Bike-Packing seat pack/dropper options...

Oh I did wonder if the tailfin clamp *might* fit the post collar as its about 28mm but does have a big groove in it. My feeling is it would be too much of a compromise in terms of the clamp being stable enough especially with the extender.

I just wrap some pipe insulation round the post and strap my Revelate harness on over that. 

How about the aeroe rack? That works with a dropper and you can use your own drybags. I have also used a seatpost bag with pipe insulation in the past, but it does limit the drop.

Thanks for the replies, the forum was keeping them hostage for a while 😉

@scotroutes- an option I hadn't considered.

@kendonagasaki - good shout. I did look at those a while back (when I read about them in the mag) but totally forgot about them straight afterwards 😉 Looks like I could use my existing alpkit bag as well rather than buying any new kit.

I use a Wolftooth Valais for this exact problem, can use it with the majority of seatpacks and it only cost around £25

+1 Wolftooth valais. I use it with a Revelate Terrapin 8L, and it costs me about 25mm of drop height. However, you have even less post showing than me, so you might get tyre rub unless you restrict it further.

Ortlieb seat pack should work, the one with the QR attachments clips to the saddle rails and comes with a spacer/bracket for droppers.

I’d be looking at fitting a rack. There are clever options that bolt to the rear axle. Or get a standard rack and attach that it with p clips.

 Also look at a big frame bag and bladder. Or wear a hydration pack. 

But I’m with you. Well with preserving the dropper. 

IMHO the options you link to make more sense with a FS bike that can’t take a track easily. Although the gap for them is quite small if you let all the air out of your shock

What about the Apidura Backcountry seatpack designed to work with dropper posts?

Thanks again- in no particular order 

- the Apidura I looked at for the last trip. It would work but it's another bag I don't really want to buy

- Panniers/Camelbak not an option I'm looking at currently. Done some MTB trips with really heavy packs and it's not a lot of fun in my experience. Panniers I have no knowledge of and are not a rabbit hole I'm currently keen to explore!

- Big frame bag means I need to find somewhere for 2xwater bottles. There are ways of doing it (and the digger does have some mounts that might work) but I have a alpkit bag that fits great and gives me WB space so want to start with that. Would prefer most of weight to go into seat pack.

- Wolftooth solution now I've looked at it may well work. I thought my AK bag had two seat post straps but it just has one I can move to the top. Sure I'd be down to 70mm of drop but I'd take that for £25! I think I'll be okay with the drop to tyre as they are only 650bs 🙂 Did a quick mock up with unloaded bag and it looks "within acceptable tolerance' 🙂 

Will come back and read thread again later. It's a bit of a pain seeing replies but not seeing them as forum not displaying. All really useful advice- much appreciated.

In some ways this is an even more useful thread as originally I was going to take my solaris (which has room to fit tailfin) and I'd kind of resigned myself to buying it. Taking the digger is saving me significant beer money hopefully #manmaths 

What sort of volume of load? 

Are you using the handlebar options? 

For occasional use you could you simply strap a dry bag to handlebars, or use the choices on offer.

My dropper coped with a week bikepacking with an Apidura bag with no damage, i did have a mughugger on the rear to stop filth.

It was handy to use the dropper.

At 70mm drop, there is about 200mm between saddle rail and highest point of tyre. So it's definitely going to be close. And from memory now I did use two straps on the seatpost last time as it's quite a big pack (13L). Test fit is the next option clearly to work out if I can do the cheap way.. also read something about posts being strong enough to lift the pack... so will need to test loaded as well.

This: https://bikepacking.com/index/dropper-post-seat-bags/ was very helpful if anyone else is looking.

times change!  Ask this question 5 years ago, and 1/3 of the responses would have said get this:

https://www.topeak.com/global/en/product/1139-DP-MOUNT

What happened?  Did they turn out not to be that good?

