How to wear a backpack

[remus]

Hi all,

I own a simple/small Mountain Designs backpack, purchased for carrying stuff when I go for rides on my bike.

I now want to carry a 4.5KG battery in the backpack to power an electric bicycle.

I normally wear the back pack up high on my back to keep the straps short so it does not bounce around to much.

The pack does have a hip belt that I normally do not use.

Is it possible to adjust the backpack so that most of the weigh is supported by my hips, instead of my backs ?

Perhaps I need to get a different backpack ?

Here's a few pics of the pack, front and back, with a a4 folder for scale.

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

[clance]

It is my belief that you won't be able to get the load onto your hips with that backpack. That being said 4.5kg shouldn't be too uncomfortable on the shoulders. Just my opinion
Good luck

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

[Gadgetgeek]

I agree that you probably won't get that pack to ride low without it being very floppy. 4.5kg isn't much for shoulders, but as far as cycling, might be uncomfortable, depending on your riding position. It would make sense to me to use a pannier instead, which gets the weight, and therefore center of gravity a bit lower. my limited experience with cycling and packs is that the hip belt interferes with pedaling if it is supporting weight, that said, that is from very limited experience, I'm not much of a cyclist.

It is also worth trying your pack, and see what you can do as far as using the waist strap and sternum strap to secure it closer to your body, you may find that its not the pack suspension that is the limiting factor, it could be compression of the main body, or another factor that comes up.

[GPSGuided]

Lengthen the shoulder straps as much as possible and tighten the hip strap and see how low on your back it can go. Depending on your riding posture, upright or tucked, 4.5kg may be ok or on the limit of comfort. Otherwise I dislike having a significant movable weight on my back when on a road bike. It's hot and affects the physical dynamics of the ride.

[remus]

Ill be using it to carry battery to power electric mountain bike for bush track riding. I dont plan on doing much pedaling...

I will try loosening the straps. And see if I can get it low enough.

It does have a sternum strap which may help with looseness.

[Strider]

Why not mount it to the bike?

[GPSGuided]

Why not mount it to the bike?

i
I say this would be ideal. I dislike the idea of carrying rigid objects on me when riding. In a crash, they could be dangerous.

[madmacca]

Why not mount it to the bike?

Yeah, barring panniers, a frame bag would seem to fit the bill? http://www.bikebagdude.com/#!frame-bags/c15ur

[remus]

Extending shoylder straps to max
Lowers the bag enougb so that the hip straps are in line with my hips. Im 185cm.

Tested yesterday no sore shoulder this time.

Bike is a 2007 kona coiler. The frame battery bag I just got does not seem to fit. Space to small. I will try to make one.

[GPSGuided]

Extending shoylder straps to max
Lowers the bag enougb so that the hip straps are in line with my hips. Im 185cm...

And you just turned a backpack into a bumpack.

[Travis22]

Id be looking for a way to mount the battery on the mtn bike too.

You'll be able to use heavier gauge wiring and a shorter run of wire too which will benifit the motor.

Having the wiring hang slack from your backpack to the bike will be a pain in the butt and a liability. As others mentioned having a somewhat heavy and hard object like a battery in your backpack should you come off and land heavily on your back your at a much greater risk of injury / more serious injury too. I cannot see any positives to carrying it in your backpack other then not requiring any fabrication as it would to do it right and mount it on the bike.

Travis.

[Travis22]

Bike is a 2007 kona coiler. The frame battery bag I just got does not seem to fit. Space to small. I will try to make one.

Any photos of your setup remus, sounds interesting?

Or can you describe where the motor is mounted, did you have to weld tabs onto the frame to bolt it on or does it utalise existing points? How does the motor connect to the drivechain?

Travis.

[remus]

Yes, its now a bum bag lol

All the weight is hanging off my hips, at least my shoulders were spared

I have no pics of my bike atm, its all very messy, using zip ties. However....

A list of build logs generously provided by members of the endless sphere forum.
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewt ... 20#p860729

Here's website for the motor.
http://www.lightningrodev.com/

Here's a video of the kit seller / maker showing the final assembly and mounting to a bike.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmTbLxVy30Y

[Travis22]

Wowzers! And here i was picturing some local backyard mechanics

Looks like a hell of a lot of work has gone into the design and parts.

Guess it wont be long and watching the DH guys pushing their bikes back up the runs will be a thing of the passed

Travis.