My partner and I took our Treks on their first bikebacking trip last week. 100 miles and 12,000ft elevation over 3 days on the South Downs Way in SE England, UK. It was a huge learning experience for us both and the bikes coped better than their riders did. I am now planning the next trip and wondering how to pack my Procaliber to lower the centre of gravity and make it a little less top heavy. Any ideas, please?
by Injurious_Beans
6 Comments
1. Get a framebag and put your heaviest items in it. Depending on your water situation you can even put a bladder in it.
2. Maybe some kind of minimal rack (tailfinn, mica, etc) and a dry bag rather than using a seat pack. You can get axle mounts for most racks now a days.
Frame bag, or look at rear rack options so you can run a set of small panniers.
I tend to load my frame bag with the heaviest stuff as normally it’s the stuff I need when you’ve arrived at your location. You would lose the ability to run a bottle in the frame, but a small hydration pack sorts that out.
Setup looks nice and light. A bar bag and a saddle bag.
Not sure what else you can do.
I mean if it’s too top heavy you’d actually benefit from putting some weight down on the forks in the front or adding micro panniers. Both those things would lower the center of gravity.
As light as your packed, a frame bag might also be the ticket but then you lose your bottle mounts. But get all the heavy hard stuff in the frame bag and keep the saddle bag light.
Frame bag, rear rack, fork cages
Anything but panniers. Goddamn son
Frame bag, longer top tube bag or 2nd top tube bag in front of your seatpost, a minimal rear rack to replace your seat pack