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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
Think the roll mat is back in the kit list
Cycling / Camping advice
- Thread starter Ootini
- Start date
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
I ordered the £10 pannier bags. Gotta say I'm impressed, they may not be up to Ortlieb standards, but for the money they're cracking !
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
Yep, the weak point I've noticed is the zips on the small pockets are quite stiff, and withthe little skirt of material covering them, making them even more awkward to open I can see the zips being the first thing to go . But, with any luck, they'll survive the trip and if I catch the touring bug, I may well splash out on something a bit more robust.
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
Ortliebs are good, but cost a great deal. Others are cheaper, some have comparable quality. I like the top roller design, but good YKK zippers on older panniers are also quite good. Waterproof, weight, wearability- watchwords for panniers.
- Location
- London
Is weight that important in a pannier considering the amount of *** you are likely to be carrying?
Gravity Aided
Legendary Member
- Location
- Land of Lincoln
By weight, I mean weight of fabric, I should certainly have clarified that. All goes to durability, in my book. When you consider whata loaded touring bicycle weighs, the weight of the panniers themselves make only a little difference. Now just wait a month or two, and I'll have some pictures of my new panniers to replace the crappy Schwinn panniers I had. I made these out of Preen garden weeder containers, and they are solid, sealable plastic. More streamlined than kitty litter containers, as they are narrower, and with a sealing and lockable plastic top. Just have to transfer the fixtures from the Schwinn Panniers, or make new fixtures. Not a priority now, as the touring steeds are in bits in the basement right now. My ****load is about 25-30 pounds, as is the bicycle.
Alan Frame
Gnu
- Location
- Lost In Space
Run a pencil along the zip a few times, the graphite will lubricate it.
- Location
- In the hills
“YOU’VE NEARLY STOLEN MY ROUTE”
Except for a few diversions up some hills, to make it more challenging!
Road bike is just fine, if you keep to road at Llannulas to Rhyl because
of tons of sand and pebbles on trail, need a 4,4
May see you in the spring, good tour route low car and HGV.
Last edited by a moderator:
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
You've actually added hills intentionally?!?!
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
*UPDATE*
Right then kids, the Panniers turned up and as I said, I was quite impressed with them considering the cost, but I still had to find a pannier rack. I was going to grab the Tortec one listed earlier, but on Sunday I was driving past my LBS, which don't stock huge amounts of kit, but figured I'd see what they had anyway. The bloke in the shop rooted around in the stock room and eventually came back with a Raleigh RSP adjustable rack, I think it's also rebranded as an Avenir Pioneer rack, I was a bit dubious at first, with it being an adjustable rack, but then he clinched the deal, by offering it for £15 as there were a few scratches on it, and a bolt or two missing. He did however replace the missing bolts and fit it for me, free of charge, which was handy as it looked properly faffy to get it fitted properly, I'd have balls'd it up.
So, rack fitted, bags fitted (with random camping kit). Added the tent to the top of the rack and realised the tent is way, way too big! 3.5kg and about 80cm long when packed. It's a leisure tent to be fair, not a hiking tent. So that's been ditched and I've bought a cheap as chips 1 man hiking tent coming in at 1.4kg and 30cmx20cm packed. I've also replaced my tiny, thin crappy tesco sleeping bag with a slight heavier Vango jobbie.
Right then kids, the Panniers turned up and as I said, I was quite impressed with them considering the cost, but I still had to find a pannier rack. I was going to grab the Tortec one listed earlier, but on Sunday I was driving past my LBS, which don't stock huge amounts of kit, but figured I'd see what they had anyway. The bloke in the shop rooted around in the stock room and eventually came back with a Raleigh RSP adjustable rack, I think it's also rebranded as an Avenir Pioneer rack, I was a bit dubious at first, with it being an adjustable rack, but then he clinched the deal, by offering it for £15 as there were a few scratches on it, and a bolt or two missing. He did however replace the missing bolts and fit it for me, free of charge, which was handy as it looked properly faffy to get it fitted properly, I'd have balls'd it up.
So, rack fitted, bags fitted (with random camping kit). Added the tent to the top of the rack and realised the tent is way, way too big! 3.5kg and about 80cm long when packed. It's a leisure tent to be fair, not a hiking tent. So that's been ditched and I've bought a cheap as chips 1 man hiking tent coming in at 1.4kg and 30cmx20cm packed. I've also replaced my tiny, thin crappy tesco sleeping bag with a slight heavier Vango jobbie.
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Sounds like you are getting ready 
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
To be honest, what I'm trying to do is get most of the kit together, so I can start riding the bike with everything loaded. Need to build my fitness up, carrying weight on the bike and getting used to how it handles, probably won't actually be going camping until March / April.Sounds like you are getting ready
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Nothing wrong with planning ahead. I'm just putting together a camping tour along the Lon Las Cymru second week of March. It's a good way to keep exited when the weather's bad outside.
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Ootini
Senior Member
- Location
- North Wales
Holyhead all the way to Cardiff?
