And he's brought an Easton Kilo 1 man tent - 850g and £250 from Tiso.com - just the thing for Scottish bikepacking..


then for good measure he brought my replacement Big Nine Carbon frame and a seatbag thingy from Wildcat gear !!

ooh some nice loot there. I'll be very interested to hear how you get on with the tent.

10 Alpkit Ti Pin tent pegs that weigh the same as 3 of the cheapo steel ones I have been using. Also a 13 litre dry bag.

An Exped Schnozzel pump bag arrived this morning from Germany. Out of stock in the UK until Oct but sourced it from here - http://www.sackundpack.de/index.php

Lots of interesting stuff on their site so well worth a look, it also arrived in 24 hours

got this one for my birthday http://www.sleepingbags-cumulus.eu/jack ... cade836411 just 366g in XL size

Pawel wrote:got this one for my birthday http://www.sleepingbags-cumulus.eu/jack ... cade836411 just 366g in XL size

Looks ace. If their sleeping bag ratings are accurate they look hard to beat for weight/price/warmth.

pedalhead wrote:[
Looks ace. If their sleeping bag ratings are accurate they look hard to beat for weight/price/warmth.

yes they're - i'm using their xlite 200 sleeping bag and i'm happy with it

I received a bucket-load of cuben goodies from Zpacks yesterday :D .

Hexamid Solo Plus tent. I only had 10 minutes to pitch it before heading out for a ride so it's not quite right yet... (clicky biggie pics)







Custom cuben handlebar dry bag...





Pillow dry bag...



Various cuben stuff sacks & dry bags...





Ultralight toothbrush



Full gallery here...
http://s1059.photobucket.com/albums/t43 ... nd%20bobs/

I also bought the twin bathtub groundsheet with the Hexamid but haven't tried that yet. Pouring with rain today so it'll probably have to wait a day or two. Initial thoughts on the few minutes I spent with the Hexamid yesterday...quick to pitch, shouldn't be hard to get it pitched properly given a bit of practice time. Crazy light for such a big shelter..there's easily space for me + child and/or dog, which was some of the thinking behind this bigger shelter. Pack size is bigger than I'd hoped, which could be an issue when using on the bike, though less so for hiking with daughter. The carbon pole supplied by Joe is, predictably, very flexy. There was a gentle gust of wind when it was set up yesterday & the whole thing deflected massively! Suspect I'll be looking for another pole pronto.

Liking the cuben goodness! You should maybe have had a patch of Cordura stitched to the back of the bar bag though...the cuben will soon wear through if it's touching anything.

Oh do you think so? It'll be strapped into a Wildcat Mountain Lion harness so shouldn't move about much, though I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

How much was that handlebar dry bag? (weight, cost, capacity)
Any more detail on the construction, such as the wrap around straps - are they just to help it hold a shape when stuffed? Are there two layers (or a thicker layer) of cuben in the middle third?

Solo Plus looks good. I'll let you know how I get on with a custom carbon pole when I've worked out the details...

Ian wrote:How much was that handlebar dry bag? (weight, cost, capacity)
Any more detail on the construction, such as the wrap around straps - are they just to help it hold a shape when stuffed? Are there two layers (or a thicker layer) of cuben in the middle third?

Solo Plus looks good. I'll let you know how I get on with a custom carbon pole when I've worked out the details...

The Handlebar dry bag is based on his "Medium Plus dry bag" but I asked for it to be made with thicker cuben (I think it's 1.2oz). The medium plus is listed as 9.5L capacity, but with one end rolled three times I can fit an 8L Alpkit bag inside with only a small amount to spare...which is ideal for me as I wanted something around 8 - 9 litre capacity.

Here's a pic Joe sent me of another one he did for a previous customer, which gives you a better idea of how it looks...



