Review: MSR Dromedary and S-Biners
Readers of PathLessPedaled.com, will know that I’ve been riding through the desert areas of California and Arizona the last few weeks. Our biggest challenge has been finding and carrying water since it is often 30-50 miles between any services.
I’ve owned the 6L MSR Dromedary Bag for almost a year and have really come to appreciate it on this trip. There are several other water carrying methods like Platypus bladders and Camelbak backpacks but I still prefer the MSR Dromedary Bag. The MSR bag has a tough, Cordura-like exterior that seems tough enough to take a fair amount of abuse. It’s lining can withstand boiling water, perfect for when you need to warm up your sleeping bag or when you want to fix up a warm shower. The exterior also has a series of grommets around the whole bag so you can lash it on in several ways. As a plus, it also works well with our water filter, an MSR AutoFlow gravity filter.
One of the challenges of carrying so much water is how the heck to attach it to your bike. I’ve tried a number of ways from bungeeing it down on the back to using caribiners and hanging it off of some bag webbing. The method that I have found to work the best is to use two #3 Nite-Ize S-biners and clip it through the loops on a Brooks saddle and the webbing of the dromedary bag.
This works for a number of reasons. First, it’s real easy to get on and off - no knots to undo. Secondly, the water is still accessible while its on the bike. Just flip the spout open and you can fill your water bottle without even dismounting. Lastly, the saddle is meant to take a load. By placing the weight where it should already be, you don’t alter the handle of the bike too adversely. Does it rub your thighs? Sometimes, but that is a small inconvenience when compared to being dehydrated.
Of course, this system demands that you make that precious space under the brooks available. No saddle bags or seat pouches so its a trade off. If anyone else uses a MSR Dromedary and has another way of mounting it, let me know!
MSR Dromedary + #3 S-Biners = Highly Recommend.
Buy your MSR Dromedary Bag here and support EpicureanCyclist.com!
Subscribe to Epicurean Cyclist
Very cool. This raises two questions:
1. What’s the sponge under your saddle for? Dare I ask?
2. Doesn’t the dromedary bag swing around, just hanging there like that?
1) There’s a little bit of a story with the sponge. We stopped by Rivendell and Grant wanted to show us a new trick he was working on for fixing sagging brooks saddles. Instead of tightening the expander bolt you put a hard piece of foam underneath. Seems to do the job without fiddling the bolt.
2)The bag swings around the emptier it gets, but you can fix this by pulling in the slack in the webbing. It doesn’t swing nearly as bad as you would imagine and by tightening up the webbing you can almost eliminate it completely.
Great idea on the sponge. I just realized I should try this trick with my selle an-atomica saddle. Do anyone have any recommendations for finding Hard foam? I’m thinking computer packaging or perhaps frame packaging at local bike shops.
~L
Three cheers for the MSR dromedary bags. We have several that we lug along depending on needs. I used to take the larger one and lash it on top of the bags so the sun could get to it, then attach the shower head and hose for a nice shower when I hit camp.
Aaron
@Logan: Then you don’t get the anatomically correcting benefit of the saddle’s independently moving sides … watch the videos on their website.
In your defense though, i’m on my SECOND anatomica. First one was sent in for premature stretching. Second one is 3 months old and since I have a knee injury I have MAYBE 300 miles on it and the bolt is already past halfway out.
I do NOT want to pay $180 every three months for a saddle, but it’s the only saddle I can actually use (brooks aren’t comfortable for me)
@Jason Lee
Sorry for the late reply! I just found your comment to me. Great point! I tried the foam on the Milton anatomica saddle and it didn’t feel right, perhaps I’ll have to try some softer foam (memory foam?).
@Russ
Thanks for this idea Russ! This saved our butts on a camping trip this weekend. Temps were in the high 90s and we were in the middle of farm fields when we ran out of water. I was glad I packed a reserve dromedary under my saddle like you have suggested here. It was a perfect solution to summer heat and it was great peace of mind to have an extra 6L of aqua under my keester.
Cheers!