Packing a bike

[WasPhantom]

Ok, in light of my heading over to Nelson next month for a couple of weeks, I'm going to need to learn how to pack a bike well. Again, any tips/suggestions are greatfully received...

One thing I am wondering however, is how best to strap my backpack of clothes and laptop/camera etc to the bike. I'm not sure if it is just me, but having my backpack on my back means I get tired a lot quicker, probably because I'm having to physically shift the weight around, or carry the weight, rather than just balance it....

As you can see by my profile, I've got a mighty ginny, so I won't be going too fast ;-)

[WRT]

One thing I am wondering however, is how best to strap my backpack of clothes and laptop/camera etc to the bike.

CAREFULLY. You dont want to look in your mirrors and see that shit bouncing down the road after you.

It will need a bit of carefull planning to strap a bag to a bike. People pay a fair bit of money to do it right, in the form of tankbags, packracks, top boxes and panniers. Make sure that it cant swing down and tangle itself in your rear wheel or suspension, and if you are putting anything on the tank make sure it cant interferre with your steering as well.

[WasPhantom]

Oh yeah, I'm certainly willing to spend money where I need to to make sure it is done safely

[steved]

Get a tank-bag. They are like $60 new and everything will be nice and safe.

[WRT]

Tank bags are good. Just dont keep your wallet in it if it is the magnetic type, as your cards will get wiped. Same goes for anything else that stores information in magnetic format, such as floppy disks etc.

[steved]

I got told that tank-bags are bad for magnetic strips but I haven't had any problems with them so far. Maybe I've been lucky?

[TerminalAddict]

I'm a big fan of tail bags ...
I've got a small ventura tank bag for everyday use, which is about 5 litres.

Titanium has a really nice oxford tail bag, that expands out to about 30 litres I think. I think I saw these for sale for around $130-150

You can safely ignore them once they are attached firmly

[WRT]

Probably. In particular they are bad for the magnetic strips if your wallet is on the bottom of the bag and you fold the flaps in underneath it when you pull the bag off the bike. That'll be when the damage occurs. Either way, for the sake of putting your wallet in your jacket pocket, it would pay to keep your cards well away from the tank bag. You can just about guarantee that the time your cards wont work is when you are out in whops-ville trying to get gas with no cash on you. I only know of one person who has had their cards wiped, but its better to be safe than sorry.

[WasPhantom]

Another thing is how safe is it to leave things like magnetic tank bags on my bike while traveling on the ferry?

[Wasp]

my brother always said:

put a tarp on the ground, pile stuff onto it, fold it up and tie it with a stretchy cord tie down thing, stretchy tie down to rear seat of bike.

ive never tried it (or seen it) but yea...

[The Pastor]

How much bags to you need to pack a blanket a toothbrush and a bar of soap? (cops get more anal when they pull you over and you smell bad)

[jonbuoy]

I bugeed a backpack to the back of my bike where the pillion would sit - sideways on if you see what I mean. You can use the pillion footpegs to clips the bungees onto. I put four on and it held up round south island. Put all your shit into cheap binliners first to stop em getting wet - even if your backpack is water proof. + A Spare bin liner for rancid old socks. I found tank bag annoying, it scratched the tank if any grit got between the magnets and the tank, having to pull it off when re-fueling (all to often on the VTR). Only good thing about it was having a map pocket on the top. Those little zip sandwich bags are great for keeping you wallet and phone dry too. I did have photo of the setup but can't find it.

[Macktheknife]

Have you thought of a pack rack and back off trademe or similar? Failing that I think Oxford do a bike bag for around $200 that secures to rear seat, holds about 30-45 Ltr, that should be enough for 2 weeks anywhere.
I think they are called barrel bags, I will look for a piccie for you.
Or look here http://www.oxprod.com/index.php?pg=3...d=58&pid=91&p=
the humpback looks ok.

[Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)]

Before I got saddlebags or panniers I put a bag on the back and used lots of bungy cords - it never moved!! Have also learnt to travel very light - even for a woman!! Always made sure I had at least one pair of high heels on me tho!! lol But you could probably get away with not taking those!!

[WasPhantom]

but high heels do wonders for my legs!