@nedrapier that's what i came to suggest. Mine works fine. 

surely if you are happy to tailfin then a pannier rack and drybag strapped to the top is going to be just as good/cheaper especially as the digger will fit a rack happily. 

for what its worth a basic rack with a small drybag voile strapped to it worked perfectly for me on the Torino - Nice route last year. 

loads of options for that style of set up are outlined on bikepacking.com

https://bikepacking.com/gear/rockgeist-armadillo-drybag-protector/

https://bikepacking.com/index/rear-bike-racks-bikepacking/

To be clear i was thinking rack but not panniers. Just strap a dry bag to it

I don't think any dropper works particularly well with a seatpack attached due to the weight when you try to extend it again.
WRT the Aero pack, it's only good with a dropper if you have the cradle horizontally, or with a cradle on each side and not the top bar, both of which make it a pig if you need to hike a bike, which if you're in gnarly terrain where you'll need a dropper post will be quite often with a heavy laden bike.
My last point would be that when my bike is laden down, going on technical single track is the last thing I'd want to be doing as it's such a pig to handle.

If you lack upper mounts a seat clamp with some added solves that: 

M-Part Seat Clamp with Rack Mount | Biketart

Otherwise I don't quite get why the tailfin is the default option for relatively occasional use, there are lots of cheaper metal racks out there... 

Topeak DP mount. Works absolutely fine on both my droppers with a Revelate seat pack. Better on my rigid bike than FS as there's no risk of rear suspension compressing and buzzing the pack

Thanks all- lots to read through which I'll do tomorrow. I think the digger does have pannier mounts, but I'd need to check. Never looked to be honest. 

That ToPeak mount also looks interesting- take the point about weight and droppers, clearly some experimentation to be done.

Having had a think, not totally against a rack - one of those that @bornonaboat posted. 

@Benp1 - did the DP mount fit without mods to your non TP seatpack? I'm looking at it and wondering how well it would mesh with my Alpkit Koala..

Depends on how much you're carrying and the riding you're doing but I've never quite understood why rucksacks don't figure more. Personally with anything vaguely tech when you might use a dropper I'm much happier with low centre of gravity rucksack I can move about with than with anything bouncing about behind me. Frame bags don't hold much at all on a full suss, handlebar bags are okay. 

Posted by: Kramer

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I don't think any dropper works particularly well with a seatpack attached due to the weight when you try to extend it again.
...
My last point would be that when my bike is laden down, going on technical single track is the last thing I'd want to be doing as it's such a pig to handle.

I think there are a couple of good points here.

If I'm loading a bike up heavily then I'm less likely to be riding the sort of terrain where a dropper becomes "essential". 

Also, for me and my wee legs, once I have a large seat pack on, there's really very little drop available before the pack hits the rear wheel. My foam lagging solution assists this as I just cut it to a length whereby it acts as a stop/limiter on drop and, as it is just soft foam, doesn't damage the seal on the dropper. 

I guess I'm also a bit perplexed at the rush to a more complex/expensive solution 😀 

Posted by: Alex

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Having had a think, not totally against a rack - one of those that @bornonaboat posted. 

@Benp1 - did the DP mount fit without mods to your non TP seatpack? I'm looking at it and wondering how well it would mesh with my Alpkit Koala..

Zero mods. My Revelate seatpack works great with it (I have the harness one but my viscacha would also have been fine). I used to use pipe insulation or a bit of cloth, this works better as you can drop the saddle more

Posted by: johnx2

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Depends on how much you're carrying and the riding you're doing but I've never quite understood why rucksacks don't figure more. Personally with anything vaguely tech when you might use a dropper I'm much happier with low centre of gravity rucksack I can move about with than with anything bouncing about behind me.

this is very much my approach, if the bike is going to need manhandling, either whilst riding on tricky stuff, or over fences, gates, obstacles I'd rather have a compact backpack on and weight off the bike.  Back in the day Camelbak type backpacks were standard really, now it's all about bikepacking kit 🙂

I mean I could be overthinking it 😉 Hence coming here for some sanity checking. I really wasn't keen to spend a lot of cash on a bunch of kit that might get used once. I've only done on real multi day trip (Welsh C2C which was way more road based) back in 2019 and my plan was to do one a year. Covid got in the way but even so it's now six years later!

Really don't want to ride 6-8 hour days with a heavy pack. Did a pyrenees trip (hut to hut) with quite a lot of tech and the pack was the only option really but it defo wasn't my fav. For this route, there's a line between efficient and fun. From watching Guy 's preview there's not a lot of carrying to be done, but there is some nice looking dirt trails/singletrack.

