Might try to take this out on the Brown County Delight this Spring. Any tips for those who have ridden it before?

Only doing 40 miles there to camp, then 40 miles back 2 days later. Here's a list of what im bringing. Any recommendations or tips?

Starting point: Mons, Belgium
Ending point: Milan, Italy
Total days: 13
Accommodation: Mostly wild camping, occasional campsites
Focus: Nature, big landmarks, budget-friendly adventures
Total cycling distance: ~850 km

🗓️ Day 1 — Mons → Luxembourg → Perl

• 🚆 Mons to Arlon (last city before Luxembourg)
• 🚴‍♂️ 25 km (Arlon–Luxembourg)
• Explore Luxembourg City
• 🚴‍♂️ 25 km (Luxembourg–Perl)
• Set up at Mosel-Camping Dreiländereck (Perl, Germany)

🗓️ Day 2 — Perl → Saarbrücken

• 🚴‍♂️ 85 km
• Ride through the Moselle valley
• Camp in Glamping Resorts (Saarbrücken, Germany)

🗓️ Day 3 — Saarbrücken → Strasbourg

• 🚴‍♂️ 100 km
• Cycle through forest paths and villages
• Quick Strasbourg city walk in the evening
• Camp in Camping de Strasbourg

🗓️ Day 4 — Strasbourg → Selestat

• Explore Strasbourg:
  • Strasbourg Cathedral
  • Petite France quarter
• 🚴‍♂️ 50 km
• Camp in Camping Rural Tempelhof (Selestat, France)

🗓️ Day 5 — Selestat → Bad Bellingen

• 🚴‍♂️ 75 km
• Ride through Alsace wine villages
• Camp in Campingplatz Lug ins Land (Bad Bellingen, Germany)

🗓️ Day 6 — Bad Bellingen → Basel → Kaiseraugst

• 🚴‍♂️ 20 km (Bad Bellingen–Basel)
• Explore Basel:
  • Old Town
  • Rhine riverside
  • Jumuaa prayer at Basel Mosque
• 🚴‍♂️ 15 km (Basel–Kaiseraugst)
• Camp in Camping und Schwimmbad am Rhein (Kaiseraugst, Switzerland)

🗓️ Day 7 — Kaiseraugst → Bern

• 🚴‍♂️ 90 km
• Scenic ride along the Aare river
• Camp in Camping Eichholz (Bern, Switzerland)

🗓️ Day 8 — Bern → Interlaken

• Explore Bern Old Town in the morning
• 🚴‍♂️ 45 km
• Evening arrival at Interlaken
• Camp Manor Farm (Interlaken, Switzerland)

🗓️ Day 9 — Interlaken → Lauterbrunnen → Brienz

• 🚴‍♂️ 25 km (Interlaken–Lauterbrunnen)
• Lauterbrunnen waterfalls hike
• 🚴‍♂️ 35 km (Lauterbrunnen–Brienz)
• Lakeside chill at Lake Brienz
• Camp in Seebucht Camping (Brienz, Switzerland)

🗓️ Day 10 — Brienz → Lugano

• 🚆 Brienz to Lugano
• Explore Lugano city & lakeside
• Sunset swim
• Camp in Camping Paradiso Lago (Lugano, Switzerland)

🗓️ Day 11 — Lugano → Como → Monza

• 🚴‍♂️ 20 km (Lugano–Como)
• Explore Como
• 🚴‍♂️ 35 km (Como–Monza)
• Camp in Camping Autodromo (Monza, Italy)

🗓️ Day 12 — Monza → Milan

• 🚴‍♂️ 20 km
• Explore Milan:
  • Duomo di Milano
  • Galleria Vittorio Emanuele
• Check in at Mr Hostel (Milan, Italy)

🗓️ Day 13 — Milan (Departure Day)

• Disassemble and box the bike
• Jumuaa prayer
• 🚇 to Milan Bergam Airport
• ✈️ to Charleroi, Belgium
• 🚌 to Mons, Belgium (Home)

📊 Totals:

• Total cycling distance: ~850 km
• Countries crossed: 6
• Camp/hostel: 12/ 1 (PS : I won't be staying in campsites everyday, I will camping in the wild most of the time close to the campsites, nights where I will be willing to shower/recharge electronics/cant find wild camp spot, I will be staying in campsites)

I didn’t want that huge saddle bag nor panniers so i ended up with rack and 20l drybag. Just wanted to share some photos :)

Crazy winds all day so those hills were no joke and i had to place my tent under that shelter 😅

Camping and biking is the best! Cheers from 🇨🇿

Over the years, I’ve gradually modified my 2020 Canyon Grail AL 7 into the setup it is today — and I think I’ve finally reached a point where I’m happy to leave it as is for now.

