First Camping Trip

[gef]

Took the trail camping for the first time this weekend. Adirondacks along the Sacandaga River. Good trip. I was able to fit all my necessary gear, although I was well over 265lbs. I think closer to 325 with 3 liters of water and food for a few days.

 

[ruth009]

Sounds like an awesome trip—Adirondacks along the Sacandaga River must’ve been beautiful this time of year! Carrying over 300 lbs is no joke, especially with all your gear, water, and food. On my last multi-day hike, I switched to freeze dry food and it made a huge difference in weight and space. Might be worth trying next time—super light and still keeps you fueled out there!

 

[BaldRider]

Weight limits are just numbers lawyers come up with. Of course, I’ve bent a rim and glazed a clutch so don’t listen to me

 

[gef]

That was my thinking on the weight limit. It was unstable on the kickstand with the 39lb top case, so I put the heavy stuff on the side rack for the ride home.

Not that I plan on doing this type of thing often on this machine, but I wanted to see if I could.

 

[BaldRider]

You see people in Asian countries loading up bikes like these with hundreds of pounds. As long as the hill isn’t too steep and you’re not in a hurry, I think you’ll be alright.

Putting a lot of weight on the rack is a good way to change the front tire on the center stand. I know I’ve overloaded the rear rack (>44lbs) a couple times.

I’ve been meaning to go camping on mine. Just haven’t found the time

 

[FizzBuzz3000]

I want to do camping on mine as well, I got almost everything needed to make it possible. The only things I'm lacking is some good square dry bags to strap down on the bike and a secluded place to stealth camp. Hard to do when everything is corn and soybean fields.

 

[gef]

For square dry bags, look at the Kriega OS system. The bag on my side rack is an OS-12 and big enough for my down sleeping bag and clothes for the weekend. It's designed to attach to their larger side bags, but happens to work nicely on its own as a pannier on a Trail. They're well constructed and modular, but a little $$$. The two compression straps on the side are long enough to loop around odd shaped things like a pick mattock, camp saw, or hammock rig.

I did some camping in MN a few years back up north on Superior, Cascade River area maybe? Beautiful up there, but we don't have thunderstorms like that in NY. My last night one rolled through that felt like a strike every minute or so for about a half hour, but no rain or hail.

 

[TheADVSource]

Sweet hammock set up. No under quilt used? Were you cold at all?

When the bike is packed on all one side like that, can you tell the weight shift while riding?

 

[gef]

I use a closed cell foam pad under me in lieu of an under quilt. I'm good down to 25 degrees F with that setup. When it gets cold, I have an old rectangular sleeping back that I pull up over everything, sorta like a poor-man's under-quilt. I'm good into single digits with that setup. My primary bag is an old down Mountain Hardwear Phantom 15.

I didn't notice any difference in the ride due to the left side bag either way (heavy load on side or light load on side).

 

[KiwiGravelRoadieRick]

Took the trail camping for the first time this weekend. Adirondacks along the Sacandaga River. Good trip. I was able to fit all my necessary gear, although I was well over 265lbs. I think closer to 325 with 3 liters of water and food for a few days.

Did you have a frame under the Kreiga bag or does the rear shock provide enough spacing to stop the bag going into the rear wheel?

 

[gef]

There's a Derazer side rack under there with a Givi tool box on the back side. I added a strap and some aluminum bars to the rack so that any of the small Kriega bags can be attached or removed quickly. the one in the pic holds two litre sized bottles.