[Closed] How do you carry your kit on a road ride?

saddle bag

Jersey pockets should be more than sufficient unless it's a really big one with changeable weather.

jersey pockets

Tools, tubes, keys etc in a saddle bag and food, waterproof etc in jersey pockets.

basket no hang on I mean pockets

Do a forum search, there was a long thread on this last week.

I've a teeny saddlebag for tubes, pump goes on the frame and then jersey pockets.

don't need tyre levers but puncture repair kit, 2x spare tubes and multi tool in a wee seat pack. HP-X frame fit pump. mobi in pocket (as I use the MP3 on it while riding.)
if all I carried was a tyre lever and patches, I'd ust tape them to the frame.

i find the trick is not to over pack if you want to just use jersey pockets.

i still have a MTB mentality when on the road so brings lots of, I'm sure unnecessary, tools hence I use a large saddle bag.

Standard spares that go on every ride (tubes, allen keys, change, tyre levers, windproof, powerbar) live in the seatpack. Anything extra I might need for a given ride's weather or length goes in the pockets.

everything you need in here...
http://www.cycle-world.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b0s73p7823&z=9520

Same as BD

Just got one of these:

[img] [/img]

I refer my honourable friend to the below thread, and specifically JoB's typically on [i]pointe[/i] response....

[url] http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/road-bike-qs [/url]

I use a bike bottle toolbox thing for my roadie, would normally put stuff in a jersey pocket but i need to carry a 15mm spanner to get the wheels off so this is easier.

Rich.

kwick save carrier bag hanging off the riser bar 😆

It must be a big spanner to justify that bag. I also carry a 15mm to undo the nuts on my singlespeed but it fits in my jersey pocket.

What the hell do you keep in that bag?

it's really depressing seeing a nice road bike with a saddle bag the size of a cow's udder hanging off the back.
you only need anything like as big as the one on that blue bike above on a long audax.
if you're going that big you might as well go for a rack top bag.

it's really depressing seeing a nice road bike with a saddle bag the size of a cow's udder hanging off the back.

But the one above is a Pompino, so it doesn't matter.

😉

pump on frame, tube and levers in seat pack, bar, phone, money and lip balm in pocket.

i've got a very small saddle bag for a tube. the rest (pump, food, money, lip balm, levers, phone, waterproof and sometimes map) goes in pockets.

2 tubes and patch kit, one lecy taped tot he seatpost, other between the saddle rails.

Pump on frame

multitool, ipod, phone, wallet, keys in back pockets, If it looks like bad weather either wear the raincoat out the door or take a small cammelback.

spare tub taped under saddle
co2 cartridge/multitool/beer and/or cake money in jersey pocket
iPod round neck

What the hell do you keep in that bag?

LOL!

The bag has my change of clothes for work, if you read the text i said i use a [i]bike bottle toolbox thing[/i] (as seen in the bottle cage) to hold tools/tubes/spanner/tyres levers etc.

it's really depressing seeing a nice road bike with a saddle bag the size of a cow's udder hanging off the back.

But the one above is a Pompino, so it doesn't matter.

Touche good sir!

STATO
That would have been handy for the French tart I picked up at the weekend.

Camelbag indeed

Yeah, what's wrong with a Camelbak.

That would have been handy for the French tart I picked up at the weekend.

You shouldnt call them that, Juan might get offended 😆

Tarte aux pommes yummy yummy.

Tools -
Allen key multi-tool, spoke key, teeny chain tool, bit of chain, tyre levers and puncture repair kit all stuffed in a teeny saddle-bag (if you have a large saddle-bag you might be able to squeeze a spare tube or two in as well, although a large gumpy bag will spoil the lines of your bike and mark you out as easy prey for predatory cyclists). Make sure the saddle-bag doesn't rattle, this can get annoying, especially for other riders. If you can't stop it rattling then adjust your gears so that they tinkle all the time, and make sure you have a squeaky cleat or creaky crank as well, just for the full effect. With the help of a toe-strap (if you have no idea what a toe-strap is then ask your parents, or the old bloke in the bike shop), a rolled-up rain jacket can be stored under the saddle too. Make sure it's well secured so an arm doesn't dangle out and get caught up in your gears ruining the jacket and ripping the rear derailleur off. Make sure you have that special tool for that special bit on your bike that no-one else has a tool for, you know, the 7mm spanner for that bolt that has never needed adjusting ever before but will suddenly decide to come loose 50 miles from home.

