Packing a 4x5 on a bicycle

[macolive]

Yes, on some cameras they did. What I did to isolate vibration, cheaply, was to buy second hand soft sided insulated lunch cooler sacks at thrift stores. You can get them the correct size for stashing 4x5 holders in, or even the whole camera. I received one from a project that I worked on that fit my speed graphic perfectly. I always carried my lenses in lens wraps, and then put them into a lunch cooler bag. With all the individual components in different cooler bags, is also protects the items from damaging one another. In the last photo in my previous post, you can see the top of a large sized lunch cooler loaded with film holders.

Arkel makes good equipment. I used their bicycle brief case until it literally looked so bad I was ashamed to carry it into the office. I like the tent pole bag idea posted previously. That was the biggest problem for me, stowing and maneuvering around with the tripod on the bike. My little Bogen tripod wasn't too much trouble, but when I tried carrying a larger tripod for the 8x10, the problems of balance and attaching the tripod to the bike become more complicated.

I also looked at the waterproof Ortlieb panniers, and thought they would be a good choice too. But in my experience if you have your equipment in lunch coolers which have a water proof lining, the water would have to get through the pannier, and then through the cooler bag. And Arkel sells rain covers for their panniers too if that were a concern. I never had any trouble, but I also avoided being out on my bike in potentially bad weather. Storms are nothing to play around in, especially being many miles away from the car or the house.

Thanks for the insight.

[macolive]

I have mentioned this before, but vibration-wise, the biggest problem I had was with exposed film sitting in a 4x5 box on the bike. A combination of high humidity and vibration caused high-humidity static discharges between the sheets of film in the box. Several negs ruined, some spot-able....instead of steaks of light, it was little dots. I should have padded inside the box to keep the film still.

Hmmmm....it's almost enough to make me go digital! Hahaha

[popdoc]

I may have missed it here, or in other threads, but what about doing the same with a multi-strada motorcycle? Also, which motorcycle would you recommend?

[macolive]

I may have missed it here, or in other threads, but what about doing the same with a multi-strada motorcycle? Also, which motorcycle would you recommend?

Originally, I wanted to get a Vstrom, but my wife said "Absolutely not! Not until you build me a house." As far as I've seen, there are hard case panniers (like pelicans with foam) in which I would put the gear. Not sure about the tripod though.

[Vaughn]

I may have missed it here, or in other threads, but what about doing the same with a multi-strada motorcycle? Also, which motorcycle would you recommend?

my brother has one of these -- he likes it. http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com/us/en/...html&notrack=1

[Drew Bedo]

My 4x5 kit packs into an old LowePro Magnum-35 shoulder bag; camera, 3 lenses, 12 holders and the oher stuff. Weighs as much as 23 pounds depending.

I would think that this package is compact enough to be styrapped onto a rear fender rack if it were stout enough.

What about the racks that news boys used to pack full of rolled up papers?

[Greg]

one bike, one photographer, and one camera

[macolive]

My 4x5 kit packs into an old LowePro Magnum-35 shoulder bag; camera, 3 lenses, 12 holders and the oher stuff. Weighs as much as 23 pounds depending.

I would think that this package is compact enough to be styrapped onto a rear fender rack if it were stout enough.

What about the racks that news boys used to pack full of rolled up papers?

I mentioned a front rack bag that Surly and a few other companies make. They are quite large and I imagine the system would fit easily into the bag. The size of the bag is just a little bigger than the Lowepro Magnum 400aw. A lot of people are divided on whether it's better to have such a heavy load in front and high up or whether it's better to have it in the rear. This bag is a front only bag.

[macolive]

So after much deliberation, I am thinking of going with panniers. Probably the Arkel signature V.

My solution to packing the camera and lenses would be to use polyurethane foam. This is what I had in mind. Fingers crossed!

[tgtaylor]

Here is a video of a guy that toured Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica on a Salsa Marrakesh road touring bike with a 4x5 and panoramic camera (scroll down and click on the video):

http://salsacycles.com/culture/brian..._down_route_66

From Santa Monica it looks like he rode up to San Francisco where he developed his film at Rayko's.

I am considering the Salsa and the Fuji touring bike. Toyo 45CF, Gitzo GT0540, Harrison pup tent, Sekonic L-758DR and Nikon F6 is my photo gear.

Thomas