Packable Rucksack

[sean_iow]

I've got a Dare2B silnylon rucksack which I have used on occasions when I've needed to carry extra/food supplies I've bought on the way but I've never been that happy with it unless it's only for short distances. I do use a rucksack from the start on some rides, current favorite is a Vaude Uphill 12LW.

What I'd like is fold-up rucksack I could take to use as required but with better straps than the silnylon one and maybe a compression system so it's not just a bag with straps with all the stuff down the bottom, but not as feature rich as a full on rucksack. So what I'm after is somewhere between the two I have, and here it is, literally between the two I have



It's out of pu coated nylon ripstop which weighs 70g/m2 and has a crisp finish which makes it easy to work with. The compression system is just a series of webbing loops sewn in to the front panel seam with a bit of 1.3mm dyneema. I made it a roll top closure for ease and water resistance over a zip.



The main aim was to make the straps better as I find the ones on the Dare2B a bit uncomfortable. I made these out of 2 layers of ripstop with a 3mm closed cell foam core for padding. As the ripstop has a shiney/smooth surface I also added a layer of mesh on the inside to help stop it sliding off my shoulders, hopefully.



There's a sleeve inside for a hydration bladder which takes a platypus 2L roll up water carrier. On the Dales Divide I had to empty my frame bag to get 2 x 500ml bottles in and another one on my bars with elastic as my usual 2 x 500 bike bottles on the frame turned out to be not enough between sources due to the heat. This also means I'll be able to fill up at night if I'm going to bivi higher up away from a water source. The sleeve could also be used to improve the back system is a piece of old csf mat was slid into it.

It folds down nearly as small as the silnylon one which is pleasing, the straps are the limiting factor so I've folded and rolled it to avoid squashing the padding to much.



There is a weight penalty for the extra features, the finished article weighs 96g. The silnylon one is 82g so that's 14g more. For comparison the Vaude is 345g although this is actually quite light for a fully featured rucksack with a proper back system.

Volume wise the Dare2B and the Vaude are 12L. The myog is only about 8L but for some food from the spar and enough water for breakfast this should be fine.

[benp1]

Nicely done, looks really good that!

[redefined_cycles]

Genius that... on my recent use of my Osprey one I remember thinking, is this hurting my shoulders/neck. Then managed to empty the food out of it and suddenyl the back pain gone... remmeber thinking, wont bother next time (even though it has decent straps etc)...

Mine wasn't waterproof either

Well done (did I say that already)

[sean_iow]

on my recent use of my Osprey one I remember thinking, is this hurting my shoulders/neck. Then managed to empty the food out of it and suddenyl the back pain gone...

A tip which I think I heard on one of the Hidden Athlete podcast is to take light stuff out of your bike bags and put that in the rucksack to free up space to put the heavier food on the bike.

[redefined_cycles]

on my recent use of my Osprey one I remember thinking, is this hurting my shoulders/neck. Then managed to empty the food out of it and suddenyl the back pain gone...

A tip which I think I heard on one of the Hidden Athlete podcast is to take light stuff out of your bike bags and put that in the rucksack to free up space to put the heavier food on the bike.

Yup. Noted Sean. First I couldn't be bothered to and ended up putting the water etc after undoing the sack into it... but then after a few minutes I realised that was just daft and had to stop and rearrange (jackets and other malleable/light stuff in backpack and the 2L spare water bottle in half frame bag. My mistake on yhis occassi0n was that I left at home my saddle pack which normally swallows a whole heap of gear...

[ripio]

Good copy of Alpkit Gourdon, although smaller volume.
https://www.alpkit.com/products/gourdon-20#features

[sean_iow]

Good copy of Alpkit Gourdon, although smaller volume.
https://www.alpkit.com/products/gourdon-20#features

I've got a Gourdon, 2 in fact, one yellow and one black and the wife has 2 as well

The roll top closure does make it look like that, but then all of the rucksacks with roll top closures look similar.

