Kanga Blues

[welshwhit]

Hi all,

I got hold of one of Alpkits Kanga Harnesses as a 'rough cut' ages ago, and believe it or not, I've only just got around to trying it on the bike!

It threw up a few issues, and whilst I may well be being a bit of a chimp, thought I'd ask for some advice!

Here it is:



I got it mainly to protect the drybag and cables of the bike, simply strapping the dry bag to the bar has worked a treat, but rubbed the bar and bag quite a bit.

Here's the problem/s...

Whilst the ease of the harness is appealing, I want it to protect the cables, I did notice though with the Kanga fitted, the brake hose looked to be under considerable stress, something I'm not sure about...





What do folks think, am I being a numtie and fixing it up wrong?!


With the stays in place it mounts very high, when removed, it gives a more pleasing position, but the bag wobbles with every bump, as tested riding off the steps in the garden!

Is there anyway of stopping this, or is this designed to use the stays full stop?

Without stays in place


Also, whilst looking at the brakes I discovered this...

Does this need attention?!

Thanks in advance everybody!

Drew

[Charliecres]

I seem to remember something from Alpkit suggesting you should shorten the stays to suit your set-up. If you cut them down so they don't come much higher than your bars you'd probably be fine.

I've never seen a Kanga in the flesh but I made my own bar harness along similar lines and it works very well. Mine has an additional couple of straps that run back to the handlebar from the 'tail' of the top buckle that holds the bag in. That does away with any bouncing.

Hard to tell what's going on with your brake hose. Has it just got kinked or is it coming away from the lever? If it's the former I'd just keep an eye on it; if it's the latter then you need to get it sorted or it'll pop off when your a thousand miles from help and spray corrosive brake fluid all over your expensive bivy gear.

[Gari]

I had the same problem with my Avids and straight bars on the Singular, that was with a Revelate harness so I don't think it's peculiar to the Kanga. I think it's as much an issue with the hose run on straight bars, when I swapped to my Titec jones bars it eased a little, swapping to cable discs finally solved it for me, sorry I know that doesn't help you much
Any way you could fashion some spacers to push it away from the bar a little a la Revelate harness foam thingies (apologies for the technical jargon!)
I always thought that Kanga sat really high on the bars, irrespective of the cable/hose issue.

[ericrobo]

I had been riding without a Kanga (desperate to fix the handlebar bag on, and off, and it still moved to one side)...
then a few weeks back I bought one, and not knowing what the carbon poles were for did test rides without them...

Then discovered what they were for, fitted them, and they have been on since.

I find it makes a big, big difference and holds the bag in place a treat, and it's so easy to unclip and put back on... just 3 clips (once you have got them set to the correct lengths)

I have noticed one of my brake cables being forced into a sharper angle than I would like, but keeping an eye on it for now.

I also have a Cannondale Lefty, and have done a few rides with the Kanga on that too. It moved just a bit to one side but not very much really so I just used another strap to help it out..

I think you should try and fix it in slightly different positions (with the carbon/fibreglass ?poles IN). Experiment with the position of the straps which fit around the handlebar, either higher or lower...

[Ray Young]

The only way I found to avoid the brake hose/bag interference problem was to either move the brakes to a horizontal position which is not ideal or change to bars with more back sweep, Mary's in my case. Personally I wouldn't run the risk of the hose breaking with a kink like that in it. No experience of the kanga so I can't help there.

[ScotRoutes]

Seems to he a pretty common problem. As Ray says, some adjustment of lever position to a less fashionable, more horizontal position can help.

My Revelate bag sits a lot lower than the Kanga so there is more space.

Swept back bars, like Marys or Loops can help.

Finally, the Shimano dual-control levers have a much better cable exit, parallel to the bars.

[greenmug]

Hi, I've got quite a bit of experience with the Y-front. I say that because you have a Y-front which is a little different to a Kanga. Not in the ways that affect you but the product has gone through one or two rounds of improvement from rider feedback.

Regarding brake hose issues, I think the general comment with this and other products is that you have to adjust the setup holistically. It is normal to consider that the last item you attach should fit in with what is there in the first place but that doesn't always work. I shift my brake inwards a little so that the Y-front rests on the calliper. No issues with riding 3-4 KG over rough terrain. Take a look at http://greenmug.co.uk/gear/alpkit_kanga/ for some pics of how I have it setup and in particular http://greenmug.co.uk/files/8713/9281/5 ... 75x800.jpg for the brake hose aspect.

Regarding the high position, I quite like it. I found it became a bit of a wind/mud block for the bars/GPS. If the bag is too low, there is a danger in some setups that the bag meets tyre upon heavy bumps. Most dry bags are thin enough to not be able to deal with too many of those. Having a high position does give absolute reassurance this won't happen. I did wonder if it would be a good place to put additional luggage. A small rear facing pouch might allow for a feeding pocket or malt loaf storage pouch.

I'd recommend keeping the bars in.

[welshwhit]

Thanks for all the feedback folks,

I did think about swapping the bar out to a riser, but still think that at some point the hose will be pushed back. I don't really want to go any wider in terms of the bar width and I understand that the bike may need to be adjusted to be used specifically for bikepacking duties, but If I can avoid that I'd prefer to keep the set up as is - if anything, I think that putting the levers more horizontal will place further stress upon the hose, unless I use it with out the bars in and have them above the harness?

Greenmug, thanks for the link, the photo doesn't look too dissimilar to my situation. My greatest concern, as has been mentioned, is the attrition that can be caused by such a placement under load and the sudden catastrophic failure when at the most inconvenient of locations!

Even a flat bar with more sweep may not relieve the situation, I think that more sweep on the bar will result in an even greater angle that the hose will be forced back in? but I may be wrong.

I like the idea of the system, but it seems at the moment, it was less stress on the bike but more faff to get at when the drybag was lashed onto the bars!

Has anyone else used the kanga / y front and found a way around this?

Thanks

Drew

[welshwhit]

Been doing a lot of looking at different shaped bars, anyone used these?
SALSA ALLOY BEND 2 BAR

Thanks