@benp1- thanks. Going to see how well my Alpkit works- suspect it's not going to be great having spent a bit more time looking at it because of how it 'hangs' from the post.  That's tonight's job to fully install it and chuck some kit in it and see how it looks.

Posted by: iainc

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if the bike is going to need manhandling, either whilst riding on tricky stuff, or over fences, gates, obstacles I'd rather have a compact backpack on and weight off the bike.  Back in the day Camelbak type backpacks were standard really, now it's all about bikepacking kit

Sure, but it depends on how much you are carrying and the terrain. The former can be minimised by investing in the best, lightest, most compact kit - and I've done this to an extent. I've done a couple of trips with a lightweight rucksack, usually in addition to a couple of lighter bags on the bike too. The Cairngorms Loop is a good example of trying to pack "sensibly" according to the terrain and also knowing that my stops would be short and there were food options en route. Heading into wilder, more remote countryside, requiring more and heavier loads, the rucksack becomes a bit more tiring and uncomfortable.

I also think there's a difference in approach between a gravel bike and a mountain bike. The more angled seating position of the former makes a rucksack less comfortable for me. 

Of course, if the only load you're carrying is to get you from one comfy bed to the next, then a small rucksack is likely to be sufficient anyway.

I be very hesitant to add weight to a dropper post saddle, that sounds like a recipe for easy dropper post death. As others have said, I'd go lightweight rack plus bag or small panniers.

I didn't have time to experiment last night, but Sunday weather looks like a shed day so will report back on the seat post options. take the point about weight, not going to be carrying too much, and maybe it'll be the reason I need to stop adding stuff just in case.

If I can't make it work, I might try the topeak adaptor, after that it's going to be a lightweight rack and some straps!

Alternative suggestion... custom frame bag? Alpkit Stingray could be made to fill the frame space and give loads of storage.

Waterbottles could be moved to handlebars in "fuel pods".

Then just use a small and light seat-pack if really needed. (One that attaches to seat rails only).

@ampthill can you please point me in the direction of

I’d be looking at fitting a rack. There are clever options that bolt to the rear axle.

Cheers

Apologies to OP for the diversion.

Ortileb quick rack could work OK with a dry bag on it. Not too heavy and easy on and off.

Alternatively if you have rack eyelets on the bike then a Tortec Ultralight rack will work well with a dry bag strapped to it and I think is lighter than quick rack and 1/3 of the price but takes a few minutes on and off as it needs 4 bolts. I've used one for years commuting and odd bits of touring with no issues.

https://www.tredz.co.uk/.Tortec-Tour-Ultralite-Rear-Pannier-Rack_3043.htm

My apologies i didn’t realise they were expensive

https://bikepacking.com/gear/old-man-mountain-elkhorn-review/

https://off.road.cc/content/review/racks/tailfin-alloy-rack-review-9813

 phew this is cheaper

https://road.cc/content/review/120012-blackburn-expedition-1-disc-rear-rack

So I’ve managed to stick to frames designed to take a rack. A weirdly simple solution that it out of favour

Carradice used to make a seat pack that was unaffected by the motion of thudbusters. Likewise, dropper posts.

google Carradice Glenrtress.

been out of production for 15 years?

id have to hunt around for a couple of weeks to find my pristine example.

Carradice also bought the rights to the ‘limpet’ pannier system (Quite ingenious).

im not sure if they’re ever going to resurrect it, but worth googling.

Dropper friendly bags

https://bikepacking.com/index/dropper-post-seat-bags/

Would this work ?

https://restrap.com/collections/saddle-packs/products/saddle-pack-4-5l

I found the Topeak DP link to be a fairly decent solution. Still allows some use of dropper, but combining with a Rockshox Enduro Mount to limit travel to before the point the pack comes into contact with the tyre would make it easier to use. 

So it kind of works. I'd need the wolf tooth attachment to on the post to attach the strap. But

- get about 60mm of drop before it hits the tyre (but prob use 650B wheels so get a bit more)

- The seat pack is going to rub against the post. No obvious way of standing it off

- Post is powerful enough to pull pack back up but that was just some random clothes in there, so prob be heavier on the tour.

I think for £15, I'm going to try the ToPeak stand off mount and see if I can jury rig it onto my Alpkit pack. Gone off the idea of panniers for the moment.

