wow...quite an adventure. How does the alpaca raft handle with the bike in it?

Sometimes when touring I will pull into a gas station, buy something like a red bull or candy bar, ask for the bathroom.

Go in and take off my riding kit and wash it in the sink, use it to scrub down my self, then rinse and put it back on [maybe put on a spare if it's cold].

Make sure to tidy up. Get away clean....

I often leave work on friday and don't shower until monday morning...each weekend...with plenty of activity in between. Try it this weekend. It's not so bad.

Just don't sleep in your bike shorts.

http://www.brunton.com/products/inspire

Thats what I have.

How is production coming? When will I see this in a bike shop?

I have a brunton Inspire battery pack. The thing is awesome. It will charge my phone twice and is small enough to carry around in the woods or the city and I NEVER run out of juice. I don't have any experience with the model you suggest but I love these types of batteries.

I have switched up to the goal zero products because they have 2aa cells that are more useful in my kit: radio, flashlight, camera, as well as using it to charge my phone.

I bring both now on long tours. I also carry a solar charger but I am not happy with my current charger the brunton explorer. I am going to get a goal zero and dump the explorer on ebay.

If you have access to water, like a lake, stream, or river, etc. take an empty dry bag and fill it half full...take off all your clothes...put in a spoonful of dr. bronners....hide so no one sees you naked...move away from the water so as not to contaminate....give it a rigorous shake...take soapy clothes out and scrub your self down...put back in dry bag give another shake....empty dry bag 200 M away from water.

Get more water....rinse self off...dry off...change into lounging clothes.....fill dry bag...shake clothes again...wring out....hang to dry.

If you know you will not have access to water I have a great solution that carries in a plastic jar or aluminum beer bottle. 1 oz for 1 shower so in this case a 3 day trip....3 oz. - http://bicyclehobo.com/hygiene-on-bicycle-tour/

I find I can go three days and not feel that dirty...

I wanted to make a suggestion for anyone running rim brakes and using a harness.

http://www.yokozunausa.com/recasy1.html

I run my cables very short and chose these over nokon cables after doing a lot of research online. They weren't as expensive as nokon systems but they weren't too cheap either. So far I am really happy with their performance. They do not move one bit when braking. If I smush them down it does not affect braking either.

I got them specifically for running a harness [i don't have one yet] and I am hopeful they will not be affected. So far all of my testing is with a dry bag strapped tight to the handlebar.

Just wanted to throw this out to anyone having issues.

I also made a set of feedbags recently. I used a pair of Jandd chalk bags.

They are a work in progress. I am trying to do this without sewing. They survived the first test run.

Any commentary is appreciated. Total cost $16.85

http://bicyclehobo.com/diy-bikepacking-feedbags/

wow...i didn't know the new 'flickr' was so cool until I saw it in a context I could understand.

Nice!

My axiom rack [I still have not shed the racks yet] has a 'linkage' that allows some modulation for mounting on different sized frames.

You can see it in this photo at the bottom. I am referring to the 'arms' that are not mounted. They are at the bottom of the photo with a red aluminum part.

It allows some rotation to where dropouts are mounted and the ability to shorten or lengthen the arms to accomodate different size frames, angles, and mount points. They mount up next to the center mount that is currently attached to the frame. The mount was quite sturdy.

I am not saying use these, but you can see how they have solved a 'fit' problem here, and you could adapt this to your rack making it fit a wider variety of rear suspension frames.

Hello. I am a long time cyclist, mountain biker, bicycle tourist, who LOVES the innovation I am seeing from the bikepacking segment. I spend most of my time on paved and or fireroads so I don't quite fit into the mix here, but I can't resist participating as I have a can learn a lot about new equipment as I fine tune my set up for a long tour that will begin 1 year from right now.

As far as touring goes I have gone cross country 3 times and had several smaller east coast tours.

I am quite impressed with the community here. The DIY projects are really well thought out and professionally done.

Again I'm just psyched to stumble upon this community and will do my best to contribute.

This could actually be a product if you could design it in a way where the shock mount was adjustable.

This is a great video...I love how some of the more tried and true items of your system have the wear and tear to prove it. It really tends to enforce the idea that this is what works and not necessarily a product endorsement. Thanks for sharing.

wow...good idea, nice design, kick ass follow through, and excellent documenting for the group to take part of your discovery.

The DIY abilities of the people on this board are commendable.

Let us know how it performs over the long haul.

I love seeing ideas like this...thanks!

I got my bags this week. they are nice quality with long velcro straps that will size to even the largest tubes. I picked up some chalk bags also and two velcro pump straps. All good quality stuff.

DoctorRad posted a link to Jandd for some small tank bags and when I visited I noticed they had their chalk bags for $6.95.

It comes with two sturdy webbing loops that can be used to fix each to the stem without much DIY-ing. Mine just arrived so I will post a photo when I try it out. I may just remove the handlebar and loop them over the stem.

Link to cheap feedbag: http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FCBF


Original DoctorRad forum post about the cheap bags: http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,5310.0.html

Link DoctorRad shared: http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FSBS-SMU

Thanks for the link DoctorRad....I just grabbed three of these. They are tiny but will work nicely for specific items. I also picked up two chalk bags to use as a fakey set of mountain feedbags for $6.95 a piece.

Well made and will function as I need them to for a great price.

I have lately been eyeballing large plastic containers in the grocery store. Laundry detergent, bleach, 3 liter water bottles, really all types of bottles. They are rounded already and some of the conical tops look like they might be well suited to make an impromptu seat bag base harness. They are cheap, easily replaceable any time you were near a store and you could probably find one laying around in a closet at home.