I'd advise against a Camelbak for carrying stuff. Apart from the massive faux-pas it would be, if it's in any way hot it will feel horribly uncomfortable on the back and it will be awkward on any descents - wanting as it will to overtake your helmet. And again, it marks you out as easy prey. Don't panic about water, bottles will be fine, there's plenty of petrol-stations and caffs to stop at for refills.

Pockets. Are. Fine. See below.....

Jersey Pocket Etiquette
Left-hand pocket - 2 spare tubes, energy bars/gels.
Middle pocket - lightweight rain-cape, gillet, Buff. As necessary.
Right-hand pocket - more energy bars/gels, and a small bag of monies.

All rolled up and tucked away neatly, no unsightly bulges or dangly bits.

What JoB said.

One of [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=26042 ][b]these[/b][/url] might be useful.

[i]I'd advise against a Camelbak for carrying stuff. Apart from the massive faux-pas it would be, if it's in any way hot it will feel horribly uncomfortable on the back and it will be awkward on any descents - wanting as it will to overtake your helmet. [/i]

huh? Massive faux-pas? WGAS.
Awkward on decents? How is it different from downhill on a mountainbike?

[url= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/2404548871_169a10574c.jpg ][img] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/2404548871_169a10574c.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/2404548871_169a10574c.jpg ][img] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2399/2404548871_169a10574c.jp g"/> [/img][/url]

Of course, spare tubs looped round the body, food in chest pocket, bottle on handlebars is also a very good look.

JoB - chapeau.

No, Jo's right, Camelbaks are seriously annoying on the road, then again try riding without one offroad, it's liberating.

They do try and overtake you, one tends to be much lower at the front on a road bike, so it slides up your back.

I use exactly the same as i do for my mtb, Wingnut (but i swap the tubes out for road ones 😉 )

"[i]Awkward on decents? How is it different from downhill on a mountainbike?[/i]"

because you'll be in the drops, with your back flat or even with your head lower than your arse (i know that "being in the drops" is a phrase and position most mountainbikers aren't aware of), and not sat upright like on a shopping bike

Awkward on decents? How is it different from downhill on a mountainbike?

How high are your drop bars?/How low are your MTB bars?*

*delete as applicable

huh? Massive faux-pas? WGAS.

Other important road riding tips include not nodding like the Churchill dog as you try to push a gear you're not strong enough for.

Again, get a wingnut, that fella aint going anywhere near your head!

i use one of my panniers as i got sick of ramming pockets and saddle bag with all the crap i like to carry. doesnt weigh too much more anyway really and i much prefer it 😉

Again, get a wingnut, that fella aint going anywhere near your head!

Neither is it going anywhere near any other part of my body.

Again, get a wingnut, that fella aint going anywhere near your head!

If youve got a pot-belly to tuck the strap under maybe 😆

None of this [i]matters[/i]. I just find it a bit difficult to understand why anyone feels the need to do it wrong, as it's so easy to do right. 🙂

😀

No pot belly on me, Im a racing snake at 10 stone. You ever used one omitn?? Without a doubt the best bag i've ever used.

Why would you want a Wingnut when you could just use bottles and jersey pockets!?

I imagine the people who feel the need to use a Camelbak are the same ones who use a full laden 30l pack for a 45 minute spin on the MTB!

I just cannae be bothered to empty everything out of my bag, and i dont like bottle cages 😉 Much easier to just pick up the bag and go than get it out and put it in all the wee pockets.

You ever used one omitn??

No. I don't holiday in Florida.

And that means...??

(sorry, bit dim)

I just cannae be bothered to empty everything out of my bag

'Everything' being a couple of tubes, a CO2 pump, £10, and a small multi tool? (In my case at least!)

i have a tennis ball tube cut in half and the top pushed over the bottom,
it fits perfectly into the rear bottle cage and can carry tube co2 stuff tyre levers etc,, it can be pulled apaet to make it bigger to fit spare tyre,,
and you can just pull it out of the cage when you arrive or to put on another bike

True, i have only just started this road riding malarkey (literally yesterday!) No doubt my views will change...

And that means...??

In my mind's eye I see palid people with bumbags on waddling around theme parks.

This is not the elegant aesthetic one ought to be striving for on a road bike.

haha! aye, true to say they do look like bumbags. I shall worry about the aesthetics later, I still ride in baggies 😉 Should i get lycra shorts?? do they make that much difference?

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

No not scratching butt but grabbing an energy bar etc.

[img] [/img]

Awwww Bless, mountain bikers finding out about real cycling, it really warms the cockles....

Not sure i agree with that one 😉

I though mtbink was the real cycling...