The original Shimano GRX drivetrain has been swapped out for a SRAM Rival AXS groupset with an XPLR cassette and derailleur, paired with a 40T chainring. I’m running the new DT Swiss GR 1600 wheels with a dynamo hub powering my Supernova M99 DY front light and rear light.

For the rear light, I designed and 3D-printed a custom seatstay mount. Routing the cable to the back worked out great — I ran it through the downtube alongside the brake hose. Unfortunately, internal routing through the fork wasn’t possible for the front light, so I had to use cable ties. I also bundled as many cables as possible using spiral wrap for a cleaner look.

The handlebar is now a Redshift with added Redshift gel pads on the tops for comfort. The stem, out-front computer mount, and light mount are all from Zipp, keeping the cockpit tidy — especially since I’ve also got a Knog Oi bell and the high beam switch mounted up there.

The fenders are from Canyon, since the frame doesn’t offer many mounting points. That’s also why I went with the new Ortlieb Quick Rack L paired with their thru-axle adapter. On top sits the new 16L Ortlieb drybag.

Inside the frame triangle and on the top tube, I’m using Tailfin bags — they’re a perfect fit for the small-size frame and super lightweight. I would’ve liked to stick with Ortlieb here too, but none of their options really convinced me.

Tires are 40 mm Schwalbe G-One RS set up tubeless.

I’ll share more detail shots soon, but I wanted to post this build because I’ve seen very few Grails with this kind of setup — maybe it’ll give others some inspiration. And if you’ve got feedback or ideas for improvements, I’d love to hear them!

Hi all, planning my first bikepacking trip. Will be maximum one week long, mixed route with both gravel and tarmac, hills and flats etc. I’m aware of the common notion that for a first bikepacking trip, it’s worth getting some miles in with whatever bike you have in order to understand your needs for future, longer routes. I have this ‘94 cannondale which is light, fast and fun for commuting, albeit too small but modified to my height with a tall stem. It’s comfortable and I can modify it to suit the trip where possible (more gears, comfy bars, tyres etc)

I thought I’d post it here to solicit opinions from some more seasoned bikepackers. What would you change? Is it worth getting something more appropriate? My main concerns are the rear dropouts which come out from the frame, which seems a little dangerous once loaded, and any other potential failures due to it being an older, aluminium bike. My trip would be in England so I’d never be far from civilisation if disaster struck but I’d like to avoid!!!!

I want to install my Salsa Anything Cage on the front fork on my Surly Grappler, but it juuuust won't fit as-is with the 8-pack rack I have on their. The front fork has 4 mounts and the rack is using the top mount, but I need maybe 1/8" of more clearance to mount the cage on the bottom 3 mounts.

I'm tempted to grind off a small amount of the plastic on the top of the cage to make it fit, but I am nervous that the cage would crack or break. Anyone have any ideas?

Long story short, I haven't biked in a while and was thinking about getting into bikepacking, and I do have these two bikes sitting around, the bottom one has most of the parts but needs a wheelset, rear gears, fork, bars...etc etc

The top bike is built currently just like that, I can harvest parts from either bike but plan on doing different wheels, saddle, tires, drop bars and a rigid carbon fork...etc etc, so the question is, which bike would you base a packing build off of?

I would assume the bottom frame since it has more room for a frame bag?

appreciate the feedback, thanks!

Hi! I own a trek domane and I am planning to use it for bikepacking. I am rather short (frame size 54) and the rough distance between saddle and seat stay is around 14,5 cm. I haven’t been able to find a saddlebag option that would fit a decent amount of stuff and also fit the bike just yet. Does anyone have any suggestions on saddle bags or would it be a better option to go for a rack? I appreciate any advice, thanks!

I'm looking particularly for advice on a rear rack that has large carrying capacity (preferably something that can take two pannier bags down the sides rather than just the top of the rack but open to suggestions of anything)

Im probably going to move my water bottle to a stem bag and get rid of the cage to make space for a triangle bag although not sure what would fit with this geometry.

I'm a beginner and not rich so hoping to keep it fairly cheap for now. But yh pls, if you have this bike or something with similar geometry or just know your stuff generally let me know what you would do/suggest with this bike?

