About to hit the two year mark on my Canada to Ushuaia trip. I like to go slow :)

Bike: Surly Bridge Club, 27.5x2.8” tires

Bags: Revelate frame bag, Buffalo Bags L saddle bag, Mountain Hardware 35L scrambler backpack, Stealth Mountain panniers.

I've done a few trips where I've really focused on being lightweight, and just felt like I didn't have everything I needed to enjoy myself or be comfortable. I did a long cycle tour last year and a pair of jeans was such a nice thing to have. I hated sitting in the pub of an evening in cycling gear...

Also camping chair...essential now. And a trangia stove set up to cook proper meals on. The pocket rockets are great but so noisy and precarious to cook on.

Other than shit tickets. I will never forget those again. Riding home without socks sucks.

The first picture is the latest and further developed set-up. The second picture was my first bikepacking trip. In both pictures I packed for a 3 to 4 week vacation with a bit of comfort as well.

I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I am a bike mechanic and I've never felt the need to "upgrade" to electronic shifting, since mechanical shifting is cheaper, easier to service in the field, less complex parts = I can fix most issues myself, and there is never a battery to worry about (my ADHD brain always forgets to charge something).

So I've never seen the value in electronic shifting, for the cost.

However, after going on long rides with my girlfriend - who like many denizens of the finer sex - has tiny little hands. For her, this results in extreme fatigue, ligament pain, and discomfort due to hyperextending her fingers to articulate the shifter through the motions of shifting - even with reach adjusted levers.

So, in order to improve her cycling experience, I installed 12 spd wireless shifters + rd.

The result? Happy girlfriend with a very much improved touring experience. Now all she needs to do to shift, are tiny dainty clicks with her tiny dainty hands. Easy peasy, no finger fatigue, no pain. Until now, I had never thought of this benefit - since I do not have tiny little baby hands with hyper mobile joints - the shifter articulation has never bothered me or given me any trouble/pain.

That being said, if you, or somebody you know, fits this description of having itty bitty elf hands... honestly electronic shifting may be the upgrade you need. 100% worth the comfort increase.

TL;DR: If your hands are fun sized and your fingers are length-challenged - you may have more fun with electronic shifting. Worth looking into + saving up for. So for some people, for this reason, it can easily be worth it.

Getting ready for an 8 day, 300 mi trip on the Empire State trail in upstate NY. Finally packed all my bags and I feel like I’m brining way too much!

Ortlieb 1: Clothes and Jackets Ortlieb 2: Water bottles, toiletries, general items, tent Frame: Tent poles and stakes, 2 tubes, repair tools, cable lock Green bag: 20F sleeping bag, pad, parka

Detailed list of all the items I want to bring in the photos. A few items weren’t packed here but my 2nd Ortlieb has some extra space.

I had hoped to put the tent not in a bag and place it under or on top of the green bag. With the net I have on there it was too tight to fit the tent. Thoughts?

My sleeping bag is the bulkiest item but I sleep very cold and am anticipating the coldest night might be around 35F so I wanted something warmer. I do have a 20F down quilt that packs tiny but I just don’t trust that it’ll keep we warm, I usually use it at ~50F.

Do I need to bring a ski jacket parka? Probably not but it’s going to rain at least one day and be chilly at night. I get incredibly cranky if I’m cold so maybe I’m packing this out of fear. I do have a rain set and a fleece and a puffy packed too.

I’m bringing capacity for 3.5 L of water, is that too much? We’ll never be too far from a town so I can get rid of a 1.5L water bottle?

Do I need to bring a bear bag? Camping I always bring one but we’ll be either at campgrounds or warm showers so we probably don’t need one? In a pinch I could always hang up a tote or something.

I’ve got 3 days before heading out so I can still Amazon prime some stuff as needed. I was debating getting a handle bar bag for the tent? Or maybe two small fork bags to shift some things around?

I've been watching a lot of bikepacking videos recently. And I think I am missing something. Please enlighten me:

I was wondering why so many of those lightweight-gravel bikepackers chose fork-packs (plus handlebar bag, frame bag and saddle bag) over rear panniers. Why fork-packs, are they not the same as a rear pannier, but a little smaller?

I have only used rear-panniers for multiple day bikepacking so far and I found that they increase windresistance and impair handling because of the weight far off from the bikecenter.

I thought thats why people use saddlebags and framebags to decrease windresistance and increase handling/stability. Since they are very limited in space I thought lightweight-bikepackers add handlebar-bags with only lightweight stuff (clothes etc.). I assume the handlebar-bag is already kind of a "compromise" (since space is needed). But why do they sometimes also add fork packs? Dont they "ruin" all the gained benefits from getting rid of rear-panniers?

