Post your Bikepacking Rig (and gear layout!)

[Andy74]

double post

[james-o]

Jones diamond steel - utterly brilliant to ride loaded up, I love this bike... got 2 longer trips booked for this summer.
Cleveland seatpack (thanks JC, it's doing a grand job)
Old snowbike framepack borrowed from a friend who raced Arrowhead
Homemade barstrap and 10l drybag
Ebay cheapy gastank, modified at home (not great, a bit more modification needed)
10l Osprey backpack with a few bits, a book and a hipflask etc.
1.5l bottle on the downtube with toestrap support
~15lbs of bags and kit not inc food/water, enough for spring weekenders.

[archrival]

First post! (no pics yet)

My brothers and I do an annual trip into the back country for 3-4 days at a time at one of the National Parks here in Canada. Trails we ride are a mix of fireroad, and single track, moderately technical in parts.

Have tried various bags and racks on our trips but our favorites are the BOB trailers. Low center of gravity has minimal effect on the handling of the bike, follows the track of the bike really well, will even follow well over logs upto 6" high.

Camping gear is a collection from our days working for a local outdoor retailer, most is backpacking gear. BOB made it an easy transition, load your duffle similar to your pack, load and go!

[big_papa_nuts]

Just biding my time now. I'll be adding two anything cages to the forks, a bar bag, gas tank, and also have a Talon 22. Should have more then enough space for gear, water, and food but I'm a little worried about the seat bag swinging. I'll have to do a shakedown and have a plan if it becomes a problem.

[Western Red Cedar]

Lots of cool stuff

[nickgilling]

After all those lovely clean bikes, being ridden in warm dusty climes, I thought I'd share my trusty bikepacking set up as it looked after three days of riding around Wales last year.

The layer of filth is mostly sheep **** mixed with water and sprayed all over everything, including the water bottle...

Bar harness is from Wildcat Gear holding a 20ltr dry bag containing sleeping bag, bivvy bag and sleeping mat. On the rack is another 20ltr dry bag containing spare clothes, food and stove. Golite rush carries one bottle and waterproof and camera.


P1070394 by nickgilling, on Flickr

This bike has been retired to "messing about in the woods" duty, a Fargo has replaced it for bikepacking duties but not as yet had a chance to get out there.

[Bill in Houston]

Nick, what is the width of the frame bag that you show in your blog? Does the crank brush it at all? The question came up a week or so ago. I think you say it's 75mm.

[nickgilling]

Hi Bill, yes it's 75mm wide, which is the same size as a water bottle - even with a bit of bulge there's still plenty of room - about 140mm between the insides of the crank arms.

Cheers

Nick

[Bill in Houston]

Cool, thank you for that information.

[oakleviathan]

These are awesome setups, too bad a poor college kid's budget doesn't let me do fun stuff like this!

[FrontRanger]

These are awesome setups, too bad a poor college kid's budget doesn't let me do fun stuff like this!

I started in college with a backpack and a tent strapped to my seat. Budget should never be in the way of a good time.

[byknuts]

agreed!! your bike's bling is just a factor of income.

strap eveyrthing you need to your bike, bash it off some curbs, down some grassy hills, ask yourself what's working and what's not, readjust, and there you go.
your rig will evolve as your riding does.
but the trip is the goal, the bike is just a tool.

except for a good strong rack to carry a mini-keg, that's essential and you must splurge on that.

[Flying-Monkey]

These are awesome setups, too bad a poor college kid's budget doesn't let me do fun stuff like this!

Is there a thread on budget bike-packing?

If not, there should be.

What's the minimum gear you need?

A tent, or some sort of tarp at least, a ground roll of sorts, a sleeping bag/blanket if weather demands. Also water and food.

Then access to a trail long enough to ride until you need to sleep, then ride again some more.

[VO2 Lax]

big_papa_nuts,

what kind of dry bag are you using for your rear seat bag? I like!

Thanks!

[big_papa_nuts]

big_papa_nuts,

what kind of dry bag are you using for your rear seat bag? I like!

Thanks!

