On recent long rides ive been using a back pack to hold tubes, food, clothes and the like. I really dont like how it sits on my back and pulls on my shoulders and neck. I need a good seat (that wont rub my legs), frame pack (that wont interfer with my seat tube mounted water bottle) or fanny pack/domestique bag. I'd like something large enough to tubes, food, ID, and tools. Hey if you could provide a link and pic of your suggestion that would be real cool.

Thanks in advance..

If you carry one tube, two tire irons, a 5 mm wrench, and some Park patches (like me) then you get by with a pretty small seat pack. If you need to haul some kitchen appliances (or the sink) then you need some thing bigger. Performance, Nashbar, Colorado Cyclist, Excel Sports, etc. all have wide selections of seat bags, and typically list the volume so you can compare them. Several are expandible if needed.

I do not like to carry backpacks for just riding, when I commute I don't have much of choice to carry my lunch and shoes, or on long distance rides where 3 water bottles are not enough then I carry a Camelback. I use a expandable rear seat bag (or wedge) with about 135 cubic inches of carry space ( when expanded) to carry a spare tube in it's box, a spare folding ultralight tire tightly compacted, 6 glueless patches, a tire boot, 21 tool Park mini tool, small folding pliers, 2 tire irons, a device called a VAR that makes installing the last part of a tire a snap without any possiblity of damaging the rim, tire or tube, ID with blood type and phone number listed, $25 cash, house key, and batteries for taillight and computer. And yes believe it or not it all fits into the seat bag with some room left over for 2 Power Bars for medium distance rides.

I carry the above stuff because I ride unsupported in remote areas and need to be able to handle just about any situation, or someone else's problem which I have been able to do for unprepared strangers in the past.

My bag is a Cycle Sport bag I bought at a LBS, but in the Performance mag there is a Performance Transit wedge called the Macro which looks similar to what I have.

On longer rides when I have to take my Camelback Rogue for extra water and pack more food into the pockets of the Rogue and use my jersey pockets for the same.

I also use a pump not CO2 so that I can have unlimited air if needed.

If you can't fit it in a mini-wedge and your jersey pockets, you don't need it.

The essentials:
1 tube
1 tire iron
1 pack of glueless patches
1 CO2 inflator (e.g. Innovations Air Chuck)
2 CO2 cartridges
2 dollar bills (make good tire boots)

I also carry a great "micro tool" by Finish Line called the Chain Pup. It is about the size of a matchbox and has a 4,5,6 mm t-wrench with spoke wrenches for 14/15g nipples and a chain tool.

All this fits in a 2x3x4" mini wedge.
Specialized has some decent minimalist models that you can find at your local LBS.
Here's their slightly larger revised mini wedge:
http://www.specialized.com/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=5011&JServSessionIdroot=fsqsd3ocy1.j27008

For an added sense of security on longer solo rides in isolated areas I carry my cel phone in a Jersey pocket.

Try riding without the kitchen sink for a change, your back will thank you!

The essentials:
1 tube
1 tire iron
1 pack of glueless patches
1 CO2 inflator (e.g. Innovations Air Chuck)
2 CO2 cartridges
2 dollar bills (make good tire boots)


Hope that tire iron doesn't slow you down.

If you use your bike the way you would an old Porsche, then you probably CAN get everything into a mini-wedge and your pockets. If it's more than a Saturday toy, though, you'll want to carry things occasionally. I brought home a garbage can one day (saw them on sale in Home Depot and forgot I was riding...), and a few weeks ago I found two 8-foot 2x6s alongside the highway about three miles from home--just what I needed for a project--and carried them home resting on the bars with the other end tucked under my arm.
I don't like riding in a backpack, either--I rarely even use a Camelback on my mountain bike. For small loads, I have a Rivendell Hobo Bag on the handlebars (Sunday paper, jacket or sweater, small camera if I need one). Tools usually go in the wedge under the seat. For longer trips and my commute, I use a great big Carradice Longflap seat bag, equivalent to a Rivendell Adam or Hoss--all my clothes, size 15 shoes and a paper under the flap. Works great.
You can see the Riv stuff at www.rivbike.com. Rivendell doesn't handle much Carradice anymore since it started its own line, but a lot of places carry it. I think the factory site is just carradice.com. Kind of expensive, but first-quality stuff and it will last forever.

