Geeking Out On Gear

When I first started planning this trip, I threw all of my mental energy into researching and procuring gear, so that basically I had finished pulling everything together oh... in February.  All that's left for me is to pick up the spare parts, tubes, etc. that I will need.  I had assumed from the beginning that I would go with the standard touring set-up -- two front and two rear panniers with a handlebar bag.  After drooling over some of the mountain bikepacking setups, I started thinking about the possibility of doing a framebag and if possible, nix the front panniers, and to run Salsa anything cages on the front fork to carry Nalgenes for extra water storage.  It was brilliant!  Except that while certain framebags were mass produced for other model by Surly, there was no framebag made for my midget-sized Troll. 

Revelate Designs, whose Feed Bags I fell in love with, had promised that they were coming out with framebags for the Troll in the Spring.  Nothing.  Nada.  I can't blame them.  So I looked at custom options... and found Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket.

But of course, that seemed really pricey at the time, $170+ for a custom framebag, $40 for a pair of Salsa anything cages, $60 to add the extra water bottle boss on the front fork to be able to mount the cages... at least, it seemed pricey back in January, when I was putting together my budget for paying off my student loans, what I could spend on gear, and what I would put away for the trip.  Until one day, I realized I was ahead of my savings plan due to forgetting that I would max out both my 401k andsocial security contribution limits by July.  And so I decided that if I'm going to live on my bike for 2+ years, I better have a set-up I LOVE.  Scott told me he had not done a 14" Troll bag yet, so I had the honor of drawing a pattern for him.  I dropped my bike off at a local bike builder, Tom Palermo of Palermo Bicycles, who would be adding a set of water bottle bosses to the down tube and and the front fork. 

And then, it was time to patiently wait. 

And wait. 

And wait.

And then.... I got an email from Scott... my bag is done!  And for instant gratification... he sent a picture and posted it to his flickr site for all to see.


Photo Credit: Scott Felter of Porcelain Rocket

Slowly, but surely, the clock is counting down.  It's hard to believe looking at my budget spreadsheet how many months have gone by since I sat down and made it in the first place.  It's hard to believe that I have just two more paychecks before I can pay off my student loans in their entirety, my BA, JD, and MA.