Recommend a road bag setup?

[trichris]

*First off, I understand what bikepacking.net is and want to respect it's policy.  I've done research on my question and feel it's time to ask.

I've got a crude question for you:

I want to get into road bicycle touring, with the goal of experiencing the TransAm. Probably sometime during the seasons of spring through fall.

Can you please recommend a setup of bags to use or the style of setup that you would feel comfortable using in a semi relaxed touring fashion?

i.e. not a FKT attempt, grams and durability of gear counts, would be using road shoes, lugging lightweight sandals, probably going stove-less, tarp, bug net, quilt, night lights, bike supplies, zero pairs of duplicate clothing, maybe a pair of sil-nylon baggy shorts for zeros in town. Maybe the ability to lug a 6 pack or a bottle of wine out of town with. Maybe some luxury item that I can't think of.

The objective of the trip would be, to be as comfortable and be traveling as efficient as possible while pedaling the bike.
I've thru-hiked the AT with Ray Jardine gear. I'm familiar with sewing his kits.

I'm feeling weary of the whole no rear rack on a touring road bike and using a frame bag cause of knee banging.

The bike I've got now I'm assuming, is not suitable for touring. (It's in the video below) Alu frame, no eyelets, carbon handle, fork and seat-post, big gears, blade spokes.
"Juggling Torches on Bike Rollers"

Juggling Torches on Bike Rollers - Chris Chiappini

Thanks
-Chris

[Buttermilk]

go with the tried and true pannier set-up. check out the crazy guy on a bike website for the unlimited styles and set-ups.

[trichris]

OK, will do.

I guess it'll be panniers someday, but man! All your setups are so much more sexier and light looking then panniers.

[Area54]

I've run a Revelate Tangle bag and Viscacha seatbag on my Cervelo S2 (Red, 3T kit, Zipp 404 firecrest CC) - I'm very particular about my Cervelo and this setup is awesome with no rubbing issues on me or the bike (I use barrier tape on frame rub points). I like how it maintains a fair amount of aero streamlining. Could even run a Revelate 6" Sweetroll between the bars If I needed more storage, but it kinda goes against the concept of fast, light road ultra-distance touring/Audax/Randonneuring. Also run an X-Lab Stealth Pocket 100 on the top tube for snacks and the like.

[bmike-vt]

IMG_9474 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

[trichris]

OK, I'm going to spend time on crazyguyonabike.  I'm stuck between going the SLHT route or getting a triple crank plus 32 spoke wheels.

[brooklyn]

I've done road bike touring using revelate design bags. I prefer ultralight touring because it doesn't drastically change the handling of the bike, and I can cover more miles a day because of it. But with ultralight touring comes some sacrifices like not cooking (not much of a problem for me, but a bigger issue for others), less stuff in general. I don't see this as a sacrifice personally because with less crap I enjoy the ride more, but I realize that this isn't the best way of touring for everyone. If I were touring with a girlfriend, I would probably go the more traditional route.

Sounds like you like the look of ultra light, but you're not ready to go without all the modern convinces that could be more so accommodated with traditional bike touring. Only you can really know what setup you need, based on what you want out of your bike tour.

[brooklyn]

Also any bike that you find comfortable for riding long distances can be made suitable for touring as long as you adjust how you tour. I toured on my Cannondale CAAD 9 from  Vancouver B.C. to San Francisco and had a great time! I came across ultralight touring kinda by accident because I didn't have nor wanted to buy a special touring bike.

I learned a lot about ultralight touring from this guy: http://ultralightcycling.blogspot.com/
I don't apply everything he does, because some of the stuff is a little extreme for me, but I think anyone considering touring on a racing bike or just looking to simplify their tour can learn a thing or two there.

[sfuller]

I did 10 days on my Fargo riding pavement and some gravel using a Porcelain rocket frame bag, seat bag, and a couple of 5L dry bags on the fork. I kept riding clothes in one 5L dry sack, and "street clothes" in the other. Tarp, sleeping bag, and bivy in the seat bag. Stove, and other things in the frame bag. I hit a laundromat about every 3rd or 4th day for 10 days. No issues with banging my knees on my frame bag when climbing out of the saddle or riding hard tempo in the seat. I could eliminate the dry bags, move some stuff around and use something like the Revelate Sling for carrying stuff on the bars if I wanted to.

bmike-vt's setup is perfect too, as long as you are willing to pare down to what you really need.

[strife]

The torches are awesome!

[bmike-vt]

bmike-vt's setup is perfect too, as long as you are willing to pare down to what you really need.

i've recently added a tangle or full frame bag, and carry a wingnut gear pack that i try to keep lightly loaded with just personal stuff - wallet, glassed, eye drops, phone, SPOT, etc. with the capability to 'camel up' as needed.

similar to this setup:


fargo, with bags by mbeganyi, on Flickr


ready to roll, day 2 by mbeganyi, on Flickr

i like the anything cages as well. haven't used them much...

[AlasdairMc]

On my road bike I've gone for something completely different to everything shown here - a Carradice Camper Longflap, which is a British classic.



It holds 24l, and with the buckles means it can be filled very full. There is also a secondary set of buckles on a flap that is folded under (where the press studs are). I can pack sleeping bag, clothes, tent and some food into it, plus all my tools and so on in the side pockets.

I've used it on a 1000 mile tour in the UK in all weathers and it has been perfect thus far.

[Dylan]

if you really are really lightly packed, no reason not to put on a rack with p/u-clamps and then strap a stuff sack on that and call it good. Carradice + Revelate sling is also a nice set up for light paved touring; I'm doing that at the moment, Alaska-Texas so far. I've a tent, stove and winter coat too, so with a tarp and no stove you should be fine capacity-wise too.