Jeff at Carousel Design Works is on to something big!
He’s totally swamped right now, though. He’s making custom bike touring bags for the racers of the upcoming GDR (Great Divide Race). He said about half of them are on his stuff.
He also has his first major media unveiling coming up. (Oops! Scooped! You read about him here first!)
What he has done is designed a set of ultralight bags that strap onto a bike in a way that lets the bike just be a bike—they don’t get in the way. They don’t need racks. And they are designed to precisely carry everything you need to go touring (camping or tenting) for a few days up to a few weeks.
This concept has worked out best in the world of mt-biking so far for Jeff. He wanted to tour easily offroad himself and so he made his own stuff. Then others wanted it. His approach is the only one that lets a mt-biker just hit the trail as he/she usually does, lets the bike handle like it always does. With these Carousel bags you can go bike touring on technical singletrack, no problem. You can catch air, etc.—nothing comes loose or rattles.
The ultralight camping scene has an ancient pedigree—starting with Nessmuk (all hail!) in the 1880’s then moving along to Grandma Gatewood who thru-hiked the AT in 1954 then out to today and Ray Jardine who recently hyperpopularized it.
The idea is to bring only what you need then enjoy yourself the rest of the time. 12 pounds is considered the cool UL basis for a week of outdoor fun. But 15-20 isn’t bad. These folks “just say no” to the classic 40-lb load of yore.
UL recently hit the cycling scene. There’s an email list and Yahoo group dedicated to it, which is where I found Jeff. sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ultralightbiking
It hasn’t QUITE hit hard yet in the road bike touring world, but it has for me!
OK, I see room for touring and camping in all styles. But lately I’m grooving on 20 lbs for the road bike tour. anything more and I feel weighed down, slowed down and put under strain. And I just plain plumb don’t need the stuff!
The UL scene has also spawned an obsessive beast of a spreadsheet fixation, where for a mere, what, $1500 you can just BUY your UL fetish items which will surely deliver the tasty UL experience to your door.
My own approach has been just to leave most of my usual junk behind. I did buy a light pad and my $25 Knollwood Texport bivvy is darn light, too, in my book. I’m not racing or chasing any stinking ounces. But others have great fun doing it, I’m sure!
In all this, for bikes the weight of the packs and racks can really add up. It can!
And the darn things get in the way and get rattley. Standard pack set-ups are basically useless for singletrack action.
Enter Carousel! He custom fits and sews every pack to tightly fit each bike. They basically lash inside the frame and to the bars and seatpost. And bingo, you’re done. You then have the stowage space you need. Without hardly knowing it’s there.
But he can’t take any new orders for the next few weeks. He’s busy sewing for the GDR gang. Like, 15- and 20-hr days, he said.
The mtbike side will blow up for him. Then the roadies will catch on next, I wager.
Ya know, he said that so far this scene seems to be frequently a solo one. He wants to push the social side. If you want to go light and easy and fun…and SAFE!…and even lighter than usual…go with a friend! If you share certain camp stuff you can go way lighter than even typical UL. It’s like you’re out for a typical toodle…and yet you’re all set to camp out. It’s great fun!
(I tell ya, a self-supported Trans-Am road record is right around the corner. Who can beat 14 days? C’mon, do it with a friend and it’ll be safe. Go light and go aero and it’ll be fun. Sure, it’s not all about racing…but the hard push is part of the picture, too. It could be cool!)
If you stop by his way, tell ‘im I sent ya!
Jay Petervary rides Carousel—winner of 2007 GDR. Holds new record: 15 days for 2500 miles of dirt.
The roadies are out there…
https://carouseldesignworks.com/