Considering you need fitness AND skill to be good.

I don't know where this idea that riding on the road doesn't require skill comes from.

Watch good people riding fast on the road. They pedal very, very fluidly at high cadences, they corner incredibly economically and very tightly, carrying a lot of speed. The difference down hill between a poor descender and a good one is enormous. Also, the amount of skill involved in working in a group of riders on the road to share the work, reduce the effect of wind on the group and sustain high speeds is considerable. Finally, there is a great deal to racing in bunches and finding a way through in finishes particularly.

Someone with fitness but little skill won't necessarily be shown up as vividly as someone who, say, can't get through a tricky rock garden without dabbing or who bottles a big see-saw offroad, but you'd notice if you went out with someone of equal fitness on the road who was a better rider, no doubt about it. 🙂

I don't know where this idea that riding on the road doesn't require skill comes from.

Or that MTBers have fitness and skills...

Maybe it was a little sweeping 😉

Or that MTBers have fitness and skills...

I think you'll find most of them have both, they just don't post on here

I think there are alot of MTBers who think they are fit, as a mountain biker i am reasonably fit but if i go out with the Roadies i get a kicking because i am not that fit. Fitnesses being the ability to ride a bike quickly from a to b.

Skill is a different thing, you can be a skilled MTBer and be crap on the road and vice versa.

Do you need OCD to be a "proper" roadie? All that stuff about latex gloves and what should go in what pocket? Seems a touch anal?

The whole point of having things in particular pockets is to stop the constant, incessant stopping and emptying out on the ground of bloody camelbacks which seems to accompany most group mtb rides.

I'm very skilled on my road bike. I get on it, I pedal, I reach my destination. SKILL!
Any more than that I ain't interested in achieving.

By the way - carrying things in a back pocket is dangerous. I got hit by a car and knocked up in the air. Came down on my back.
Camelbak saved my spine fom serious damage, but the tool in my back pocket chipped the bone on impact with the road. Never carried anything in jersey pockets since.

"[i]carrying things in a back pocket is dangerous. I got hit by a car and knocked up in the air[/i]"

interesting Daily Mail knee-jerk logic there, it's not the carrying things in the back pocket that's dangerous, it's the cars that are dangerous

i had to take avoiding action from cars 4 times during yesterdays ride, the pointy items in my back pocket at no point threatened to cause me any harm

Yeah, real Daily Mail me.
So only cars cause you to fall off your bike? When you're going down hills as steep as you claim, I'm sure thats not the case!

where have i claimed to go down steep hills?

i have crashed many many times, most of the time it's been my fault, some times it hasn't, as collateral damage i have been cut, bruised and scarred by chainrings, pedals, bars, bar-ends, quick-releases, stems, brake-levers and pointy things in my back-pockets, none of which i have removed later because they are 'dangerous'

one ton of car, in the right hands, can be quite dangerous though

Here: "I'd advise against a Camelbak for carrying stuff... it will be awkward on any descents - wanting as it will to overtake your helmet."

That would take heck of a steep hill!

That would take heck of a steep hill!

If you ride all 'sit-up-and-beg' maybe, for those of us who can actually bend our back its pretty easy to get your head right down onto the stem in an aero tuck style.

for road rides I have a saddle bag like the one below as I don't have pockets in my t-shirt and I don't like having too much in the pockets of my baggies

[I'm not anti-lycra, just anti-me-in-lycra]

[img] [/img]

i think that you are incorrectly inferring any steepness

as has been mentioned before, on a descent (steep or not), you're most likely to want to be in the drops, where your back will be flat, or even angled towards the bars, because the drops will be lower than the saddle (unless it's a "sportive" bike, obviously) causing the Camelbak to shuffle forwards

you can also be in the drops on the flat, or on an uphill gradient (if you're feeling chipper), or sprinting, when a Camelbak will also want to bunny-hop your head, or in the case of sprinting, want to have humpy sex with it

humpy sex

...and, as has been noted a couple of times, you don't need all that rubbish that folk insist on taking in their Camelbaks when out on the road.
I've just done 75 miles and took a mini pump on the frame, a tube, wallet and phone and 4 gels; no need for space blankets, multi tools, or anything else.

Two bottles though; warm one today, and many lovely ladies to see.

Light weight rack and a very nice [url= http://www.arkel-od.com/panniers/tailrider/overview.asp?fl=1&site=uk ]Arkel rack-top-bag[/url]. Can take enough supplies for a long ride unsupported.

I'd like to buy a fancier road bike, but 99.9999% of them don't have rack mounts.