Does anyone have any recommendations for a rucksack that can be used on a bike to haul around camping gear for a week or two? I estimate I need around 45L of capacity (40 if it can be used with a camelbak).

Looking for something that I can through my gear into, jump on a plane, rent a bike upon arrival in foreign lands, do a spot of motorcycle exploring/camping for the duration of my stay, return the bike and then fly back home. Because it's a rented bike I can't guarantee being able to strap luggage to it, hence the rucksack idea.

I know Kreiga stuff is good, but the largest they do is a 35L, and I'm not sure how secure strapping a US10 to it would be for when the whole kit has to cope with airline check in, wouldn't want just half my gear to arrive thanks to the sack and US10 getting seperated.

Thanks

Steve

The Kriega stuff is very very good, I think it will cope easily with the airline. as an added precaution put the whole lot in a pacsafe, erm, bag thingy

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php...&activity_id=6

You could also try to double it up with the Kriega bat-belt, http://www.kriega.com/pages_uk/r8/R8frameset.html

The US 10 can go onto the bike seat when you get there.

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Is this the only bag you are taking? If so, why would you check it as hold baggage? Or are tent pegs classed as contraband these days? Or if you did have to check an R35 and were worried about having a US-10 attached to it, why not carry the US-10 onto the plane?

Also, to keep the Kriega whore suggestions going...have you considered the US-40? Shoulder-luggable through an airport, and as long as the bike you hire has a pillion seat, you will be able to fit it.

Oh, you wanted non-Kriega suggestions? Erm... well I've also got one of these:

http://www.wetsuitoutlet.co.uk/produ...roducts_id=147

...which is a 50l dry bag with rucksack straps. I use it bungeed across the pillion seat on the Ten'...


You could probably strap it to any bike...but it would be a lot harder if the top box and pannier rails weren't there.

Again, I'd class the straps as being for carrying it through the airport, wouldn't fancy riding for a long time with a heavy load in it.


Meh, buy Kriega stuff.

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No issue with Kreiga stuff, other than to get the volume I want I would have to add parts to it, and my concern is them getting separated as they pass through the luggage systems. As far as carry on luggage goes I also have my helmet to contend with. That said, maybe a bag for the helmet and a US10 could be carry on luggage, thus solving the problem of using Kreiga's kit!

Thinking about it a bit more, the Kreiga kit (an R35 and a US10) could be the ideal solution, a chunk of the capacity required is for supplies (food water etc) which will be purchased upon arrival rather than taken with me, so although I may need the extra capacity of a US10, it isn't likely to be needed when I fly, so I could probably cram the US10 into the R35 for the flight.

I have a 35l rucksack for walking (one of those stupidly overpriced things with the funny back that sits on your shoulders and hip) and I have had a 35l Kriega. For some reason I could get loads more stuff in the kriega than the berghaus - I think the point is that not all 35l sacks are the same!

The US20 (which I also have - actually I have far too much stuff!) is a great piece of kit alone. I used it in Portugal to keep all my clothes/personal stuff in for two weeks. I kept clean clothes in a roll-up-vacum-bag, and my dirty stuff in another to compress the air out of the clothes and keep clean/dirty stuff separate. The carry straps on the US20 are very good and you could carry it easily through an airport.

One of the other plus point for the USx stuff is that it fixes to the seat, so you are always going to be able to strap it on somehow, just take some good quality straps with you (I'm not keen on bungee cords, prefer good ol' straps).

Whatever you go for, you need it to be comfortable when full, so look for a good mounting system. My <stupidlt expensive> walking bag is superb as you don't know it's there. I have had some that were crap and left your back sore, aching or you could feel the contents of your rucksack digging in your back!

A trip to somewhere like Keswick / Ambleside is a good day out as you'll get a real feel for what you want as you walk around all the shops. You will find everything from cheap crap to overpriced stuff, and just what you need somewhere in the middle!

Consider some of the Army Surplus stuff too, some of it is crap, some of it is very very good.

The best thing is to get out there and look around at what suits you.

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Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.