Hi rossi
i'd be interested in how you manage to pack so light, i've not done much travelling on the xc yet but on my old rt i always seemed to be carrying a lot
i seem to carry a lot of odds and ends just for the bike itself even on day trips and local outings and easily fill a us10 tail pack with tools and spares
cheers
Comes with practice I suppose. I used to work in outdoor education and spent a year in Hong Kong leading expeditions over the mountains every week. This means I have lightweight kit and am used to packing exactly what I need. The only items I packed for the HUMM (the photo above) and didn't use were my MX gloves and a pair of lightweight hiking waterproof overtrousers.
The duffle contains
clothes:3 synthetic t shirts,3 pairs of socks, boxers, 2 trekking trousers
lightweight sleeping bag and thermarest
msr stove (petrol), mess tins packed with food
wash kit and travel towel
para cord (washing line, tow rope etc)
lightweight waterproofs
On the outside of the duffle is a lightweight 2 man tent.
In the US10 is a windproof fleece (if I am not wearing it under my mesh riding jacket), maps, compass, camera, passport and bike docs (required for spain
), sunglasses, batteries, lunch, torch. My water bladder goes in the mesh pocket of the US10, as do a couple of bungies which were useful for attaching loaves of bread etc to the rack.
Other than having a larger sleeping bag and thermarest, Nick pretty much matched what I was carrying for the humm. The 2 main exceptions being a spare pair of shoes (I rode in my Altbergs so didn't take spare footwear like Nick who rode in off road boots) and tools. Nick carried his tools in a bumbag and wore a kreiga camelback; my tools are all stored around the bike. Nick also wore goretex riding kit which he found very hot. My mesh clothing kept me much cooler and I had the option of the waterproofs over the top for when it got cooler / wet. Not much good if you leave them in your tent though.
In the picture you can see a drinks bottle and mess tin on the front of the bashplate. The bottle contains spare clutch, brake and gear levers, tube patches, CO2 bottles, cable ties and a pot of nuts/bolts The mess tin contains a front tube.
Tubes of vulcanising glue and JBweld are stuck under the seat with velcro as they burst if left with tools rattling against them. 2 tyre levers are attached to a subframe top rail with cable ties and a 26mm spanner (cut down to form a 3rd lever) is velcroed to the other rail. Tied to the bottom of the seat is a nylon pouch with the rest of my tools in: a motion pro tool kit (expensive but very good), a couple of spanners, a pair of pliers, more cable ties and latex gloves.
There are a number of advantages of carrying the tools on the bike: you always have them with you, less effort than carrying them yourself and you don't land on them when you fall off. The only disadvantage is when you have the bike loaded and have to remove your bags before you lift the seat.
Nick found a useful place to keep a spare tube for the trip. He attached the alloy plate of his TT rack with longer bolts and spacers, leaving room underneath to store a tube, neat.
