Dirt bag stuff

[rocky rode]

I booked marked this post quite a while ago.  I like to go read it when I get the urge to order some high dollar thing I feel I just have to have.  The post is aimed toward backpacking but the camping stuff carries over to biking too.  If you're new to ultra light travel and want to give it a try without spending tons, or you're just cheap,   I think it's worth a read.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=15329

One thing I like to use are those plastic type bags meant for baking turkeys (grocery store) as a water proof stuff sack.

Gary

[delete this account]

 

[wahday]

Great site! This is right up my alley. To add to the turkey bag concept, for years I have used trash compactor bags to line my non-waterproof packs (for canoeing or hiking). They are super tough plastic that resists punctures with ease. I still have one from my honeymoon in Alaska - 15 years ago! And I used my homemade alcohol stove for the first time 2 weekends ago (and kept my fuel in a contact lens fluid bottle)

Dirt bags, unite!  

[fotooutdoors]

(and kept my fuel in a contact lens fluid bottle)

Just don't reach for the wrong bottle in the morning when you go to put in your contacts!

Great chunk of info-it's easy to get caught up with "needing" the best gear for a task, so it's a great reminder to just get out, regardless of what you have.

[wahday]

Just don't reach for the wrong bottle in the morning when you go to put in your contacts!

Indeed! Fortunately, I don't wear contacts and I also wrote all over the bottle "alcohol fuel DANGER! Do not drink!"

This thread is just begging for some examples of dirtbag bikepacking ideas. I have a few but there are some far more ingenius people than me out there.
________________________________________________________________
A few other cheapo things I have done include using small stuff sacks strapped under my seat instead of a seatbag. The bottoms of the sacks have little handles and I used velcro straps (bought a big roll of 2 inch wide double sided velcro at a hardware store and used it for lots of applications - you can cut into thinner strips, too) to attach them to the seatpost. Only used this setup once so far but worked great. You could also sew the velcro straps to the bag if you were worried the handles wouldn't hold.




I also used a small seatbag as a "feedbag" by attaching to the stem and top tube For the top tube, I just used more of the velcro strap material, wrapped it around the bag and the top tube and then used thin cut strips of the same material to cinch up the big strap and tighten the space between the top tube and the bag. Hard to see in this pic (I'm talking about the black bag attached to the stem), but it worked great.




Last trip I brought a small round LED light - the kind you can stick under your cabinets to light a counter. You toggle it on and off by pressing the lens. Anyway, this with a bike bottle on top of it makes a great lantern with good diffuse light. This was my 12 year old son's idea!




Lastly, I have been sleeping with a tarp I bought at Lowe's. Here its set up as a bivvy, knowing it would be cold. The other setup I have used also incorporates the tarp as both groundcloth and shelter.







What dirtbag approaches do you all use? I've seen some great ideas posted in other threads. Would be cool to bring them together in one thread. I'm thinking of things like the homemade camp shoes from in-soles posted here. Its the post by "Murf" http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,3231.msg31697.html#msg31697

[delete this account]