Do cameras and bicycles mix?

[FunkyNige]

Being without a car at the moment I normally use my bike to get around, but I'm a bit wary of stuffing my camera in there if I go offroad onto dirt tracks.
What precautions should I take when packing things into a rucksack? Will a decent Lowepro backpack be worthwhile(I have 2 SLRs and a couple of lenses) or will lots of padding in a normal rucksack be sufficient?

[vipers]

Well I've seen custom back packs for camera gear, but I would have thought that sufficient padding in an ordinary back pack would be just as good, worst case secnario would be to fall on the backpack, unlikely I would have thought.

Dont be tempted to put them in your jacket, I recall some years ago, a guy out with his trusty Pentax zipped inside his coat, freezing cold, hands in pockets, slipped on pavement, fell on his chest, couldn't get his hands out in time to hit the deck first, result, one smashed camera, and two cracked ribs.

[Black5]

As I keep adding to my gear, instead of buying another camera bag I got a decent rucksack spend £6 on some inch thick foam and made my own camera bag.

Advantage is you make it as thich as you need it to protect your gear and make it to fit your gear exactly. Oh - it also saved me around £100 and doesn't look like a camera bag.

[C&C]

Did the same thing, but also lined the outside of the foam with a couple of layers of corrugated cardboard (from a PC box). This made a hard outer shell with the soft foam inside - works great.

[simpo two]

Make sure it can't fly out. As a student on placement I cycled to work (amazing but true) and had my week-old Ricoh SLR in a bag over the back wheel. I hit a tarmac ramp rather fast and heard a sickening crack behind me - the camera had flown straight out and landed upside down on the pavement. It picked up some major scratches but worked perfectly for another 17 years

[vipers]

Should also perhaps check your insurance, check if your camera gear is covered outside the home.

[White_van_Man]

i took my DSLR everyware with me in the alps last summer, i kept it in a lowepro bag and rapped in my spare jumper, thankfully i didnt have any big crashes. It did get wet and knocked around a bit and it was fine. I would have prefered to take a compact camera with me i have had some big crashe's with them in my rucksack and the have survived with not very much padding around them.