Hi all! I did a post on making custom panniers for my KH26:
Check out the page for a bunch of details. Here’s a picture of the result:
Very nice.
I tried riding with my climbing gear several times last year and it damn near killed me. Kudos to you.
This year I might try ultralight gear in a small pack for an overnighter.
If you don’t mind me asking, what does that design of handlebars do for you?
Thanks!
Definitely try a rack; it is so much easier to have the weight off of your body when riding. It makes mounting harder, but it is worth it.
Check out my video about my handlebar:
I talk about why I like this design; basically it is comfort. For long distances, it is so much better for the butt to put weight in your hands and take it out of the seat.
corbin
hey Corbin, can you estimate whats your weight balance between rucksack and pannier?
if the trail is more challanging, like steep uphill walking and drops downhill i would prefer rucksack, but in cross country trails it seams to be a good solution!
I have about 50/50 in the backpack vs the unicycle.
In practice, I found I can ride more difficult and steeper terrain with the weight on the unicycle. When the weight is on me (just a backpack) it is much harder to stand up and get your weight out of the seat.
corbin
Hi Corbin,
I find it interesting that both you and Jamey are using the oldschool chunky aluminium racks to fix your rear bags. Did you consider emulating the design of some of the newer bike packing bag set ups like this one? By supporting the weight of your bag from the seat rails means you can get away with a much smaller and lighter rack. I’m sure with your machining/welding abilities you’ve be able to put something together pretty quick.
I don’t have nice enough lightweight camping gear to make uni-packing an attractive prospect. The riding I did with Scott in Switzerland after UNICON was pretty formative. Even without camping gear, there was too much weight on my back to actually enjoy technical riding. And so then if the riding is not technical, why bother doing it on a uni? Since moving to Laos I find myself doing quite a bit of bikepacking/adventure touring on my MTB and think that I would go down that route for any multiple day, adventure riding.
Good luck with the trip!
Mark
Oh yeah, I agree that some other setups would be better! I started playing around with welding something up ,but time caught up with me and I had to get to using something ASAP.
I leave for the Arizona Trial tomorrow; Jamey has already been on it a week.
corbin
Hi Corbin
Are you going to blog the ride. I for one would be keen to f follow your adventure.
Stewart
Yeah! http://facebook.com/corbinstreehouse and http://www.corbinstreehouse.com
Probably both places…
corbin
I’ve got a bag like this from Wildcat gear. They are a cottage manufacturer of bikepacking gear in the UK. They do custom gear but mine is ‘off the shelf’.
Having used it on a rigid 29 2 wheeler I expect it would wag too much on a unicycle; you really need something solid to anchor to.
I’ll try and mount it on my 36er and see how it feels. I suspect I’ll need to make some brackets that hang off the rear bumper bolts but I’ll post the results here.
Edit: Just noticed the clamp and struts lower down the seat post. I’m doing this!
Perhaps using an extended stiffener plate, sandwiched between seat post plate and seat might provide strap anchor points which serve the same function as seat rails?