Introduction
This page describes my design for an ultra-compact hot drink set specifically designed for mountain biking.
The design is compact enough to fit a medium size mountain bike saddle wedge pack, yet contains all that's needed to make hot drinks for me and my buddies on the trail: a burner and stand, fuel, matches, boiling pot, windscreen, four cups+spoons, and of course soup mixes or coffee/tea/sugar, whatever. All this, in addition to what I usually store under my saddle - a spare tube, patch kit and my trusty tool set.
I don't like carrying a backpack on my rides, mainly because it places dead weight way up high, adding to instability and consequently to technical performance degradation. Moreover, I sweat enough as it is - adding a backpack, especially on summer rides, quickly turns any mild uphill into a sauna from hell. Finally, being a minimalist by nature, I just love to keep things small and simple.
| 1 - The Burner: The set is literally centered around
the Simon stove alcohol burner.
This is a Japanese alcohol stove that follows their best tradition of being
compact, elegant and efficient. I got mine in 'Riqushet' in Israel
(offline). Online, it's available via this
Australian camping store The stove is made of stainless steel, and has an integral pot stand that folds out or tucks in to secure the burner lid. In addition, the burner cup is just large enough for storing about 60cc of fuel and some matches. In my configuration, the stove cover and carrying case are not used.
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- Fuel and Matches: It took a while, but I finally found a
container that would fit nicely inside the stove, hermetically hold about
60cc of fuel, The fuel itself is denatured alcohol, though it may disguise itself in many ways: US automotive fuel line de-icer Heet, available in any automotive store, hardware store, kmart, wal-mart etc. Other options: liquer store 'Saraf 95' by 'Carmel Mizrachi' is 95% pure alcohol that can be purchased at any supermarket (some people drink this - God forbid). |
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- The windscreen: The efficiency of the stove is greatly increased if it is
shielded from open wind. A windscreen reflects heat back to the pot, decreasing boil time
by more than half. I cut mine from a large aluminum can. Another source for the windscreen
is the disposable oven aluminum pans. Ideally the windscreen covers the stove and the pot
all around, but mine is roughly the same height as the pot because it has to fit inside
it. (In retrospect, I'm not sure the following is necessary): Two rows of holes an inch apart are drilled at the bottom to facilitate ventilation, and three top holes + three bottom notches are drilled so that the three stove pot support legs can protrude out of the windscreen. I fold the windscreen so it creates a cozy fit around the pot, otherwise the flames tend to spread out and heat is lost.
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| 4 - The pot and cups: Simply a stainless steel coffee pot. Cups - I first started with disposable as in this picture, but then found plastic ones that fit inside the stove burner (see below). |  |
| 5 - The wedge saddle pack: I use a large size wedge saddle pack that has expendable compartment along the lines of this Avenir Bigmouth. It's large enough to contain everything needed for the set, plus mechanical backup and even some munchies and cell phone. I recommend against the quick release types - I got one and it broke after a few rides. Instead, get the one with strap around. |  |
The following procedure may read like a Russian Babushka dolls set or a scene from McGuyver, but here goes:
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The matches go anywhere there's space, and there's also space for other stuff such as coffee, tea, whatever. Check that there's no rattle (with this tight fit, there's usually not). |
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Finally, the whole kit fits inside the pack, with space left for a toolkit and a spare tube.
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Comments, suggestions, feedback - please drop me a line.
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