another question...  There are some pots with folding handles that leave a gnarly piece of metal on the sides.  Does this snag on bags?  I'm assuming it does (?).

I have traditionally used a Trangia Mini.  Its a great stove/cookset for backpacking but is hard to fit in any bag bikepacking.  I'm looking at small cylinder pots, aka 5in diameter and 5inch tall or such.
How well can you cook whole meals in the pot, aka rice-a-roni or pasta-roni, or mac and cheese?  With a more than just water, should I go for a slightly larger pot?
Do people use them with alcohol stoves?  Most reviews and the pots themselves seem to be made for propane/butane stoves.
Thanks,

Can that filter screw onto Platy bags directly?

Just thoughts on this one...
-switch your cooking style
-rear rack with micro panniers.  Put a dry bag on top of the rack instead of a seat bag.
-basket packing (large basket on the fork)

I'm pretty certain I have that one, or at least a cousin of it.  I have toured with it and its a nice rack.  I have it on my commuter, an old lugged carbon Specialized that uses the QR skewer to hold it on.  I also use a seatpost mounted adapter to finish the attachments.  The only advise I can give you is to remove the springs from the skewer.  That rack itself functions as the springs and this makes it more of a PIA to remove the rear wheel but still very doable.  Its a rack, it works, not much else.

Well done.

My thought is why?  GoreTex is a breathable fabric in a situation where breath ability is not needed (unless you are keeping a hamster in there).  As such you are paying for a material that is simply not useful for that purpose.  A Goretex coating is more fragile than a non breathable coating.  There are many coated non-breathable fabrics that would be lighter weight and more durable.
If the pants aren't your size, maybe you could experiment with modifying them to fit you better.  The seams you make would not be sealed or waterproof but the overall pant would do the purpose of keeping you mostly dry.  A pair of mittens, a hat, shoe covers, a pair of winter pants that are gore tex in the front and breathable in the rear are all ideas that would be a better use of the material in my personal opinion.

I've always gone with a Trangia Mini system with the .8 liter pot.  Its really not shaped for bikepacking as its wide and flat not skinny and tall.  (I've noticed bikepacking seems to like tall and skinny shapes while backpacking likes wide and flat.  Bike "touring" seems to agree with backpackers).  Its such and all in one system that I will probably stick with it regardless of shape.  Since I sew my stuff, I will eventually make a stove bag to fit somewhere.
Your alchy stove will respond to conditions more than a butane stove, its a weaker flame.  Windscreens and patience will help.  To my absolute amazement, on a very cold trip recently one full Trangia of alcohol filled two 32oz bottles with melted snow.  This was in a shelter with a windscreen which both helped the efficiency a lot.
I've used a camp mug for a hot chocolate stove (yes I did) and they would work except for the volume and lack of safe handle.  Unfortunately once you have flame surrounding the cup and only a tiny steel handle, you can't remove it from the flame.

https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=60220&category=770

I've been messing with shifters on my mt bike.  I wanted microshifting (aka index) for the front and tried a grip shift for the left hand and trigger for the right.  I'm not impressed with the ergonomics at all.  I don't like the effort to shift while riding technical terrain.  That might just be me though.  Since I am going to try to switch my road bike to a swept bar (soma clarence) I got some thumb shifters and I think I might try to put the thumb shifter on my mountain bike and the grip shifter on my road bike since I can spend more effort on the road and not worry about terrain.
So in summary... maybe look into  thumb shifters too.  They are priced economically these days and are an alternative to trigger shifters.  Considering thumb shfiters are on top the bar and triggers are below the bar, they might be better for bags.  I haven't tried but its a thought...

That stuff you are using is either closed cell or pretty close.  I've used it before and its still holding up many years later.

Dream4rest... I knew the binder attachments existed but did not know where or even what they were called.  I am kinda dorky excited to finally find out where to get them.  Thanks...
Toothjockey.  If I understand your question correct, you could try to "quilt" it in the fabric, especially if its the inside layer.  Just use the longest stitch you can so it puts in less holes.

If you have the money, then a bike for the road is better.  Its more than just the tires, its the position too.  With that being said, this summer I am going to "experiment" with my fat bike with skinny tires for a dirt/road tour.  The route is dictating the switch.  I suspect it will be considerably slower but still do-able.  I'm also not getting rid of my dirt road bike any time soon.
Other things you mentioned...  Suspension bob is not fun on the road.  The gearing is going to be the difference between keeping up with other people on the road vs slow but steady and cool with that.  Both of these comments seem to give the impression that you really want a road/gravel bike and are just hoping we tell you to do so.  Its your wallet, not ours...

Mike C...  what bout what Jones does?  Would that fix the issues you are talking about.  Increase the surface area to decrease the movement.  It seems like you are needing a fork that hasn't been designed or braze ons that have not been created.  I have wondered about adding a 1/4 inch rod that parallels the fork and attaches around the crown but would it be worth the added weight?
Jeremy.  If adding a hole to your product does not decrease the strength then it would seem to be a win win situation.  Your product is designed for hose clamps while the Wolftooth is designed for braze ons.  Why not combine the two?  You could add a hose clamp to the Wolftooth too and it would the same effect.  I'm thinking mostly about a touring/CX fork with one midfork eyelet.

Jeremy...  Have you considered putting two holes in your clamp/mounts so you could either use the midfork eyelet as one mount or use the outside downtube eyelets?

I believe Foodsaver is a brand name but you get the point.  I just "made" a dry bag with a food saver bag.  It does hold water without leaks (thank goodness) but the roll top would not hold air.  I then just put a piece of webbing through the roll top and strung it around the bottom.  As long as you sew in the sealed edge, then it would be easy to make daisy chains or actually sew a strap on.  The 8 inch wide bag made for a 14 inch diameter bag.  I could not fit my Klymit sleeping bag folded over 4x but it did fit in when folded over 3x.  So it would be perfect for a fork mounted bag or a dry bag in a frame bag.
I thought I would share by idea...  Lightweight, cheap, semi disposable.

Jeremy, I was wondering if you would chime in...
You recently went from full production to limited production but very core products.  Its what I would prefer doing.  My idea would be an everything object (similar to yours but different, I swear), stuff sacks for said object and insulated water bottle holders, which there seems to be a total lack of.  Keep it simple, keep it easy to produce, keep it as a side project.  I love my full time job.  My idea is coming to a snag in the process as my sewing machine is not doing its part with seatbelt webbing.

I'm looking at this one with a 44 head tube.  http://shop.vassagocycles.com/Fisticuff-Frame_p_248.html
The price is spectacular but I have not heard of the 44 head tube.  Does this mean depending on the headset that I could run a strait 1 1/8 or a tapered fork?  I'd rather not use the fork they give due to my wheels being QR.
The "monster cross" appears to be gaining a little bit of traction.  For "bikepacking" but for the road side of the dirt/trail ratio.  Stick some road wheels in for pavement and stick some wide tires for whatever your heart desires.
Sorry to hijack, but has anyone heard of the Vassago as well?  The price is making me seriously drool.

I have an idea for a lightweight and different design of a "everything" bag and attachment.  I have had an urge to create something potentially sell-able in the past and nothing happened to it (the bike panniers on here http://www.backpacking.net/makegear.html are mine).  My fear is that I would be wasting time on something no one would want or find different than whats out there already, aka the industry is saturated.
Any thoughts on trying to bring something new to the market?  Its fun to make something unique for ones self but to take the extra step to sell it is my quandary.
thanks,
Scott

very nice