I finally got delivery of an Alpkit Kanga handlebar harness yesterday, but how does it fit ?
There are no instructions so I phoned them this afternoon. They said that they will eventually put some instructions on their website because they have had a lot of queries...

I'm not surprised.

If anybody has one or knows how to fit I'll be grateful...

There are two rods running down the harness - seem to be of plastic, they are quite stiff - so when I phoned them I said I didn't want to force them (into a circular shape) in case they snap...

I think I'll take them out ? Are they needed ? Or useful ?

Also does this harness actually sit on top of the cables ?

And of course I want to keep my Shockboard front mudguard

Found this on Google:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic ... -me-decide

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for some images.

Richard

I can help here. I've had one since the release date and have recently done some product testing for them.

ericrobo wrote: There are two rods running down the harness - seem to be of plastic, they are quite stiff - so when I phoned them I said I didn't want to force them (into a circular shape) in case they snap...

I think I'll take them out ? Are they needed ? Or useful ?

Yes, keep them. They work really well to stabalise the whole system. They might not seem important when loading up the bike but when you are thumping down a stony path with a load bouncing all over the place you'll see my point. I used simple straps before and the bouncing caused all kinds of problems including damage to cables. With the Kanga you essentially make a stiff board onto which you add the load. This means movement is isolated to the front of the 'board' rather than affecting bike/cables. With tightly done up straps you should have almost zero movement.

ericrobo wrote: Also does this harness actually sit on top of the cables ?

Yes. Depending on your forks there should be a triangular gap between head tube and Kanga. The front of the Kanga should be completely clear, ready for kit.

I'd recommend adding the straps you can buy for the Kanga. They exactly match those attachment points top and bottom. You get two in a pack which is fine normally. The Airlock xtra drybag has loops that match the horizontal space between the Kanga's strap attachment points. The combination of those three items works well. I've carried over 3KG of kit in a single Airlock bog on mine. Works really well for me.

I've added some pics here: http://greenmug.co.uk/gear/alpkit_kanga/which might give you some clues. Note that there can be a lot of rubbing where straps attach so protect as you would any other kit. You can adjust the height by changing where the top detachable straps are placed. Depending on the bike you might not get much choice. I found I liked it quite high as it gives a bit of protection but this setup stops bar mounted lights from being an option. It doesn't stop a GPS being mountain to the stem (see elastics on the forward facing pic).

ericrobo wrote: And of course I want to keep my Shockboard front mudguard

If you must.

Thanks for all that Greenmug...

In the absence of further information I took out the 2 plastic rods (and following the pictures via 'singletrack' where people complained that that the Kanga stuck up quite high and prevented lights on the handlebars, it does not stick up, and leaves plenty space for lights, maps etc.)...

I did a test ride this afternoon, about 11 miles including some really bumpy bits at speed

It performed really very well indeed, and did not move its position - my handlebar bag had all my sleeping gear including tents, scocks, track suit botts, in a large dry bag, and weighed about 5ibs.

It came with 3 straps - I'm assuming they didn't send these out previously ? But without them it just would not work, so a bit confused ?

Does yours stick up high (with the plastic rods in) ?

I can't get at your pictures because I can't login... ?

ericrobo wrote: It came with 3 straps - I'm assuming they didn't send these out previously ? But without them it just would not work, so a bit confused ?

I got mine very early on when it was called a Y-front. It had some product improvements. The straps were not available early on and were then added as an extra. I think you can still buy pairs of them if you want more. I wrote up something on the There n Back which alpkit put on their site. In it I've talked about this system and how in the freezing cold of the morning I was thankful for being able to just stuff the sack and click in the straps.

Alpkit are still improving the product so if you have feedback they would appreciate it.

ericrobo wrote: Does yours stick up high (with the plastic rods in) ?

Yes, maybe 5cm higher than the bars. I always use helmet lights so there aren't any negatives and there are some positives of having it like that. The stiffness of the system when carrying heavy front loads is a really good thing. In the winter kit I had about 3.5kg (everything needed for overnight). I guess without the bars you would still have stifness in the lower half if attachment points were done up tight.

ericrobo wrote: I can't get at your pictures because I can't login... ?

Sorry, permissions error. Fixed now. They are just temp pics for you to have a look at. One shows the traiangular gap for the wires I mentioned earlier and one shows the top third sticking up when bars are in place. Note that if I had placed the handelbar straps on the top rung then the top of the Kanga would be roughly inline with the bars.

Greenmug - did a ride today with the plastic rods in, yes it is definitely an advantage, no movement at all over bumpy ground.. very pleased now with the Kanga, what a difference to my rides up to now:- handlebar bar bag needing a lot of tapes etc. to secure it, and it still slipped eventually, and a bugger to fix on, take off, and put bag on again.

With this you just unclip from the 3 clips and it's off, just as easy to put back on...

Here's a picture:


The green bits are the ends of the plastic rods, and on mine the harness only sticks up about 2cm, so whether Alpkit have redesigned it ?

Here's another where you can see how the harness attaches underneath the fork crown:


And another taken from the front (no problem fitting along with my Shockboard mudguard***
(I've used crud catchers in the past but still got mud in my eyes, but not with this mudguard, and tons easier to remove/install than crudcatchers with their fiddly bits of elastic)