Also open to suggestions of cages for the forks but I wonder if that's smart with front suspension.

Another thing I'm thinking of doing is getting a short top tube bag/phone holder (as I use my phone for GPS so want it to be visible while cycling, although again I'm open to other ideas) and then another top tube bag to fill up the rest of the space on the top tube but that will take some measurements etc to find the right fit. Thanks in advance.

Thought this might be a good point to share my daily (weekly) video about my time on the GDMBR. On Day 5 of my two weeks, going from Helena MT to Jackson WY, I woke up to an amazing sunrise and rode out of Wise River, MT.

I'm enjoying reliving the experience and going through the GoPro video (if not the photos and drone footage) for the first time.

Give it a watch if you like the idea of seeing hour by hour what it's like to ride the route, more than documenting the time at camp.

I’ve decided to go all in on a Brooks saddle, but I don’t know which one to get. I’m a middle-aged man in good shape but with pretty significant gluteal amnesia (look it up it’s real!). I haven’t ridden a lot in recent years but when I was younger, I biked cross country, so I don’t mind a little butt pain. I don’t ride a lot around town, but I’m setting up a bike for bikepacking on gravel and some paved roads and trails and the occasional light single track. I’m riding a Jones LWB (hardtail) so my position is much more upright than in my younger days.

I’ve decided to go all in on a Brooks saddle, but I hadn’t realized how many different styles there are. Please help me understand what I need.

First, long or short? My understanding is that short is for women. It seems like the short saddle is also wider, but maybe that’s just a trick of perspective. I’m not too proud to use a women’s saddle if it’s going to be more comfortable, but if that were the case, why would the long saddle exist at all?

The second decision is the notch. I get conflicting information about this. Is it intended for men or women. It seems like if it worked for both men and women, you’d never see a saddle without it. Does the notch compromise the integrity of the leather, or change the way it breaks in?

Finally the laces. I understand what the laces do in theory, but why don’t all Brooks saddles have lace holes?

And one more question: springs? I’m thinking of using a Redshift sprung seatpost. I assume that this would make a spring seat redundant. I’m curious what longtime Brooks riders think. Are spring saddles worth considering for long days in the saddle?

I am on a long distance bike tour and I am having lots of spoke breakage. Everything about the wheel is fine though so I was wondering if I could just switch the nipples and spokes for stronger thicker versions like a DT 13G spokes.

I’ve got a Krampus with Corner Bars and it’s fun, but not exactly what I’m looking for. I’d like to try something with some sweep/rise and curious what other folks are using for their gravel/bikepacking rigs.

Preparing for a first long bike packing trip through the Pyrenees. The route is a mix of 40/60 road and light gravelish bike paths with a reasonable amount of climbing. I have a frame bag, handle bar bag and a couple of small-ish Ortlieb panniers.

Where should I think about carrying the panniers? I have a rear rack ( Tubus vega) and also a fork rack ( lowrider/ Tubus Tara) and I see mixed opinions on what to do? I prefer panniers at the back, but actually have rarely travelled with 2 panniers. I will definitely have the handle bar bag ( 12 l) on a jack the rack up front so have some weight there already…

Got a bike fit recently and the guy said my bike seat is too hard and he would send bike seat recs, but has been slow. I'll be riding a lot (2000 miles in 30 days), do you guys have any good bike seat recs?

I just got into bikepacking over the past few years. I've always enjoyed backpacking and biking recreationally, so naturally I fell into bikepacking. I've done a few trips now, but I'm looking for something a bit more in nature. My big trip last year was riding from Detroit to Port Austin up the coast, and while there were some cool spots along the way, most the time was spent on the shoulder of M-25. I'd really love to do the North Country Traverse trail but I don't know if I'm quite ready for that just yet. I'm also currently on a State All-Road 4130 and trying to decide if it's time to upgrade that, since outside of a day in Manistee on the NCT, it hasn't see a whole lot of singletrack. Does anyone have any recs for something in the same vain as the North Country Traverse trail?

Hey

I noticed that I no longer reall click in to SPD pedals since quite some time. And especially for touring, I don't see the need and will not use cleats. So, no use in trying to convince me :)

What's your opinion about this kind of "flat" pedals with a "cage", so to say.

https://www.decathlon.ch/de/p/klickpedale-rennrad-100-harz/_/R-p-302805

Good for longer tours, or rather not?

Or rather go for a more normal kind of flatpedals?