Road bikes and backpacks

Bean Long said:

Hi all,

I've been a pannier boy for years and always use them for my daily commute.
I'm thinking of a bike upgrade and have considered a roadie... but of course
I won't be using panniers if I get one. I've been eyeing off other road
bike users to see how they carry their gear to work and most have a
backpack, but what confuses me is that many riders have tiny backpacks that
could barely hold a change of clothes... what on earth do you guys carry in
them?? My panniers are chockers with a change of clothes, lock, pump,
lunch.... If I put it all in a backpack my [censored] would be dragging on the
ground behind me!

I use a largish messenger-type shoulder bag (just a cheapo one I picked
up in K-mart or somewhere).

Its large enough to take a full change of clothes plus shoes, but I
leave a pair of trousers and shoes at work, so only take underwear plus
a shirt with me.

Bag contains: clothes, lunch, spare tubes, wallet, keys, etc. Plus my
lights when they're not on the bike.

Zefal frame pump plus small under-seat toolbag sit on the bike. I've no
need for a lock as I can bring my bike into the office.

I used to wear a backpack, but find the shoulder-bag much less sweaty
and more stable. It sits down on my lower back.

Bean Long said:

Hi all,

I've been a pannier boy for years and always use them for my daily commute.
I'm thinking of a bike upgrade and have considered a roadie... but of course
I won't be using panniers if I get one. I've been eyeing off other road
bike users to see how they carry their gear to work and most have a
backpack, but what confuses me is that many riders have tiny backpacks that
could barely hold a change of clothes... what on earth do you guys carry in
them?? My panniers are chockers with a change of clothes, lock, pump,
lunch.... If I put it all in a backpack my [censored] would be dragging on the
ground behind me!

I carry a backpack once or twice a week, my clothes are at work,
all I carry on most days is a small pump in a jersey pocket and my
wallet, keys & phone, sometimes a windvest or a rolled up rainshell.

There's a supermarket 5 mins from work, so I buy the stuff for lunch
and leave it at work in the fridge.

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

Carl Brewer said:

Bean Long said:

Hi all,

I've been a pannier boy for years and always use them for my daily commute.
I'm thinking of a bike upgrade and have considered a roadie... but of course
I won't be using panniers if I get one. I've been eyeing off other road
bike users to see how they carry their gear to work and most have a
backpack, but what confuses me is that many riders have tiny backpacks that
could barely hold a change of clothes... what on earth do you guys carry in
them?? My panniers are chockers with a change of clothes, lock, pump,
lunch.... If I put it all in a backpack my [censored] would be dragging on the
ground behind me!

I carry a backpack once or twice a week, my clothes are at work,
all I carry on most days is a small pump in a jersey pocket and my
wallet, keys & phone, sometimes a windvest or a rolled up rainshell.

There's a supermarket 5 mins from work, so I buy the stuff for lunch
and leave it at work in the fridge.

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

I have one of those itty-bitty backpacks. The pump is on the frame, the
spares are under the saddle. The backpack has my clothes for the day,
boots, jeans, big jumper... it all fits, along with lights for the ride
home, and locks.

I drive one day a week - sometimes I remember to take clothes for the
rest of the week, but I still like to take my diary and notebook home,
so I need the bag anyway. I take in my groceries that one day. Main
reason for the drive is the fact I lug uniforms etc in to work
afterwards.

Bike isn't allowed in my office, stupid OH&S policy, as if it's going to
get in the way, and I don't give a fsck what the procedures are, if the
bldg is burning down, I'm going in for my bike!

Tam

Carl Brewer said:

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

well said Carl, and at home, bikes should have their own bedroom...😄

rooman said:

Carl Brewer said:

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

well said Carl, and at home, bikes should have their own bedroom...😄

you bet!

On 2005-06-06, Carl Brewer (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

I carry a backpack once or twice a week, my clothes are at work,
all I carry on most days is a small pump in a jersey pocket and my
wallet, keys & phone, sometimes a windvest or a rolled up rainshell.

There's a supermarket 5 mins from work, so I buy the stuff for lunch
and leave it at work in the fridge.

You're lucky. My workmates are even worse than my housemate at
keeping things clean. The kitchen is unusable. The fridge
is.... ick.

Quoted message said:

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

I need to go shopping every few nights, so need to lock the bike up at
the shop (and need room in the backpack for the shopping).

Unfortunately, I have spent quite my fair share of money on bike
related [censored] recently, so any alternative to a backpack is going to
have to be relatively cheap.

I was almost thinking of getting one of those seat post rack thingies,
and using my normal panniers.

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
Save the whales. Feed the hungry. Free the software. --TimC

TimC said:

On 2005-06-06, Carl Brewer (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

I carry a backpack once or twice a week, my clothes are at work,
all I carry on most days is a small pump in a jersey pocket and my
wallet, keys & phone, sometimes a windvest or a rolled up rainshell.

There's a supermarket 5 mins from work, so I buy the stuff for lunch
and leave it at work in the fridge.

You're lucky. My workmates are even worse than my housemate at
keeping things clean. The kitchen is unusable. The fridge
is.... ick.

My workmates ate all my vegemite. Grrrr

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The bike lives in my office right next to me, no lock. Roadbikes
live inside 🙂

I need to go shopping every few nights, so need to lock the bike up at
the shop (and need room in the backpack for the shopping).

Unfortunately, I have spent quite my fair share of money on bike
related [censored] recently, so any alternative to a backpack is going to
have to be relatively cheap.

It's always cheaper than a car.

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

I'm lazy and buy lunch more often than not.

I run the bigarse backpack full of all my stuff, even toiletries, comes in at about 6kgs I would hazard. But I commute on a MTB, to me it seems like hard work riding roadbikes on cycle paths (I avoid roads like the plague of a thousand [censored]-boils), what with all the gutters & low speed manoeuvring etc, hunched over the way they are.