Plan C, or maybe about Z now is my Bro has both a Mason Bokah and a Spesh Diverge he's happy to lend me with some custom made bags. But I feel I've invested enough time in this to want to find a solution..

I think that the bag will rub the hell out of your stanchion and frame

Do Alpkit still do the Koala stabilising rail? It worked for me when my Koala wasn't "too loaded" with my dropper. It was basically a rail that bolted at the saddle clamp and extended way behind the saddle. There was a wee sleeve that slid over the rail that connected to the Koala's compression buckles.

@fat-boy-fat that has the rail installed. Problem is it needs the front strap to stop it swinging so that's always going to bring the pack to the seatpost/frame.

@martinhutch - yup. No way I'm going with the current setup. Really think simplest solution is just to temporarily replace the dropper with a fixed seat post. Hopefully without have to remove the dropper outer cable

Posted by: Alex

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Really think simplest solution is just to temporarily replace the dropper with a fixed seat post. Hopefully without have to remove the dropper outer cable

Just wrap the post in something protective and leave it in place.

I just use a bit of pipe insulation for the little bit that needs to strap to the top of the seatpost

My Topeak DP mount worked well for a couple of trips, then snapped.

I use the Wolf dropper-reducer and a standard seatpack, no issue with wear nor weight - it's an MTB, if you're bothered about a bit of wear, try a different sport 🙂

One thing though I'm blessed with that Alex is not are long legs, consequently even loaded I've still got 100mm of dropper left and plenty of tyre clearance.  Don't try and run the pack too close to the rear tyre, it will catch and quickly wear a hole in the pack, even just one descent...

Rucksack, nope - nothing worse IME.  If I'm using my full frame bag I'll take my Evoc 1.5l bladder waist pack.

Posted by: intheborders

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One thing though I'm blessed with that Alex is not are long legs

Very true, I'm mostly a dwarf from the hips down 😉 

I do have a small 4l waist pack. That could come into the 'packing equation'. Still I was also considering carrying my HipLock.

Anyway my mechanically minded mate is back from hols, so we're going to do the mech hack. He might have some ideas on retaining the dropper but it's probably just going to either not drop or get swapped.

Thought I'd come back to this thread if anyone else searches for similar.

After further dithering, I ended up with a discounted backloader 10L from ToPeak to go with their dropper solution. It works well, I get all the drop without hitting the tyre, it comes back all the way most of the time, sometimes needs a bit of help for last 20mm. It's a sealed cart in those droppers tho so no chance of adding any air. 

In use, I can't feel it really, I'm not loading it with any heavy stuff nor filling it completely. Plenty of space even when I added some extra stuff to test it on a ride.  Hopefully the mount won't break or the seatpost explode. I'll let you know in 10 days or so time!

Oh I couldn't get my old Alpkit bag to fit, the straps are a bit flimsy and without the exo-rail it's a bit of a whale out back. Might have been a solution but when I saw the TP pack on offer, I decided that was a SIGN 🙂

I started bikepacking a 3 years ago on the cheap. I got the bug so an constantly changing my and reducing the amount I take. Here is what I have learnt: You need to reduce the amount of kit you take. We all take too much to start with. I do not use my dropper much when bikepacking but would 't be without it. Small paniers work well , I used ortleib gravel ones. If you have rigid forks its a good place to mount things. Custom made frame bag from Beer Babe is well made and good value. My current set up is:- stove/ mug in a ortleib fork bag, sleeping bag in another fork bag. Tent and mat on a 'jack the rack' which mounts on the bars. Snacks etc . in an Alpkit Possum frame bag. Tools in a keg in bottle cage.  Everything else in Tailfin rear bag mounted to their rack. Very expensive but very very good. Hope this helps.

Final update: dropper adaptor worked well. The ToPeak bag is excellent as well. Just pulling out the dry bag at the end of the day was a nice solution.

My riding pal had a Tailfin setup on his FS MTB and it was brilliant. If I was doing a lot of these trips, I'd definitely invest in one of those tho. Just faff free and totally solid. I didn't get much noticeable "waft" off the seat pack but it does move about especially on lumpy descents.

The dropper survived just fine. Did need some help to get the last 20mm, but didn't get any worse during the 4 days.