks in regards to sleeping bags/soft goods. If you use a compression sack it makes whatever is inside a large hard mass that is more difficult to pack around than in regular stuff sack. I like to put my sleeping bag in the middle of a either my handlebar setup and pack around it. The sleeping bag fills in the corners so to speak and creates a more stable platform to carry (less tightening your straps during riding).

Rolhoff related: I've had had one for a good number of years on two different wheel sizes. I typically ride very hilly terrain in the Rockies and Japanese Alps for reference.

I found that 38x15 was totally fine for a 26"x 2.25 setup for loaded bikepacking racing and 42x15 was good gearing for unloaded riding.

For a 700c/29er wheel I had to completely change my gearing (...). After going through a couple combinations I settled on a 34x17 setup using a 2.4" tire. Pretty happy with it overall, but it's an illegal gearing according to Rolhoff. I wouldn't hesitate to go even lower than that.

[durable]

In the late stages of planning a trip through starting Zimbabwe and riding towards Nambia via the Spine of the Dragon route in South Africa. I'm having consistent debates on which tires to use for the trip. Looking for a wide, durable tire with a high degree of puncture resistance for mostly gravel/track rack riding. I don't have on route access to a bike shop until the 5000 km mark or so in Cape Town. I'll likely be bring the 2nd set of rubber along to replace my 29x 2.4" EXO Ardents when they wear out.
 
Bit of random info on my bike. I will be using a Surly Ogre 29'er ridged fork, HD touring 700x19 rim (up to 62 mm tire), total weight of me/bike/gear is about 85 kg soaking wet. Running tubes.

I read through some of the TD posts and posted on a couple Facebook groups looking for tires recommendations and came up with Geax Saguaro, Schwalbe Smart Sam Plus 29 x 2.1, and the Maxxis Ardent/Ikon/Crossmark's

My questions:
1. Any other tires that I am missing that I should be looking at?
2. Is EXO version of the Maxxis tires the most durable version of the their tires?

Thanks

Will the 4L MSR fit in a full frame bag?

Should fit in nearly any of the non FS specific frame bags. I was using a 4L MSR Dromedary bag in one of the smaller (16" Surly Troll) frame bags and it fit fine with enough room for a a spare tube and a few other small odds and ends. Worked awesome.

I think defining "Hardest Race" is impossible unless you define catagories based on both terrain and distance. I would argue that the TD is the hardest endurance race not from the terrain but from the distances involved, but AZT is much harder terrain wise. But then WC is extreme level stuff from the competition alone. Then you have events like RAAM which are just nuts.

Then factor in the weather.... Personally the hardest day of cycling I've ever had was on flat level pavement in an built up urban area. Just a bit of a storm with flooding roads, 4C weather and 120 km/h+ winds. Weather plays a big factor on how 'hard an event is and is inconsistent each time an event is held.

If the Brooks is working for you keeping using.

I've used a B17 on my MTB for years and now have a C17. The C17 is seriously the best saddle I've ever used. Zero maintenance and is very comfy even after 16+ hours on the saddle per day.