Salsa Warbird with RockShox suspension and Tailfin bag bike check | The ULTIMATE Bikepacking Setup? 

Glad it was helpful!

Thanks so much!

Well, what do you think of the cutthroat or Fargo? I believe you might have just described their geometries in the second portion of your comment

😎

Where is the ride footage? I can’t find it!

I wonder as 2 friends recently have had broken carbon frames from rock impacts

@@monty2078 That sucks but get better quality carbon bikes and get some basic downtube protection. Even aluminium bikes now come with that.

@@monty2078 That sucks but get better quality carbon bikes and get some basic downtube protection. Even aluminium bikes now come with that.

You can't ride that terrain with no suspension. The rudy ultimate been used here are not fit also for this terrain. 30 or 40mm is far to low. Min 75 to 80mm to enjoy and feel more confident and comfortable. This gravel bike thing is bit silly. We had hybrids before them. So what happens. You add bigger suspension what you got a hybrid with racer handlebars. So why do we need to buy a bike called gravel when hybrid does it all lol

I could say it's really good training, but it's more likely she's just bored and waiting for me to stop waffling and get back to actually riding the bike which she loves!

Tailfin is genial 🤩

Yup first time using it and don't think it'll be the last

@@davidarthur why no frame bag?

Trying to keep the whole setup as light as possible and because the Tailfin was big enough to take most stuff I needed

That’s 18kg mate.

LOL dang metric@@Klaisyon​

lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

probably high modulus, but to be safe i send it over to hambini to get it checked out

go 2x, simple

@@lechprotean I do on my road and XC mountain bike. Thought I'd try 1x when bought my gravel bike because the 2x didn't have a clutch and it's nice having the gears sequentially, plus it's easier to keep clean in winter. Definitely less efficient though.

Surprisingly more useful in Scotland on some of the steep tracks full of boulders than it has been on my local trails. Pretty certain I could live without it though but there were a few times when it was nice to have

We managed to get adequate drinking water from stops but used fresh stream water for boiling to make food and hot drinks but we had some purification tablets just in case

@@davidarthur Thanks David!

@@davidarthur what about food? did you take enough with you at the beginning?

I carried plenty of riding food, malt loaf and flap jacks as well as expedition freeze dried meals with a small stove to heat water, but we planned good stops at cafes and pubs as well so we didn't have to carry all the food we needed for the entire trip

No issue at all finding water in Scotland. Just take a filter; I used a MSR Trailshot on this route in the summer. It was hot and I could fill my bottles- almost at will.

Combination of pubs (be rude not to) and carrying ready meal pouches in the seat pack and cooking on the stove. This worked well for a couple of days of dropping in and out of civilisation

The Tailfin acts as a sort of mudguard! And you can get one for the RockShox fork but I don't have one to test yet

Minimal wobble first, then nothing noticeable. That's loaded up with both panniers and an AeroPack. The TailFin is excellent in most ways. My main niggle, apart from the price, is that the lighter panniers will abrade and tear much easier than anything Ortlieb or Vaude. According to TailFin, they're guaranteed for 5 years agains tears, etc. Will get in touch with them and see if I can get replacements. If I was to nitpick, I'd also point out at the fairly limited space between the latch handles for the AeroPack and the panniers. It will get a bit tricky sometimes to squeeze your fingers in to release the latches, especially with the panniers fully loaded. Not a real issue, but not entirely perfect. Also, the panniers are a tad on the narrow side, which, though aids the aerodynamics of the setup, limits capacity somewhat (most Vaude and Ortlieb panniers I've had over the years are a bit more spacious. The rubber inserts for the latches that attach the rack to axles - are removable (an advantage in itself), but can come off during removal of the rack; likewise, the original type (metal) top top stay -to- arch retention clips can disengage and drop, the revised ones are rubber and apparently improved, but look quite flimsy (N.B.: it should be stressed that these clips do not retain the two components together - they're a secondary safety feature). Also, the little rubber end-bumpers for the hollow carbon horizontal struts are glued to the said struts, and tend to get un-done. Their purpose is purely aesthetic, but it's a shame this happens. Also, my second set (I ordered two) was green in parts; this turns out to be excess bonding material (epoxy?) filling the void, where there ought to be more carbon. I contacted TailFin; they assured me that this won't affect the integrity of the rack. So far so good. The positives: there are too many to name: they're incomparably beautiful, especially the carbon versions; they're light; essentially no-wobble; very reliable for such a light system; they're fairly versatile - will mount to the QR axles, TA axles or seat stay eyelets, the latches that attach the system to axles / TAs or frame mount adapters - are pleasantly tactile. I've used one for shopping and commuting for 3-4 years thus far (and the other - a few months as yet) - they're holding up perfectly (touch wood). They're rated to a load of 27kg in total (9 kg per pannier and 9 kg for the AeroPack) - from experience, I'd deduce they should cope with that. All-in-all - despite a couple of niggles (they are appearing to be working on small functional improvements, for there've been at least two iterations as of yet), the TailFin is the finest, most advanced and technical of all the racks I've used to date, including the titanium Tubus Airy (the second best rack system, best suited to metal bikes). Recommended!

@@LeoInterHyenaem I still can't get over the price ...

I understand you might feel it's difficult to appreciate the difference and think it's all BS but even with big tyres and suspension you can feel the different the wheels make, in the same way you can feel the difference in frame material/design and wheel material/design. If you get the chance to try it you'll know what I mean

I just rode carbon rims on a 2 day bike packing trip, they were noticeably comfier and better tracking.

true dat!

Way off, nearly 40lbs!

Did you hear the part about speed? Gravel bikes win when touring or bikepacking. Less rolling resistance and lighter weight.