Sea to Summit Big River Dry Bag - 20 Liters at REI.com and some 40 inch REI 3/4 inch Webbing Straps with Side-Release Buckle at REI.com. That's some budgetpacking for ya.

[VO2 Lax]

That's awesome! Thanks for the tip! Brilliant for the budget rider!

[SuPrBuGmAn]

These are awesome setups, too bad a poor college kid's budget doesn't let me do fun stuff like this!

I'm not in college anymore, but I'm still on a college budget.

None of my stuff is the lightweight, super awesome packsized kinda stuff. I did purchase a $35 seatpost rack. I've got a walmart sleeping bag thats years and years old, got a $40 pup tent from Bass Pro Shop, and my fiance made my frame bag.

From this past weekends 131 mile trip across Florida's largest park, Apalachicola National Forest.



Do NOT let your budget keep you from having fun on a bike. If you already have a bike, the expensive part is over!

[Dusza]

SuPrBuGmAn lovely trail and attitude
Do you have more pics?

[SuPrBuGmAn]

SuPrBuGmAn lovely trail and attitude
Do you have more pics?

Yes!

Hoping to get a trip report finished up tonight

[bdstorer]

Very similar to my set-up, what gearing are you running? I currently use 34 x 21. ...and is that a fishing rod holder on the front rack??

[sasquatch rides a SS]

I'm want to start planning a bikepacking trip for this fall, it's something I've always wanted to do. I'd love to take a small trip to get my feet wet and see how I do!

[She&I]

Piece of cake, sasq. There will always be something to refine, so you may as well enjoy whatever inefficiencies ya end up with. Stay psyched!


Doo-hood...one of our new tandem frame bags fits my FS single bike...but let me back up:



Porcelain Rocket does great work! Quick fit check in the photo; we'll run with small "front" panniers and rack on the back and harness/pocket on the bars similar to this (sleep pads will prolly go out back on the rack). I'd say we have capacity now:





Gonna be a great summer...

Mike

[nickgilling]

Hi Nick, fellow u.k'er here. I have one of those wildcat handlebar harnesses on order. How did you find it in use? I'll be using it, hopefully, with a 10 litre drybag. Yours is the first example i have seen set up on a standard mtb riser bar. Was there any issues with the harness straps sliding down into the lower part of the handlebar? And how did you deal with placement of your brake and gear cables? Was there any problems with running your cables behind the bar bag?

Would appreciate any advice, thanks.
Mike

Hi Mike, sorry but I've not posted enough times to allow me to reply to your pm. But in response to your questions about the wildcat handlebar harness see my response below.

For others who haven't come across this harness it's a clever design which rather than just hanging your bag below the bars, creates a pretty solid frame by tensioning some straps between your bars and the fork crown, against which the harness and your dry bag is supported.

This makes it really stable in use and holds the bag away from your headtube, front tyre and to a certain extent the cables.

The straps sit inside the rise on my handle bars and don't move about at all.

I found that that although it did push the cables back a bit it didn't make any difference to the shifting or braking, or put too much strain on them, I've done half a dozen over nights and multi day trips with it.

It's a bit fiddly the first time you use it and you might scratch your head a bit as you work out how to best attach it, but I can now quickly put it on without the instructions, it's worth taking some time at first to find the best placing (vertically) for the harness as this can make a difference to the stability.

I used a 20ltr dry bag, weight over 2kg, and it's been fine.

I would consider putting helicopter or even electrical tape around the bars and maybe the fork crown as the straps will mark them otherwise, especially if it's wet and mucky out there!

[lobstermike]

Thanks for the info Nick. I'm looking forward to getting to grips with the harness and bag set up. My main concern was the cables, but as you say the harness manages to stop the bag from sitting too close to the head-tube, and in that case should be ok. Thanks again Nick.

[RenoRacing]

Here's the first "mock loading" of the new bike... Just finished the frame bag a couple days ago. This is loaded with pretty much every bag(minus small top tube feed bag) that I could ever need. Most trips won't see this much gear, but love the capability to load over 35 liters of gear onto the bike! I'll be packing up for a trip next weekend, and will update my gear layout and details about what is where on the bike when I finalize it all...