Bikepacking
Get an introduction to bikepacking and tips on how to get started yourself.
We cruise down the technical track. Focused, concentrated, happy and content. Tonight we pitch our tent in the tall grass, by the bend of the river, in the early evening light. We boil water for a cup of hot chocolate while we filter water to drink from the river. We think back to the day's hardships on the bike. A beautiful and fun, but also tough trail that has taken us off the beaten track, to where most people never go. To where the ceilings are high, and where you can hear your own inner voice. We look forward to tomorrow, when we continue even further out on the trail, deeper into the breathtaking nature.
We cook over our fire. And we crawl tired and happy into the tent, into the sleeping bag, while the last light leaves the sky. It is early, but we sleep heavily until the sun regains power.
Bikepacking is many things. It's adventures on a bike. It's technical trails. It's overnight stays in nature. It's minimalist packing. It's meeting other people and cultures. It's fun and frolic.
Through your skills on the bike and your light luggage, you are able to ride more or less technical and demanding trails. You are also self-sufficient in terms of food and accommodation. This means that you do not have accompanying vehicles or depots.
In return, you have the freedom to enjoy nature and the trail to the fullest.
Bikepacking is a fusion of mountain biking, which takes place on a bike that is designed to ride technical trails, and touring cycling, which takes you far out on an adventure. That is, through bikepacking you ride where cycling is technically difficult, either in the form of many meters of altitude, long distances or technically demanding trails. And preferably a combination of all of them. You get to where a regular touring bike setup has difficulty tackling the terrain.
No one knows exactly where and how bikepacking originated. There have been several movements that started more or less simultaneously. And several different ones will probably claim that they started the phenomenon.
The fact is that much of the equipment today is originally inspired by old-time setups on military bikes. So who started when? It's hard to say...
What is bikepacking?
The basic core is the same in all categories: a capable bike, and a more or less light pack, with the most necessary things to complete the planned trip.
There are as many options for bikes and packs as there are bikepackers. But for the sake of example, I will try to put up a bike in each category to give an idea of the possibilities.
You can roughly divide bikepacking into three categories:
This type of trip is most similar to regular mountain biking. These trips typically involve 1-5 nights. You can travel super light because you don't need the big comforts, such as clean clothes and toiletries.
The bike could be a fat bike for sand, snow, or extremely bumpy terrain, or a more typical bikepacking bike with 27.5+ wheels and a suspension fork.
For both bikes, they can be either steel or titanium.
The bags will typically be a frame bag, a seat bag, a front roll, and maybe a 25L backpack.
You will need one set of clothes. Freeze-dried food. A light kitchen, e.g. Trangia. Sleeping gear and a lightweight tent or tarp.
All in all, you want to aim for a bike that weighs a maximum of 20kg dry. The rest in the backpack, but a maximum of 5kg.
It goes without saying that when you race, you want to run as fast as possible, and thus also as light as possible.
Depending on the type of race and terrain, the bike could be, for example, a cross bike with slightly wider tires, drop bars and click pedals.
The frame can be carbon or aluminum if you dare. Steel or titanium will always be my recommendation.
The bags can be a half frame bag, so the drink bottles can sit in the frame. A seat bag. And a harness with front roll.
Depending on the length of the race, you will again aim for only one set of clothes. And preferably lycra, with all the advantages it has.
You will try to plan shopping locations along the route so that you always have easy-to-digest, pre-produced food with you. And you will typically eat a good meal where you shop.
You will want to skip a tent as much as possible, but just have a sleeping bag and mattress, and then find shelter where possible.
It's about cutting out everything unnecessary. If you can get down to 17-18 kg dry total weight, that's good.
This includes long bikepacking routes that extend over 1,000 km. Or it is a journey where you find your own tracks, or combine known tracks. These are also typically journeys in countries where you know the roads are miserable, made of gravel, full of holes, etc.
The bike is a 29+ without suspension, which due to the large diameter of the wheel, rolls well over obstacles. As well as the large volume of air in the tires, there is ample shock absorption. The bike is a steel frame, which has good driving characteristics, and which can be welded almost anywhere in the world, should the accident happen.
There are many different options for bags. But you typically need a little more space. So you will either put a luggage carrier on the back, or in front. Here you will be able to have either a small backpack with a flat back lying down, or an upright bag. You can have space for micro panniers, or drybags, on the side of the luggage carrier. Just as you can mount drybags on the front fork. There will still be a frame bag and front roll. And probably also all the small bags you can fit, in all the free places on the frame.
You will probably cook a lot of food yourself, so you will have a multifuel burner. You will need 2 or 3 sets of base layers of clothing. That is, underwear, t-shirts and socks. But only one set of each outer layer. You will probably go through several seasons, and will therefore need a little warmer clothing. And you will need some toiletries to take care of yourself.
You will strive to buy as little food at a time as possible, but you often cycle for several days without shopping opportunities, so you need to have a flexible setup so that you can have both a lot and a little food.
You should be able to land with a dry total weight of around 35 kg.
Get started yourself
Use what you already have as much as possible. Only buy what you know you absolutely need. And when you buy something, invest once and for all in the best you can think of, so that you have good equipment for many years to come.
If you already have a mountain bike, use it for your first few rides. Any mountain bike can be used for bikepacking.
If you don't have one, and aren't ready to invest heavily in your dream bike yet, find a used hardtail, in good condition, at a reasonable price.
You can go a long way with a little ingenuity when it comes to bags on your bike.
Start by strapping a dry bag to the handlebars. You can also strap a dry bag under the saddle, like a seat bag. Instead of a frame bag, you can go a long way by using the bottle cages, and then strapping the tent/dry bag under the top tube of the bike.
You can buy cages to put on the front fork cheaply, and you can keep dry bags in them.
If you have the option of a luggage rack, it's also an easy and cheap way to carry a bag or dry bag. But avoid panniers at all costs, as they can't handle rough terrain and will make your bike too rear-heavy and unmanageable.
Many bikes also have space to tape the extra tube and possibly a tire under the down tube of the bike. This gives more space in the bags and keeps the weight close to the center.
In general, it's about distributing the weight evenly on the bike, in relation to the front and back. And it's very much about getting heavy things low down in the center. That is, at the crank. And last but not least, the bike must not be too wide. You still have to be able to ride in tight places.
This way you have the best opportunity to handle the bike relatively freely on the technical trails.
Start by taking a few shorter trips, staying overnight or two, where you can try out the equipment and adjust it afterwards.