I don't know if you'd be interested in something along the lines of a seat post mounted rack with removeable pack? Topeak makes some pretty neat stuff. Performance has a combo pair for $100. I like mine for longer rides. It does disable my Profile Aqua-Rack. The pack is big enough to hold a six-pack of, well, whatever you like to drink. That's with a lot of room to spare. Give it a look.
Good Luck,
Cydswipe.

Last year on my way home from a 70km ride I passed a farmers stand by the road and stuffed 6 ears of corn (on the husks) in my jersey back pockets. I already had my cleat covers and a sandwich Ziplok bag with my keys and money in the pockets.

Had bout 8 km left in the ride after I loaded up on the corn. Atually I've hauled corn in the jersey many times.

Oh ya I also have a Topeak mini aero wedge and a mini pump attached to the water bottle cage.

On recent long rides ive been using a back pack to hold tubes, food, clothes and the like. I really dont like how it sits on my back and pulls on my shoulders and neck. I need a good seat (that wont rub my legs), frame pack (that wont interfer with my seat tube mounted water bottle) or fanny pack/domestique bag. I'd like something large enough to tubes, food, ID, and tools. Hey if you could provide a link and pic of your suggestion that would be real cool.

Thanks in advance..

This is the one I use it carrys all the tools I need plus a couple protien bars. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg.
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=676423&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=13631&bmUID=1081827515428

Last year on my way home from a 70km ride I passed a farmers stand by the road and stuffed 6 ears of corn (on the husks) in my jersey back pockets...


That's a good 'un.
When I'm not too loaded down with the masonry, sandbags, or odd cord of firewood I typically cart around on my 15 lb. TCR, I like to do a little foraging myself.

I used to take the bladder out of my Camelbak when the sunflowers were in bloom and pick a bouquet for the wife on the way home when I lived in Germany.
Here in Jersey, it's the tiger lillies that burst into bloom all along the roadside that make me dig out that old-school neoprene "quiver" every spring -- just watch out for the lilly pollen: it stains like crazy!

Come to think about it, maybe I should get an old Porsche for those flower runs!

I got made fun of for having my camelback, a decent sized platyupus pack, on my first road ride. My road guru/mentor told me to go home take everything out, lay it on the floor and look at everything to see if there was anything I didn't need- air shock pump, lighter, poncho, mre, water purification tablets, a little red marking ribbon, lube, a first aid kit, mirror, extra socks, medium sized dog... Anyway it turns out I didn't need a whole bunch of the stuff, now i put it in my jersy pockets, and i carry

right pouch: cell phone, wallet/ or just id and money, keys

center pouch: tube, park tubeless patch kit, cook brothers pump (co2 is for wasteful people imho), 2-3 power bar harvest, banana

left pouch, canon digital elf in timbuk2 pouch, topeak alien xs

never had something i didnt have when i needed it, camera is the thing i use the most

water in one or both cages if i need it

(co2 is for wasteful people imho) ...

It depends on how often you flat. If I flatted on a daily or even weekly basis, I might consider carrying a full-sized frame pump.

In my experience, because mini pumps don't work worth a d****, the 10,000 cycles you have to perform to get a tire inflated to above 80 psi tends to fatigue tubes around the valve stem, leading to tears.

These tears can't be patched, so the tubes go straight in the trash can.
Come to think about it, the half-dozen worthless mini pumps I've tossed over the years before I gave up on them didn't help the landfills either...

The handfull of spent CO2 carts I produce a year go in the recycler with the rest of the scrap metal. I feel far less guilty about this than the mountain of granola and power bar wrappers I produce on an annual basis.

