Handlebar bag alternative

[staehpj1]

On most of the TA the turns are pretty infrequent.  One of the gals I rode with on the TA could just look at the map in the morning and remember all of the turns.  I definitely could not do that.  I have toured with the map in a jersey pocket and it wasn't that bad.  Still I do prefer to have it out and in sight.

[zzzz]

Man... that is one ugly bag! Thats the cycling equivalent of the "dog cone of shame".

Maybe you can take one and split it between you and your 2 pals, 1 day on/ 2 days off, 1/3 the humiliation. One of them looks to be big enough to carry 3 peoples lunch & snacks and you only need 1 map displayed.

+1 that there's not a lot of turns on your route. After you drop down from Skyline drive and are heading into Charlottesville Va is the only place I can remember where the route was 1.3 miles make left, .7 miles make right, etc. And there the state of Va kindly put out "Bike Route 76" road signs at (almost) every turn.

That said, the little map case you linked to looks like a good thing to carry. I think I'm going to get me one.

pm

[bengrier]

Maybe you can take one and split it between you and your 2 pals, 1 day on/ 2 days off, 1/3 the humiliation. One of them looks to be big enough to carry 3 peoples lunch & snacks and you only need 1 map displayed.

hahahaha.   

[RandomGuyOnABike]

As someone that has a handlebar bag.. and ditched it for aero bars, my easy-access items:

- 2x Revelate Designs Mountain Feedbag: https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Cockpit/Mountain-Feedbag
- 1x Revelate Designs JerryCan: https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Cockpit/Jerrycan
- 1x Topeak Fuel Tank (Large): http://www.topeak.com/products/bags/fueltank_l
- 1x ACA Map Case
- 1x Tangle Frame bag: https://www.revelatedesigns.com/index.cfm/store.catalog/Frame-Bags/Tangle-Frame-Bag

Tons of space in these for the odds and ends. For clothing / food / big items, I use my panniers. The tent fits nicely into the RD Sweet Roll pack.

[Wirelizard]

RandomGuy beat me to recommending the Toppeak Fuel Tank. My bike is primarily a daily commuter, so I installed "cheater" brakes on the inside of the drop bars when I bought it - no fun playing in traffic with brakes only accessible from two of your three main hand positions!

This means I have no room to mount most handlebar bags, so the Fuel Tank on the top bar just behind the handlebar stem makes sense.

I've only used it a couple of times, but one of those was in torrential West Coast (Wet Coast...) rain for over an hour and everything inside (including phone and compact camera) stayed perfectly dry, so +1 to the Fuel Tank for that - I was a bit concerned about the top-mounted zipper, but it was solid.