The gourdon has a stiffened back, but it can be removed which would make it pack up a bit smaller. The main problem I find with my gourdon is that the compression system doesn't really work. I use it every day to commute but all my stuff just ends up at the bottom. But to make it better the attachment needs to be on the front more which would mean more seams and that would compromise the waterproofing. They're great rucksacks though, if they made a 10L one it would have saved me 2 afternoons in front of the sewing maching

[Thisisnotaspoon]

Thats cool, ive got the £1.99 bag from decathlon, similar to the osprey and certainly not waterproof. But 46g and £1.99!

Quite appealing having a waterproof version thats tolerable for more than a couple of hours. I had planned to strip the webbing and buckles off it and replace with spliced dynema but that looks like a much better bag.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Very nice work Sean.

[sean_iow]

Cheers. I used it on the SD300, filled up the 2L bladder at the tap at 90 miles and this then got me through to the end. I didn't notice I was wearing it as the sleeve for the bladder inside keeps it in place and the straps are quite comfy. I topped up my bottles as they emptied so the weight dropped from 4.5lb when first filled as each 500ml was decanted into the bike bottle.

I'm off to Madeira on holiday in a weeks time with Jane and her brother and his wife. Not taking a bike But there is a bike hire place near where we're staying. Apparently overnight temps are about 19 degrees. If I sneak this rucksack, my Borah bivi and my 3/4 Klymit into my luggage I might get a chance to pop out overnight

[Bearlegged]

Ha! Setting off for a bivvy without a bike is some pretty serious TLS!

[dlovett]

Thats cool, ive got the £1.99 bag from decathlon, similar to the osprey and certainly not waterproof. But 46g and £1.99!

Quite appealing having a waterproof version thats tolerable for more than a couple of hours. I had planned to strip the webbing and buckles off it and replace with spliced dynema but that looks like a much better bag.

do you mean this one?

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/ultra-compa ... 56624.html

[dlovett]

IS there anything you cannot make!! Nice job.

I've got a Dare2B silnylon rucksack which I have used on occasions when I've needed to carry extra/food supplies I've bought on the way but I've never been that happy with it unless it's only for short distances. I do use a rucksack from the start on some rides, current favorite is a Vaude Uphill 12LW.

What I'd like is fold-up rucksack I could take to use as required but with better straps than the silnylon one and maybe a compression system so it's not just a bag with straps with all the stuff down the bottom, but not as feature rich as a full on rucksack. So what I'm after is somewhere between the two I have, and here it is, literally between the two I have



It's out of pu coated nylon ripstop which weighs 70g/m2 and has a crisp finish which makes it easy to work with. The compression system is just a series of webbing loops sewn in to the front panel seam with a bit of 1.3mm dyneema. I made it a roll top closure for ease and water resistance over a zip.



The main aim was to make the straps better as I find the ones on the Dare2B a bit uncomfortable. I made these out of 2 layers of ripstop with a 3mm closed cell foam core for padding. As the ripstop has a shiney/smooth surface I also added a layer of mesh on the inside to help stop it sliding off my shoulders, hopefully.



There's a sleeve inside for a hydration bladder which takes a platypus 2L roll up water carrier. On the Dales Divide I had to empty my frame bag to get 2 x 500ml bottles in and another one on my bars with elastic as my usual 2 x 500 bike bottles on the frame turned out to be not enough between sources due to the heat. This also means I'll be able to fill up at night if I'm going to bivi higher up away from a water source. The sleeve could also be used to improve the back system is a piece of old csf mat was slid into it.

It folds down nearly as small as the silnylon one which is pleasing, the straps are the limiting factor so I've folded and rolled it to avoid squashing the padding to much.



There is a weight penalty for the extra features, the finished article weighs 96g. The silnylon one is 82g so that's 14g more. For comparison the Vaude is 345g although this is actually quite light for a fully featured rucksack with a proper back system.

Volume wise the Dare2B and the Vaude are 12L. The myog is only about 8L but for some food from the spar and enough water for breakfast this should be fine.

[Thisisnotaspoon]

do you mean this one?

Yip