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| The Procaliber at the start of Great Southern Brevet 2017 |
The Frame Bag - I prefer to use drink bottles rather than a bladder, as I seem to keep better control over how much I drink. Also, bottles are easier to clean on a multi-day trip. So the bag I have is great, as it leaves me room for 1 bottle mounted on the seat post. The bag is an Ovega Negra Super Wedgie, size large, and fits very well - saved me having to get a custom bag made for what is a reasonably small frame size (bike is a Medium). It has a pocket for maps etc on the non-drive side, and one pocket on the other. I use it to carry a spare tube and tools (I just put my small seat bag in, which has tube, tyre lever, multi-tool, gas cannister, and misc bits), plus a 2nd tube, survival bag, food and other bits and pieces I may need during the day.
The Seat Bag - I am 1.64m, so had no chance of getting clearance for a seat bag on my full sus bike. Even on the Procaliber I had a struggle to find a bag that fitted the approx 190mm clearance from tyre to seat rails (remember the approx 15mm movement in the IsoCoupler joint). I had an Ovega Negra bag that just fitted, if everything was done up tight etc, but it wasn't waterproof and it wasn't overly big. The bag shown above is an Apidura 14L Dry Saddle pack and fits slightly better than the Ovega Negra, with slightly more tyre clearance AND it holds more. The Apidura also has built in loops that I wire tie my Spot tracker to. The red strap is an ex Mitre10 luggage strap approx 20mm wide with a plastic clip. I use it to reinforce the seat straps on the bag and it also holds the bottom of the bag up a little higher to help counter tyre rub (it also acts as a "spare" fix-it strap if something else breaks). This bag carries my sleeping bag (compressed into another lightweight drybag, just in case!), spare clothes, slip-on shoes, first aid, spare cache battery, etc, plus there is room for food if necessary.
The Front Roll - currently this is a Blackburn Outpost handlebar sling with a Specialised drybag (the smaller one). I carry my tent, sleeping mat, parka, wind vest, down jacket, and "day" clothes - wool gloves and beanie, merino top(s), arm/leg warmers etc. The tent poles don't fit inside the bag, so they go between the sling and the drybag. I may still go back to my Stealth front roll. The fact that it isn't waterproof isn't a biggie (the Specialised bag isn't fully waterproof either) as i just use drybags for the down jacket and the clothes. One advantage of the removeable bag is that it a little easier to pack up, but its not a huge advantage. I strap the front roll up to the aero bars (with one of the Mitre10 straps) and this holds them rock solid.
Front and rear top tube bags are my Stealth custom made ones - still work as good as new after about 10,000km of use, and still carry what they did on the old bike (refer the "getting started" blog)
I now use only one feed bag, although may go back to two for longer trips, to carry food in.
The fork mounted racks are the same as on previous bike - Blackburn Cargo cages with Salsa Anything bags. One carries my cooker (I now use a Primus, similiar to the Jetboil, but very slightly smaller and easier to get in and out). I seldom use the second one, but it is a food carrier for longer trips if needed.
A note on the jetboil / primus cookers - Because you can't fly with gas cannisters, I flew up to TA and bought one in Auckland. I couldn't find a 100gm cannister (that fits inside the cookers) so ended up with a 230gm one. By juggling the load around a bit, it wasn't a problem. The 230gm cannisters sit on top of the cooker in the Salsa bag, so don't take up much more room. And the bigger cannisters are cheaper and last heaps longer - the one I bought lasted me until Reefton, and I used it most days. I cut out a bit of plastic (from an ice cream container lid) and use it to protect the bottom of the cooker from the bits inside it. Also, don't carry any prepackaged drinks etc inside - they jiggle around and end up with torn packets - hot chocolate powder plays havoc with the jets in the cooker unit!! something like gloves or socks etc pack into them quite nicely.
The top drink bottles are mounted in Bontrager Sideswipe RL cages, bolted to Klite Anywhere 2 bolt bottle cage adpators (from http://www.klite.com.au/products). I use a strip of foam tape (to protect frame and also to help stop the adaptors from slipping) and 2 - 8mm wire ties and 2 - 5mm wire ties. Once I have tested that the bottles are in the right place, I wrap the two adaptors in tape, to help hold everything in place. I have done enough riding, over rough ground, to be confident this works well. It takes a little time to get the initial set up right, so that knees, forks and feedbags all miss the bottles.
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