Does anyone use a mountain bike to get to a location?

[jamesdak]

I want to start using a mountain bike to get into wilderness

locations quicker and to ease the abuse on my aging body. Does

anyone have any experience using a mountain bike to carry camera

gear with. I'm thinking a full suspension bike will be the easiest

on the gear and my body but am looking for any advice on how to

actual carry the gear. Any advice on this would be greatly

appreciated. Thanks, Jim

[andrew_limiti]

I use a bike to get to some not - so- remote areas, and find that a

back pack and carrier rack meets my needs. I load the back pack

with my F-1, some film, 2 extra lenses, spotmeter, filters, and

strap my tripod to the carrier rack. I use an old towel for padding

for the camera . I also do LF that way, substituting the speed

graphic, which makes the backpack a bit heavier, and put the

film holders in a bag mounted to the handle bars.Not really

mountain biking though.

[jreades]

Your biggest potential problems are:

 

1. Vibration

 

2. Dirt

 

3. Damage

 

Depending on the type of riding (rocky? wooded? what?) your bike is going to vibrate a lot as it passes over some types of terrain. This obviously has zero impact on, for instance, film, tripod, light meter... but your SLR body and lenses are a different matter altogether. For them you're probably going to want to carry them in a padded backpack (a Camel Back, for instance) ideally with a hard case to prevent damage in the event that you fall *off* your bike. So in trying to protect from '1' you're probably increasing the risk of '3'. But allowing both the front and/or rear suspension *and* your legs to manage to shocks and vibration will definitely give your gear a smoother ride.

 

Remember too that dirt gets *everywhere* when you're riding. I'd try to seal everything up in big ziploc bags to minimise the amount of dirt that you have to deal with.

 

It might be a good idea to start off just carrying some simple gear and then scaling up as you get more used to it. You might find that lugging around a 400mm telephoto simply isn't worth the added weight (your bike might weigh 20lbs, so why add a 10lb lens?) but that a 16mm lens is...

 

Just some thoughts,

 

jon

[www.whitemountainphoto.com]

Jim, my Lowepro Nature Trekker works great with my full suspension mountain bike. I agree with much of the above though, and don't take it on rigorous treks where it's exceptionally bumpy for a long time or technical. It certainly allowed me to get to a nice sunrise at Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge (NH) easier and an extra 1/2-1 hour of sleep. Well worth it!

 

Dana/<a href="http://www.whitemountainphoto.com">www.whitemountainphoto.com</a>

[cappoldt]

I use a backpack (Tamrac) rig often on my MB. Tripod in a tripod bag slung over shoulder.

 

Actually, your largest concern is missing from Jon's list:

 

 

CRASHING.

 

You go down hard with that stuff even on your back, and you are likely to see some busted-ass camera gear when you look inside.

[hique]

Bikes are nice when you are going down but not very nice when you need to go up.

 

With my little experience riding biclycles in the mountains and roads of my city, I could notice that most of the time there were hills in my way and that most of the time I would prefer to get out of the bike and walk the hill up, carrying the bike at my side.

 

So, I wouldn't recommend it if you plan to ride on a region of mountains and hills. It's nice for a a big plain, like a desert.

 

You will need a padded backpack :)

 

If you try it, let us know your experience also.

 

Good luck Jim.

[jamesdak]

Dana, nice shots and thanks for the practical input. I too am seeing it as a time saving means to get in a little "deeper". Do you carry the pack on your back and if so how much does it mess up your balance? I'm looking for a way to mount the gear on the bike both front and back to help balance the load. I currently carry a LowePro PhotoTrekker but still have my old smaller Tamarac pack. I'll probably use my older Minolta SRT-101's on the first couple of trips instead of my Maxxum 7's see how well the equipment and I do. I could probably drop the SRT's off a cliff and they'd still work. Oh yeah, I'll mainly be using the bike in the Utah Mountains around where I live but this ol' marathoner isn't afraid of a few hills! In fact I think my knees will appreciate the bike quite a bit, LOL!!

[nick_davis]

Depending on how much gear you carry, you may want to

consider a regular frame bike with just a front suspension fork.

You can get a better bike for the same money. I own both and

love my full suspension specialized FSR, but in my experience,

my 80 pounds of gear in my lowepro phototrekker backpack plus

the 224 pounds I carry naturally are just to much for the rear

suspension. The extra weight makes it compress to far and the

shock and spring will absorb some of the energy that you are

applying to the pedals making it harder to pedal the bike.

[www.whitemountainphoto.com]

Jim, Thanks for the kind words. I can't imagine my weight is more than say 20 lbs. or so. The Nature Trekker (padded) easily holds my Mamiya 645 Pro Tl, a 45mm, 80mm, and 140?mm, with film, filters, flashlight, wool cap, energy bars, and any of the other odd do-dads I have along. Water Bottle on the bike holder. The backpack has a conevient pocket on the outside bottom that I can stuff my rather large Gitzo with Kirk Ball head(series 3400?=fairly large, not near it to look at the model #)legs into, then it has two straps that cinch it to the back of the pack, then some thin bungy straps that I wrap around the top of the head. It works rather well, and since the tripod rides dead center, I don't find listing much of an issue. When I do venture on the bike as I said, I tend to eaither travel not too far and/or not too technical for concerns about taking a spill with my gear. However If I fell, I'd probably find someway to sacrifice by body for my gear...not smart, but typical of my reflexive action. Recently, it took me mere minutes to ride my bike two miles each way on fairly flat terrain, when it would have taken me probably 90 minutes on foot.

 

Dana/<a href="http://www.whitemountainphoto.com">www.whitemountainphoto.com</a>