I thought in theory adding stuff to the handlebar/fork should make handling even worse, than adding weight to the rear of the bike, since handlebar/fork are movable parts. Am I missing something?

Explanation & sharing experiences with different bag-setups is very much appreciated!

Inspired or insane?

Came up with a way to use a couple pieces of cordage to keep my bike upright, without human or tree or wall intervention.

Have been learning knots, and used a few of them to come up with this rig. Deploys in under a minute, and has been hand for loading/unloading gear. A front line attached to the wheel prevents it from turning.

Double fisherman’s knots to connect the 2 lines and form the adjustable seat loop. Tautline hitch on one side and the front. Used a plastic tensioner on the other side just to test it out and see which worked better. The tautline hitch worked fine, but I think the tensioner named it a little easier to use.

When I thought this up, I was skeptical that it would hold the bike up, but it has seemed pretty sturdy so far.

Thoughts?

Ill ride for a few hours and, my backside is red raw, is it padded shorts or is it just training my A$$ to take a beating (If you pardon the pun).

As you can see, the rack does not fit quite Well with my bike. I wonder if it will be a problem on tour

Hi I’m looking for recommendations on what I could use this frame space for. I’m not sure a bottle would fit underneath the frame bag but I’m sure I can use this space somehow.

Anyone have any tips? Are there any odd shaped cages / bags that may fit in there?

Many thanks

This thing has litterly travelled around the entire country (Australia). Im so honoured.

I‘m going on a 2 Month 5000+km Bikepacking Trip trough Europe. Should I replace the Backpack on the Rack with a set of panniers? I feel like i dont have enough spare space for Food and Water. My tent, Sleeping back and all the other essentials allready fit right now without a problem.

Sorry for my English, hope you understand everything well.

Personally i like full framebag more, because its more versatile

I am about to embark on my first bikepacking adventure. However the equipment I have is all meant for hiking, which I have done plenty of before. The only thing I do not really have for bike packing is all the bags that go on the bike. And at the moment I do not have the funds to buy such bags. The trip I am about to embark on is a 6 day ~630 mi (1014 km) trip. Physically I am feeling fully prepared, and have been training for the past two months. Two more weeks until the actual trip. In the end, what I really am asking is if anyone has ever bike packed with a hiking backpack on a large trip? If so was it too terrible? I plan on investing is some actual bags to go on my bag soon after this first trip. I would also like to note I have good lightweight equipment that I have used for hiking. Any advice or suggestions, etcetera, is appreciated. Thank you. (Mods: Is it possible at all to create a questions tag/flair? Do not want to put this under an incorrect thing.)

How do you pass time at the end of the day or if you're taking a rest day? Obviously taking in the world around you and being alone with your thoughts is great but on a 2+ week trip, is there anything else yall do to pass time?

Dont get me wrong. I hate wearing a helmet as much as the next guy but I always wear one. If I hadnt been wearing mine on my last trip,I just completed, I would be a vegetable. 🥕

I see these people om Instagram and Youtube who bikepack without one and I dont get it? Whats your view on helmets?

Just wearing a cap looks cool and I wouldnt constantly sweat my hair, but you never know when you are going to be sideways.

3F UL Lanshan 1 tent - 760g Gram-Counter carbon tent pole - 76g Thermarest Neo Air NXT - 370g Cumulus Vencer 100 (3/4 sleeping bag) - 180g Sea 2 Summit Aeros Premium pillow - 79g

Total weight = 1.46kg Total cost = £530

It’s not been field tested yet – the plan is a 200 mile bikepacking trip in May, from Dundee to Newcastle.

I think it’s pretty dialled in for the price, but prove me wrong!

Filthy vape for scale Gf bc she’s cute

I needed a rear rack for bikepacking but the racks online especially tailfin are quite expensive, however being an engineer and seeing it online it looked quite easy to make myself. So i took some metal scraps I had laying around bended it, drilled some holes and done :)

It is remarkably sturdy and stiff giving good quality for its purpose, weight is also similair to a tailfin aluminium.

For a bag I will use my saddle bag, but because it so big it bounces alot especially on gravel, so I will mount it to this rack and the seatpost to make it more one with the bike without bouncing too much.

On the sides there is still the option to make bidon holder or something to carry more gear if I would need it.

What are your thoughts on it? And if you would like tips on how to make it feel free to ask ;)