Mounting a tent from your handle bars?

[AlanW]

So the tent purchase is now sorted, well nearly!

But now I'm looking at options in which to mount a tent from the handlebars. Oh boy.....so many options to choose from!!

I quite like (really like) the Tailfin Bar Cage, great looking and has so many options, but of course such luxury comes at a whopping price for sure. The downside with this is that it actually clamps onto the bars, which I'm not overly keen on as I have carbon bars.

Then there are the two racks from Wholegrain Cycles, the Jack the Rack (very heavy option) and Cliff the bike hanger.

The Aeroe Spider A Cradle is another possible?

I don't want a bag particularly maybe just a compression sack with my tent inside that, or even just my tent? Which is why I was leaning more towards a cradle or some sort of "bag" support?

But open to thoughts to those have a lot more experience than I do. Which to be fair wouldn't be hard as I have zero experience......

 

[chriswoody]

Whether you have a bag/harness combo or a dedicated rack, you are going to have a few problems that you need to consider. The biggest is the cables and routing them behind whatever mounting method you choose, then you have the issue of rotation, bags especially will always want to rotate and leave them rubbing against the headtube. The last issue depends on your handlebars, but if you have drops, then you need to make sure that whatever you mount in between leaves room for your hands to safely operate the brakes and shifters.

The system I've adopted after several years of experiments and lots of problems, is to go with a Topeak bar harness with their drybag. To counter the rotation issue, I have a Restrap Bumper bar fitted, which the bag sits against. Not only does the bumper bar prevent the bar bag from striking the headtube, but the cables also route behind it, so preventing pinching issues. Then the last thing I do is use two additional Voile straps to hold the bar bag tight against the bumper bar and prevent it moving.

Hopefully the two photo's give some idea of what I mean. This is a super stable set up and in the dry bag I'll often keep the tent, sleeping mat and a few other things like some smelly clothes or waterproofs.

Here's a little more reading on the subject:

https://bikepacking.com/index/handlebar-cradles/

https://bikepacking.com/index/handlebar-harnesses-and-rolls/

 

[AlanW]

Whether you have a bag/harness combo or a dedicated rack, you are going to have a few problems that you need to consider. The biggest is the cables and routing them behind whatever mounting method you choose, then you have the issue of rotation, bags especially will always want to rotate and leave them rubbing against the headtube. The last issue depends on your handlebars, but if you have drops, then you need to make sure that whatever you mount in between leaves room for your hands to safely operate the brakes and shifters.

The system I've adopted after several years of experiments and lots of problems, is to go with a Topeak bar harness with their drybag. To counter the rotation issue, I have a Restrap Bumper bar fitted, which the bag sits against. Not only does the bumper bar prevent the bar bag from striking the headtube, but the cables also route behind it, so preventing pinching issues. Then the last thing I do is use two additional Voile straps to hold the bar bag tight against the bumper bar and prevent it moving.

View attachment 802840

View attachment 802841
Hopefully the two photo's give some idea of what I mean. This is a super stable set up and in the dry bag I'll often keep the tent, sleeping mat and a few other things like some smelly clothes or waterproofs.

Here's a little more reading on the subject:

https://bikepacking.com/index/handlebar-cradles/

https://bikepacking.com/index/handlebar-harnesses-and-rolls/

Great reply and just the sort of info lm looking for, thank you.

Funny you should mention the Restrap Bumber Bar, as l'd already decided that l would probably need one of those. Its a drop down handle bar set up with Di2, so only the brake hoses to worry about, but appreciate l still need to be mindful of them.

I'll take a look at the Topeak bag and if l could get my tent in it, then it would indeed be a Bruce bonus.