What is "bikepacking"?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
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mjr
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by mjr »

Here's a picture of my current touring setup: barbag on the front (mostly tools, food, sunblock, lip balm, power packs and other things it's useful to access without stopping), saddlebag and kit roll strapped on the top back of the rack. White carrier bag containing my lock on top of the saddlebag. A mixture of traditional and bikepacking?
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Current touring setup
Current touring setup
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Bmblbzzz
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Tangled Metal wrote:I'm just a cyclist making my way along whatever route suits.

A good and universal description.
Tangled Metal
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Only now I have a custom frame bag. Yet to fit as I need to take off the bottle cages. Yet to work out what to fit in it. What do you recommend? I reckon it'll take tent poles and pegs. Possibly inner tent or outer (whichever is best). I don't know the volume and off the bike it looks small. It's an XL bike so it isn't small volume. I think 6 or 6.5 litres.

What would you put in it for cycle touring?
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Gattonero
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Gattonero »

danielb wrote:...
Just a way of rebranding an existing product or concept to make it seem trendy.

A bit irksome to those of us who have been doing it for years when people talk as if they have invented something new, but harmless enough I suppose.


Really, were you guys doing this? :wink:
https://vimeo.com/211092315
Image

Let's say it all, nothing is exactly "new" and I don't think any of those guys is boasting to be doing something new. Though most of them are pushing the boundaries and going where the old cyclo tourist wouldn't go.
And this has lead to a great development of the luggage, materials and designs have been refined a lot, those things before did not exist. Having them on a mass-market it means that prices are going down, too; see the bags that Alpkit makes in the UK, and are reasonable priced for the quality of design and materials.

I really don't get what could be "irksome" for you guys, what is the problem? :roll:


danielb wrote:It happens all the time and I have been expecting for a while that the sort of cycle touring we are familar with would become fashionable as it is an obvious development from the boom in cycling when people think how they can take it further from day rides and sportives.

Again, what is the problem there, when people does not want to have the classic 4-panniers setup but just a couple of bags strapped on their bike, carrying not much stuff on their favourite bike, and they cannot go out for sixteen days but only a weekend?
I understand that the words "carbon frame" and "light" may be offensive for some, but it's not like they are all riding a cheap carbon frame made in China or they are obsessed with weight. In fact, most of the ones I know (and me, too) would ride steel and would just keep an eye on the weight of the bike&gear though not sacrificing practicality and reliability.

You call it "fashion", I call it "more people on a bike can help us raise our voice and stand for our rights" :D
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
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Gattonero
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Gattonero »

Tangled Metal wrote:Only now I have a custom frame bag. Yet to fit as I need to take off the bottle cages. Yet to work out what to fit in it. What do you recommend? I reckon it'll take tent poles and pegs. Possibly inner tent or outer (whichever is best). I don't know the volume and off the bike it looks small. It's an XL bike so it isn't small volume. I think 6 or 6.5 litres.

What would you put in it for cycle touring?


It's a good idea to keep the poles there, or strapped at the bottom of the TT.
My advice is to put in the frame bag the small&heavy stuff: water, food, fuel.

I use an Apidura frame bag that is about 6lt and can easily keep the foor for 3-4 days: dried Tofu, Rye bread, peanut butter, dried fruit (figs, peaches) and nuts, porridge, couscous, rice. I repack everything when possible, making the right portions. I do not carry full tins or 1kg or rice :wink:
I would also carry eggs sometimes, in a water bottle filled with rice or couscous, the eggs are put each one in a small freezer bag (reusable for rubbish) and "drowned" inside the bottle. You can shake it as much as you want, the eggs won't break with the rice/couscous/pasta around them :idea:
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
cyclop
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by cyclop »

I toured the continent in 1972 with carradice cotton duck panniers and a "Joe Brown"karrimor rucksac in which was my sleeping bag.This was rolled up and put crossways on the carrier with the tent.I then used the rucsac for forays off the bike."bikepacking"before the word existed?
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Gattonero
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Gattonero »

cyclop wrote:I toured the continent in 1972 with carradice cotton duck panniers and a "Joe Brown"karrimor rucksac in which was my sleeping bag.This was rolled up and put crossways on the carrier with the tent.I then used the rucsac for forays off the bike."bikepacking"before the word existed?


Maybe. Maybe not.
What's the big deal?

