Handlebar Roll vs. Seatpack

[Maggal]

Hi!

I´m going on a 6 day trip across the alps on monday.

If I´m packing right, all my gear could fit in my handlebar roll. Or my seatpack. And that is my question: wich of those two possibilities would you prefer and why? The weight will be about 3,5 kg.

Thanks a lot for your answers!!!

Yours
Markus

[trail_monkey]

I can't offer you an exact answer but I can say on my overnight trips I use a Bar harness AND bags strapped to my seat post. Both places work very well. I would say try it mocked up both ways and take a short ride and see how it feels. We have a 4 day ride coming up and one of our buddies has his bike set up now going on an overnight ride before hand to see if his set up works well enough.

[Adam Alphabet]

If you're riding on trails 3.5kg is a lot in either of those places. Too much on the bars makes the handling slow and hard to maneuver. Depending on how technical the trails, this could be dangerous if the rest of the bike is unloaded. Too big a seat pack and you can't get behind the seat properly, also potentially dangerous depending on the technical level of the trails. May lead to unweighting of the front end of steep climbs.

If you can I would try to split the gear between both bars and seat bag to more evenly distribute the weight. I've found this to be better than loading just the front or the back of the bike.

If you're riding on roads then the weight distribution and quick handling ability matters less. In that case whatever you find more comfortable.

Try all three, front load, rear load, evenly distributed and see which you find the best for the type of terrain you'll be riding.
Good Luck!