Shock horror I have a friend.......

And she's signed up on here today, but she's too shy to ask strangers straight away.
But as you all know I don't care, so I'll ask for her.

So. She wants to start bike packing,
She has a road type bike with panniers but what's to move to sort luggage to go more overland on her small harftail mtb frames bike.
Now I can help here with fine tuning her kit down to TLS.
But what I don't know is which bike luggage she should consider for a small bike frame.

Please can you share your small bike frame bike packing luggage tips and photos if possible please to help her out?

Cheers
John

Short arse here.

The real game changer I've found has been the Alpkit exo-rail;

https://alpkit.com/products/exo-rail-se ... ing-system

The only thing to stop a seat pack rubbing when you have F all seat post showing.

APF

Since she's asleep on the settee I'll comment on what Cath uses.

For the fat bike she uses an Arkel Randonneur seat rack and just straps a dry bag to it. This also has an Alpkit framebag.





For the Stooge she uses an Alpkit seat pack but stops it rubbing on the wheel by using a Mudhugger guard.



Up front it's a Wildcat Lion harness with dry bag. Neither bike has a suspension fork so it's not going to suffer from rub when the fork compresses.

Thanks Alex and Bob.
Any more ideas?

Using mudguards +/- racks like Bob describes is something I’ve seen as a tactic for bags on a small bike before.
If she’s willing to spend a huge amount of cash a Tailfin would be an option.
US supplier Rockgeist have saddle packs of good volume that need very little exposed seat tube.
Rucksack?

So I have very little seat post to play with. I use a wildcat rear set up but put a old front crudcatcher in the base to add support and under a extra to pull it up that quite effective. DM if you want a photo can post one up easily

Sarah

A video from Path Less Pedalled recently has a few tips:
https://youtu.be/Y19ZBZHZMa4

The most space effective method I have seen for a XS frame is a rear rack with a 20L Sea To Summit River Dry Bag strapped horizontally, water bottles on the side of the down tube and on both fork legs, and cages on the front forks.

The good thing about the bloke on PLP is that he states his biases and his intended use cases so you know why he prefers the things he does. He does make me want to get a set of carradice style bags for the gradventourer but I wouldn't want to go in that direction for my mtb, I'd rather use a smaller bar bag and either a rucksack or fork leg cages (via gorilla clips).

A friend who rides tiny bikes uses a dropper compatible setpack without a dropper. Apidura if I recall. Just about fits.

Also uses a full frame pack which contains loads of small bits and bobs, tools, bit of food etc. Then either uses a camelback or a bottle in a stem cell. But does almost always have a small backpack due to lack of room on the bike.

A straightcut bar bag lifts a dry bag very high but needs an accessory bar for a bar light, or a headlamp.

Thanks again for your help.
Any more Monday ideas please?

Same conundrum as those of us who want full use of a dropper, and/or don't want to have to to swing a leg over a traffic cone.

Rack. Specifically Thule Pack n Pedal, incredibly secure mounting.

One thought John, you mentioned that it was an mtb, but is it rigid, hardtail or full sus?

To add to Bobs cheeky post - now I am awake

I use the Alpkit koala on the seat post - although I had to add the mudhugger to stop it catching. I used the smaller wildcat on my older bike but this will not fit on the stooge. The wonky donkey (arkel randonneur) can be a bit temperamental - you have to have it set up exactly right or it will undo and bounce/flap into your tyres - and its fiddly to adjust on the trail - not good in the cold or wet.

Can she use the pannier rack and strap a stuffsac to the top as a try out before shelling out more cash?

I also use the large alpkit fuel pod in the frame triangle which fits nicely on both bikes and leaves room to have a water bottle.

Up front the wildcat harness works well on all bikes - had a little bit of rub on he hardtail when using a large stuffsac but that was mainly down to a bad set up. I would think any harness will be the same.