I guess you had a good time, and achieved a lot. That is important :)
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
Tangled Metal
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Mine's a custom made frame bag. Bought because. My bike won't take the 4 panniers load carrying. Wrong bike? Not at all because I'm out there touring and enjoying it.

I did once think of using the retaining straps of the bag to hold the tent poles then fill the bag with other things. However I doubt that's secure so I'll play around with things in it.

Waiting for a new tent to arrive. It's got a tiny pack size despite being a full 3 man with huge porch. Bag size looks like 35mm long and a little fatter than a Nalgene wide mouthed bottle. I reckon the fabric would fit into.the lower compartment of the frame bag. The pegs, poles and water bladder in the top compartment. Then maps and guidebooks in the map pocket.
mattsccm
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by mattsccm »

:roll: I :roll: suspect that the irritation factor is to a great extent caused by the fact that journalism has decided that this is a new thing , needing a new name. The fact that people have been doing it for over a century and the name has already been used seems to have missed the "newcomers" by.
I think I might be one of those who applauds the actions but is just a touch fed up with the modern need to have a new name and exposure for something old. In much the same way I reject the current fad for calling mudguards fenders, fixed wheel bikes fixies and gear levers shifters. Absolutely harmless, go for it it keeps you happy but the language and excitement of a supposedly new idea is not for me. However the idea of the whole activity is great.
Indeed isn't this what the CTC was all about?
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Gattonero
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Gattonero »

mattsccm wrote::roll: I :roll: suspect that the irritation factor is to a great extent caused by the fact that journalism has decided that this is a new thing , needing a new name.


So it's a game about who was the first to do something? :shock: :roll:
As much as some people seem to sneer at magazines, all this haste for what can be just a name, makes me think that this same people are sort of over-concerned (if not blinded) by the magazines themselves.
I really don't care what magazines or marketing may say, and if marketing means that you can have better products (as the bags, in fact, have evolved a lot) at lower price, I'd say it's all gravy

mattsccm wrote:The fact that people have been doing it for over a century and the name has already been used seems to have missed the "newcomers" by.


The "newcomers" are actually pushing the boundaries.
100 years ago there were no mass-production fat bikes, nor you would have things like the Tour Divide/Transcontinental, or simply the SDW as planned route accessible to anyone.

mattsccm wrote:I think I might be one of those who applauds the actions but is just a touch fed up with the modern need to have a new name and exposure for something old.


I still don't get what makes you "fed up".
It's cycling, they're not cursing your parents or whatever. Indeed, I've never seen one of those "newcomers" been "fed up" with the old cyclotourist with his 25kg bike and two old panniers strapped with bungee cords and inner tubes. Likely, those "newcomers" may ask for advice on routes. :wink:

Let me ask you, do you have (and use) a mountain bike? That could explain a lot.
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
Tangled Metal
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Tangled Metal »

Bl**dy bikepackers! Don't they realise this is the forum of the Cyclist Touring Club? The CTC membership don't suffer fools playing around with fancy seatpacks unless they're canvas and leather with a Carradice label on them!

They must have names like long flap and barley. Plus you need to leave new ones out in the garden for a few weeks in summer to age before you use them. Can't have new looking bags on your bike, must look like they've been handed down a generation or two (unless you look like you're a generation or two older and bought it new when you were young).
PS The CTC has become the CUK. I reckon they've got complaining about that out of their system.
Perhaps bikepacking is the next thing to moan about. Bless! If it keeps them happy. :wink:
hamster
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by hamster »

And they need a special pocket for a Helicomatic tool and some spare Woods valve rubbers. :?
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Gattonero
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Gattonero »

Don't forget the Withworth spanner :mrgreen:
It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best,
since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.
Thus you remember them as they actually are...
Jdsk
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by Jdsk »

NB date.

‘It’s all about freedom and adventure’: five of the best bikepacking routes in Scotland":
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023 ... n-scotland

Promoting:
"Bikepacking Scotland: 20 multi-day cycling adventures off the beaten track":
https://www.adventurebooks.com/collecti ... rkus-stitz

Jonathan
mattheus
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Re: What is "bikepacking"?

Post by mattheus »

Jdsk wrote: 11 May 2023, 9:26am NB date.

‘It’s all about freedom and adventure’: five of the best bikepacking routes in Scotland":
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023 ... n-scotland
Bikepacking is an evolution of cycle touring which involves heading out on a multi-day ride with everything you’ll need to spend the night strapped to your bike.
oh, you mean cycle touring. ok, got it.
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