-- Velcro closure and roll top + clip at both ends.
-- Mine weighs 66g not including the attached belt pouch, which is 24g.
-- Same thickness cuben throughout (1.2oz I think).
-- The wraparound straps should help the bag keep it's shape, but also allow various options for attaching stuff. Not sure how useful they'll be yet but will be interesting to play with.
-- Cost was $50 for the dry bag. The pouch was an extra $18 I think.

It was a bit of an impulse purchase really that I placed after the initial Hexamid order. I hope it'll be up to the job but being a cuben noob I couldn't say for sure without using it for a while.

pedalhead wrote:Oh do you think so? It'll be strapped into a Wildcat Mountain Lion harness so shouldn't move about much, though I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

Sorry, I thought it was a stand-alone bag when I saw the velcro loops and the front pocket.
Looking at the pic of the other customers though, they'll have to watch where those brake levers touch...cuben isn't very abrasion resistant.

d45yth wrote:

pedalhead wrote:Oh do you think so? It'll be strapped into a Wildcat Mountain Lion harness so shouldn't move about much, though I'll definitely keep an eye on it.

Sorry, I thought it was a stand-alone bag when I saw the velcro loops and the front pocket.
Looking at the pic of the other customers though, they'll have to watch where those brake levers touch...cuben isn't very abrasion resistant.

Yeah I think perhaps the original intention of the design was for it to be used on it's own but I certainly wouldn't fancy that from a longevity point of view. I'm just hoping it'll stand up to being strapped up super tight in the harness.

My Stratospire 2 has finally arrived from Tarptent. All in with duty (£41) I paid £291 inc seam sealing and 2 carbon poles. It comes with pegs as standard. I ordered the carbon poles for use with the bike really as I guess we'll use trekking poles when we walk.
Had it on the scales and inc the Easton poles, peg and in it's bag it weighs in at 1325g so pretty light considering it sleeps 2-3 with 2 openings and enough space for a pack either side.
Can be pitched as tarp or inner only too.

Will post some pics when it's dry and I have a chance to put it up.

No reason.
Just because.


Bloody sharp though.

Will you promise to sing the lumberjack song whilst using it?

Will you promise to wear suspenders and high heels?

Always hankered after a grundfors (sp?) axe. Look like lovely bits of kit.

For some reason the banjo music from deliverance is playing in my head and I'm slightly scared

they're such nice axes - we've got two (medium and the large splitting ones)!

we've also got one of these (in case anyone's interested):



it's a hand-made 5ft two-man cross-cut saw from Thomas Flinn & Co. in Sheffield (quality goods!).

gairym wrote:we've also got one of these (in case anyone's interested):



it's a hand-made 5ft two-man cross-cut saw from Thomas Flinn & Co. in Sheffield (quality goods!).

Reminds me of boarding school, logging squad to be precise.

This is thanks to a tip off from Stuart. Katabatic Bristlecone bivvy, 195g on my scales. Not waterproof but fine for under my BWD Lair and should keep bugs out :D


Katabatic Bristlecone bivvy by Brother Smith, on Flickr

Some KCNC rotors from the classifieds. Thanks Anthony


KCNC Razor Rotors by Brother Smith, on Flickr

Finally 10m of 2mm of Dyneema, because you can never have enough of the stuff :)


2mm Dynemia by Brother Smith, on Flickr

Nice bivy, Brothersmith.

Another piece of ultralight loveliness arrived today..

Black Rock Gear down hat



Evil puppy is impressed with pack size...



Weight is 22g for size medium and it feels lovely and toasty. One thing to note around sizing...the website suggests for men to generally go for the large size but the medium fits me perfectly and I don't think I have a freakishly small head or anything. I tried Flatfishy's large the other day and it was quite a bit too big for me (of course FF may have a freakishly large head I suppose )

pedalhead wrote:I tried Flatfishy's large the other day and it was quite a bit too big for me (of course FF may have a freakishly large head I suppose )

K'off.
Pinhead.

Mine is a large though at 23".