The only truly environmentally-sound option, of course, would be to take your long-lasting, tube & landfill friendly FLOOR PUMP with you. My all-steel SKS is still going strong after 8 years, and will probably still be around 8 years from now.
Anyone got a backpack?

It depends on how often you flat. If I flatted on a daily or even weekly basis, I might consider carrying a full-sized frame pump.

In my experience, because mini pumps don't work worth a d****, the 10,000 cycles you have to perform to get a tire inflated to above 80 psi tends to fatigue tubes around the valve stem, leading to tears.

These tears can't be patched, so the tubes go straight in the trash can.
Come to think about it, the half-dozen worthless mini pumps I've tossed over the years before I gave up on them didn't help the landfills either...

The handfull of spent CO2 carts I produce a year go in the recycler with the rest of the scrap metal. I feel far less guilty about this than the mountain of granola and power bar wrappers I produce on an annual basis.

The only truly environmentally-sound option, of course, would be to take your long-lasting, tube & landfill friendly FLOOR PUMP with you. My all-steel SKS is still going strong after 8 years, and will probably still be around 8 years from now.
Anyone got a backpack?

Then carry a full sized frame pump. My Zefal HPX works great...gets the tire to over 100psi pretty quickly. Just wait until you have bad luck and get more fl*ts than you have C02 carts--or get a bum cartridge. The walk back to town will convince you to carry a regular pump of some kind.

I got made fun of for having my camelback, a decent sized platyupus pack, on my first road ride. My road guru/mentor told me to go home take everything out, lay it on the floor and look at everything to see if there was anything I didn't need- air shock pump, lighter, poncho, mre, water purification tablets, a little red marking ribbon, lube, a first aid kit, mirror, extra socks, medium sized dog... Anyway it turns out I didn't need a whole bunch of the stuff, now i put it in my jersy pockets, and i carry


Boy does that sound familiar. I thnk I have all that in my camelback for MTBing. No....wait...I don't have the medium sized dog. Mine runs behind.

I use the pouch on my road bike because I can put everything I need in it and it stays there. So when I want to go for a ride I just grab the pouch and go and I don't have to make sure I have everythng in my pockets. The other reason is I don't always have a jersey with pockets to wear.

5char

I just received a new mini pump which I haven't tried yet (picking it up tonight) called a Barbeiri CarbOne. I didn't get it because it was carbon or because it weighs 59 grams (I have a 115 mini Topeak Pocket master blaster that sux) but because quite a few posters on this forum and others I follow say they can't believe how well this mini pumps and with relative ease. They say getting 110psi, or even higher is no prob at all. Supposed to be the design that makes it work.

I'll post my impressions on it in a few days.

I just received a new mini pump which I haven't tried yet (picking it up tonight) called a Barbeiri CarbOne. I didn't get it because it was carbon or because it weighs 59 grams (I have a 115 mini Topeak Pocket master blaster that sux) but because quite a few posters on this forum and others I follow say they can't believe how well this mini pumps and with relative ease. They say getting 110psi, or even higher is no prob at all. Supposed to be the design that makes it work.

I'll post my impressions on it in a few days.

I carry a lot for many reasons. As you know, I commute through your neighborhood. You live near my favorite bike shop - Wheelfine Imports, in Lambertville. Mike Johnson is the most extreme bike nut, bike guru and bike mentor I know. He's got the bag you need.....

Why carry more patches ...

I take it you've never used glueless patches?

Let's run through the theory:
a) the things come in packs of 5+, and 90% of what you're carrying both space and weightwise is the packaging. Thus there is no reason to take any out.
b) two words: multiple punctures
c) there is no such thing as a 100% success rate in any installation context: I rarely ever have patches that don't "take", but I have managed to drop one glue side down into the dirt.
If one is all you've got, murphy's law says that's the one that's going in the dirt!