I run my bike with nothing on it except a rear flasher & detachable front light (little LED thingy).All the puncture & wet weather gear is in my backpack (did I mention how much it weighs?) . U-bolt lives in the car park at work.

With all the silly antics i get up to riding to/from home I can't get by with a simple sling-over bag because it flops all over the place. Backpacks have a million straps to fix it to my body.

I look at it as training lugging that stuff around, resistance training. Wind resistance, weight resistance, logic resistance……
:p

Beano,

If your lucky like me you get a big locker. Fill it with 10 shirts and
ties, 3 pants, shoes. Then dry clean the shirts so you only have to
bring in undies and socks. I bring 9 sets of them in once every two
weeks either when I have to bring a smog mobile in for work or in a
small pack. Towel soap and BO spray and your set. (shower, shave and
brush at home)

Ride free every day with keys, wallet and mobile. Bike stuff on bike.

Road bikes need to be riden fast and fun.

PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way
more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to
work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise
they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

I'm lazy and buy lunch more often than not.

--
PiledHigher

I hope I never again have a job where I have to dress nicely.

Tam

PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way
more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to
work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise
they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

You could get a crumper "corby", it carrys an extra bulky 4.1kg
load without you even noticing it's there.

On 2005-06-07, Carl Brewer (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way
more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to
work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise
they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

You could get a crumper "corby", it carrys an extra bulky 4.1kg
load without you even noticing it's there.

I beleive I am about to AHBOU this.

Thanks! 🙂

--
TimC -- http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/staff/tconnors/
PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any Use of This Product, in Any Manner
Whatsoever, Will Increase the Amount of Disorder in the Universe. Although No
Liability Is Implied Herein, the Consumer Is Warned That This Process Will
Ultimately Lead to the Heat Death of the Universe.

quote='Tamyka Bell'PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way
more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to
work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise
they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

I'm lazy and buy lunch more often than not.

--
PiledHigher

I hope I never again have a job where I have to dress nicely.

Tam[/QUOTE]

Its the easest thing for blokes (except having a uniform supplied and cleaned for you) grab suit, random shirt and tie. No thought required and people think you have made an effort.

Casual is so much harder - no you can't wear the jeans with holes/paint/dirt on them. No that slogan will offend someone etc....

Im same as many here. keep the basics at work and occasionally rotate it.
My gym washes my towels which is handy.
On a light day i can get away with a camelbak with just shirt, jocks'n'sox and bein a grpahic designer means people expect me to dress like a hippy/slob, so i jsut suit up at werk for the new client and then slowly regress to jeans/tshirt once we are 'familiar' 😄

During winter the backpack is actually quite welcome to keep in the warmth altho it IS very liberating riding without anything on the hump 🙄

Marx SS said:

I run the bigarse backpack full of all my stuff, even toiletries, comes
in at about 6kgs I would hazard. But I commute on a MTB, to me it seems
like hard work riding roadbikes on cycle paths (I avoid roads like the
plague of a thousand [censored]-boils), what with all the gutters & low speed
manoeuvring etc, hunched over the way they are.

I run my bike with nothing on it except a rear flasher & detachable
front light (little LED thingy).All the puncture & wet weather gear is
in my backpack (did I mention how much it weighs?) . U-bolt lives in
the car park at work.

With all the silly antics i get up to riding to/from home I can't get
by with a simple sling-over bag because it flops all over the place.
Backpacks have a million straps to fix it to my body.

I look at it as training lugging that stuff around, resistance
training. Wind resistance, weight resistance, logic resistance??
:p

--
Marx SS

You carry toiletries? Man, that's crazy! Why don't you just leave them
at work?

Tam, who has toiletries stashed in all workplaces, and a bag of
toiletries at home for travel, so she doesn't have to think about
packing toiletries.

"Bean Long" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I've been a pannier boy for years and always use them for my daily
commute.
I'm thinking of a bike upgrade and have considered a roadie... but of
course
I won't be using panniers if I get one. I've been eyeing off other road
bike users to see how they carry their gear to work and most have a
backpack, but what confuses me is that many riders have tiny backpacks
that
could barely hold a change of clothes... what on earth do you guys carry
in
them?? My panniers are chockers with a change of clothes, lock, pump,
lunch.... If I put it all in a backpack my [censored] would be dragging on the
ground behind me!

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

I use panniers (well, one pannier) on my road bike.

PiledHigher said:

Tamyka Bell said:

PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff

(way

Quoted message said:

more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff

to

Quoted message said:

work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned,

otherwise

Quoted message said:

they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

I'm lazy and buy lunch more often than not.

--
PiledHigher

I hope I never again have a job where I have to dress nicely.

Tam

Its the easest thing for blokes (except having a uniform supplied and
cleaned for you) grab suit, random shirt and tie. No thought required
and people think you have made an effort.

Casual is so much harder - no you can't wear the jeans with
holes/paint/dirt on them. No that slogan will offend someone etc....

--
PiledHigher

Hehehe I was well known for wearing inappropriate attire when tutoring
first year engineers. The good thing about uni is, no one really cares.

Tam

TimC said:

On 2005-06-07, Carl Brewer (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

PiledHigher said:

Crumpler's (messenger bags) are great, can carry all kinds of stuff (way
more than you should!

I keep a couple of suits & shoes at work and bring the minimum stuff to
work each day. When I get organised shirts get dry cleaned, otherwise
they usually survive the trip to work relatively uncrumpled.

You could get a crumper "corby", it carrys an extra bulky 4.1kg
load without you even noticing it's there.

I beleive I am about to AHBOU this.

It's an original 🙂