I used my Vaya on my last time out...

Bikepacking bags are more aesthetically pleasing than a pannier set up. Anyone else ever thought that

I know you can't carry as much, but they do look much better

Crosslight Touring by zippyonline, on Flickr

Ritchey breakaway track set up 42/16 for commuting and also bike packing on the ridgeway. Running 25mm kenda karvs it's surprisingly fun off road!

Groovy saddle, what is that?

It's a Tioga Spyder Web saddle I think, the fancier version I think...

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/tiog ... lsrc=aw.ds

@yorlin - almost its a toga spider but the more basic one, can't see one for sale but review here

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... dle-10487/

Have to agree with the review its surprisingly comfortable.

My neck hurts...

Dainiusd wrote:My neck hurts...

Same here, any chance the OP could sort that ................................ please

Et voila!

Thanks johnnystorm, the odd thing is I posted from my iPhone which looked fine. Only when I loaded up the page on my mac was the picture up side down!

Just bought a CX bike from eBay, looking forward to hitting the trails next weekend. Is there more of an issue with pinch flats on more rougher technical stuff?

Is there more of an issue with pinch flats on more rougher technical stuff?

My experience would suggest that pinch flats are part of the deal.

sillybigfella wrote:Just bought a CX bike from eBay, looking forward to hitting the trails next weekend. Is there more of an issue with pinch flats on more rougher technical stuff?

I got three in a wee ride around the Trossachs recently, though that is very, very unusual for me. It helps to try to "ride light", standing up and letting your legs and arms act as effective shock absorbers.

What PSI would you recommend / normally use?

Depends on your+bike weight and tires... I've never had a pinch flat on CX, using Kenda cross supreme's

Dainiusd wrote:Depends on your+bike weight and tires... I've never had a pinch flat on CX, using Kenda cross supreme's

I too use the same kendas, they're cheap, really grippy and ive only had 2 punctures and they were on my old set of tires, so yeh, highly recommend (I run at the highest psi it let's me, usually about 75-80)

http://theradavist.com/2014/05/bikes-fa ... outback/#3

some nice rides here.

some nice rides here.

and a few things that I struggling to decide about ... could be genius or could be death trap

I'm going with death trap

Looks woefully under-engineered to me .

Ray Young wrote:Looks woefully under-engineered to me .

As an engineer, the theory seems fairly sound to me. It's a truss at the rear triangle and pretty much a purely axial force, so shouldn't really be any bending across it. Looks like the MTB equivalent of a leaf spring! Won't be as plush as a proper adjustable shock with rebound damping etc, but adds a level of comfort.

I'm basing this all on guesswork of that photo mind, so could have got the wrong end of the stick...

Also, theory and practice and all that, there's plenty if things that are good in theory, but aren't in practice, and I haven't ridden that!

I don't think it's a death trap though.

Zippy wrote: As an engineer, the theory seems fairly sound to me. It's a truss at the rear triangle and pretty much a purely axial force, so shouldn't really be any bending across it. Looks like the MTB equivalent of a leaf spring!

Aha, this makes more sense. At first glance i thought that was a picture of the fork!

Didn't get any pinch flats when bikepacking on the croix de fer
I only seem to get pinch-punctures riding 'normally' off-road on the croix, but then it seems to egg me on all the time and ride too fast downhill...
as ben98 mentions, don't run low pressures - I think the lowest I've run is 55psi, but when bikepacking it was more like 65psi

Looks like the MTB equivalent of a leaf spring!

It's obviously acting as a spring Zippy but I was more concerned about the size of the side cut-outs used to 'tune' the spring ... there's not much material round them.