Congrats on route finish. I've been a road cycling tourist (racks and panniers) over 40 years. I stupidly tried the GDMBR at touring pace with only frame bags, no racks. Nice and light, but couldn't carry enough water and food, especially south of Breckinridge. Next time, racks and panniers, rigid mtn bike with drop bars. Slow and steady approach at 70 with enough water to overnight in dry camp. Thanks for gear load out.
The ortlieb fork bags look great. I have cages and use heavy duty dry bags with straps but its a pain getting in and out of them during the ride.. The Ortliebs look like a nice middle ground between panniers and dry bags. I have seen them but did not think they would mount to the single uprights on my Elkhorn rear rack.... thanks for posting this.
I'm glad it was helpful. The Ortlieb bags were really nice. Easy access and plenty durable for the route. I used the blue Vibratite thread locker for the bolts mounting to the rack and it was very secure.
Hi great video thanks. What was your total weight bike and kit together and how did you find that weight on the climbs and the over the duration of the ride. Thanks Dave, Wales U.K
Thank you! I didn't weigh my setup, but I was happy with the balance of weight, comfort, and preparedness. Pedaling up the mountain passes was really hard for the first 10 or so days. After that, my body started to adjust. If you're interested in seeing the most accurate list of gear that I carried, it is under the"Organized by Bags" tab in the link in the video description.
If the handlebar is full of stuff, where do you attach your light? I don't know. That is a good question. If you can find a light with a long enough strap and side-to-side adjustment, it could be used on the fork. My light (Shark 500) has a long enough strap to attach to the fork, but no angle adjustment, so no good.
Nice video. Interesting and helpful. Just curious: what bike were you riding and what was the weight of the bike when loaded (exclusive of food and water). Thanks.
Thank you! It's a salsa Cutthroat that I converted to Jones Bars. It's a really nice bike, but if I were to do the ride again I would just get a bike that's designed for a flat bar (longer front triangle and shorter stem).
The bike itself is lightweight, maybe 23 lb. I don't know how much it weighed with all of my gear on it. My philosophy was to carry everything I wanted and if it started feeling too heavy I would just give it away or ship it back home. I ended up getting rid of an extra pair of socks and a balaclava.
They worked great! I really liked having quick access to stuff that was packed in them. I was worried they weren't going to be durable enough, but even heavily loaded, they held up just fine for the entire route. They are still in great condition. I would highly recommend them.
Do you find the sea ro summit event bag that you put your tent in fully waterproof, will it keep stuff dry if it rained the whole day? Thanks for your video.
Yes, it did keep my stuff dry. I had 40 hours of rain in the first 2 days. It did get a hole from rubbing and I patched it with Tenacious Tape. The E-vent bags are not very durable. My rear top bag and fork bag were originally E-vent bags, but they got too many holes in them so I replaced them with Big River bags, which are durable and waterproof.
Interested to know how the t rack went, (is that platform from tumbleweed ? Strut clamp seatpost?)frame mounted on I think a carbon bike? What was the weight on the rear? Less than 20lbs with top and side bags?
It was great in the beginning, but as I got further south, I was carrying a lot more food and water back there and that caused it to flex. I'd say 20 pounds is fine. Much more than that and I'd recommend a stronger rack. I talk more about it in this other video starting at the 17 min mark: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VDwlIo26xyw.htmlsi=kVQblomCx3TvCGnT
Oops. It's actually in a different video starting at the 17 minute mark: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VDwlIo26xyw.htmlsi=kVQblomCx3TvCGnT
Gratulation to master that Trip👍 But don't get youre System Wy not just use big Racketpacks like Backpacker plus insted al this on youre Bars I now how horible a bike rides with weight at front I did lot of Backpacking and i'm a daylirider
Thank you! It was a great adventure. For your question about weight distribution, I do prefer to have most of the weight on the back. I haven't tried an 'all the weight on the back' setup. One concern I would have is that the giant bags would be in the way when pushing the bike up steep sections.
Every bike's geometry is different, and likes to be loaded differently, so there's no real "one-size-fits-all" answer to that question. It' probably a good rule of thumb to try to pack the bike somewhat balanced front/back, to try to keep the most weight centered and low -- that's why i now really like frame bags the fills the triangle (and use the mounting points i have on my bikes _under_ the front of the down tube.) Weight on the front is not always bad, it can provide better traction and better control when going slowly, specially going uphill, you do need some weight on the front wheel so it can grip the ground -- OTOH, too much weight up front will indeed make it hard to lighten up the wheel to go over bumps, holes, of course. Again, every bike has its own behavior, and it takes many miles and many changes of configurations to figure out what works or doesn't. Thanks Korelinlakes for sharing your experience!
