camelbak?

I collect them.

I don't ride with them.

They make the best commuting day bags though.

Use mine for riding and walking. Don't even notice its there until you want to. Wouldn't be without it.
Just make sure it's empty after each use and clean it occasionally

Use mine for riding and walking. Don't even notice its there until you want to. Wouldn't be without it.
Just make sure it's empty after each use and clean it occasionally

NAILTRAIL96":265sbrrp said:

I find this interesting because my initial reaction to placing stuff in a rucksack was one of weight distribution.
Stuff on your bike is lower and so will the centre of gravity, you + stuff + bike will weight the same so lower should be better.
I also realise it probably makes no difference either way, but it's good to get the grey cells working.

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I think any disadvantage of having it on you rather than the bike is offset because you use your body (and anything attached to it) to move the CoG around as you ride, moving it sideways while cornering, front/back while climbing/descending. On a hardtail you could also regard anything on the bike frame as, effectively, unsprung weight.

NAILTRAIL96":265sbrrp said:

That does seem a bargain.
Does the bladder on any of these interfere with internal space at all?, ie does stuff rattle around as you drink the level down.

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In my camelbak (and I assume most/all makes are the same) the bladder is in it's own compartment with padded/insulating material between the bladder compartment and the first storage compartment. As well as protecting the bladder from tools etc.. it also stops your "junk" rattling around.

The bladder compartment also has an additional external zip that "shrinks" the compartment to make the whole pack smaller if you're not carrying more than a couple of litres.

The bladder on mine takes around 5 litres in theory but in practice I rarely have more than 1-2 litres in there - if you still have more than a mouthful left after a ride you took too much.

Mine's a fairly small pack but there's enough room to carry waterproofs, tyre levers, fork pump, snacks, phone, spare inner tube, puncture repair kit, multi-tool and any other random crap that I throw in there at the start "just in case" and then wonder why the pack weighs more than I do

Thanks for all the input guys, I'm sure this has been use full to others as well as me.
I have a tendency to fill unused space with "essentials" that never get looked at :roll: .
But I suppose it's only comon sense to take a waterproof etc if you're miles from home.

Are ther any dayglo coloured variants on the market, i know they would'nt be everyones cup of tea but dark coloured tackle aint for me.

not sure what the latest bladders are like? I got my camebak mule off ebay and it came with a different bladder, a platypus bladder, so much easier to use, to clean and dry out due the fact that you can open up the end of the bladder and get your hand in, no faffing about trying not to cross thread the seal when you holding a full bladder as well as you just slide the seal on part way to fill it then seal it completly when your done



the bite valve is also bigger than the camelbak one but you can swap the bits over if you prefer? and the hose is removable via an auto sealing connector which makes it easier to remove for cleaning

The Deuter bladders are very good as well but not cheap. They are lined with some sort of glass type coating so fungus etc can't get a hold.

Had one of the early ones, just a neoprene sack with straps, worked pretty well, after a few years developed a split and would leak, but still used it, then bought a blackburn one that had a bit more room, but not quite enough, when through few cheap bladders with that one, the cheap ones, you gotta look after, or if your like me and never clean them, throw away regularly.
Have a mule now, been good, stands up to the lack of cleaning and can hold a pile of stuff.
My back gets sweaty anyway, so the pack makes no difference

Basically they are a win. I can see that people may not like them, but really give one a try, maybe buy an el-cheapo to see.