Show us your bikepacking rigs

[KayOs]

Thanks for your reply and tips about travelling there especially the wind direction, I am surprised more expedition bikes don't have front suspension, I have not seen another Roughstuff that has it and Surly dropped it from the Troll sometime ago.

I think this is also due to the fact that an air spring hardens when more weight is put on the wheel and then no longer offers the properties as intended. A steel spring adds a lot of weight and titanium springs are expensive as hell. If the luggage is carried along on the dip tubes, this increases the unsprung mass and then also takes away sensitivity. A suspension fork is then again just ballast and more susceptible to defects than a rigid fork. Perhaps that is the consideration for many.

I have ridden all my tours with suspension (at least at the front), but I never had much weight on the fork or handlebars.

 

[Nigelpa]

Sunday/Monday overnighter on South Downs. It’s a regular route that I do few times a year. Often camp at Graffham camping site because it’s so quiet and a shower is nice! 47km each way and about 1000 metres of ascent and descent. Bike has chunky winter tyres on.

 

[KayOs]

Sunday/Monday overnighter on South Downs. It’s a regular route that I do few times a year. Often camp at Graffham camping site because it’s so quiet and a shower is nice! 47km each way and about 1000 metres of ascent and descent. Bike has chunky winter tyres on.

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This is the Pine Mountain, right? I am thinking about getting one for quite a while now.
How do you like it? Any complaints?

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

Sunday/Monday overnighter on South Downs. It’s a regular route that I do few times a year. Often camp at Graffham camping site because it’s so quiet and a shower is nice! 47km each way and about 1000 metres of ascent and descent. Bike has chunky winter tyres on.

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We stay at an air bnb at Graffham. Nice riding around there, quite hilly.

 

[Nigelpa]

This is the Pine Mountain, right? I am thinking about getting one for quite a while now.
How do you like it? Any complaints?

It is. It’s a 2019 one. If I was getting another one I would go for a 2020 onwards - 29” wheels and not the 27.5” plus. That said it is a great bike and got me back into regular cycling again.

I have a 1997 Pine Mountain also! That’s a proper retro bike.

 

[Nigelpa]

We stay at an air bnb at Graffham. Nice riding around there, quite hilly.

The north side of the downs is very steep! When it’s dry I can just manage to ride up the chalk tracks but often end up pushing!

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

The north side of the downs is very steep! When it’s dry I can just manage to ride up the chalk tracks but often end up pushing!

Yes, quite tricky loaded. We came down one of the chalk tracks in foul weather on Graffham down and Jo came off, I only avoided it by standing up and the bike went between my legs. The water was running down the chalk, really slippery. We were loaded, Jo had Komoot set on mtb ride rather than touring

 

[Nigelpa]

Yes, quite tricky loaded. We came down one of the chalk tracks in foul weather on Graffham down and Jo came off, I only avoided it by standing up and the bike went between my legs. The water was running down the chalk, really slippery. We were loaded, Jo had Komoot set on mtb ride rather than touring

The magic Mary on the front is a good grippy tyre.

 

[rwm1962]

We were loaded, Jo had Komoot set on mtb ride rather than touring

oops!

 

[oldandslow]

I tend to favour drop bars on my tourers (all 26-ers)...

So do I, though my preferred tourer is 700C (and I do tend to think of it more as touring than bikepacking):


Limited time means that my camping tends to be with Scouts, so I have a reputation for turning up, kitted out like that, when everyone else has driven to camp. I suspect I wouldn't need so many bags for a normal cycle camp - one of those probably had hiking boots in it for example, but others had my personal tent, sleeping bag and kit as you'd expect.

On this year's District expedition to Scotland, however, we did off-road cycling and offered an overnight expedition. Hired (but decent) bikes, so bikepacking not really practicable with novices and no suitable bags. All the same, I thought I should still carry my own kit (on my bike that I had taken along), so I picked up some clearance and second-hand bags and did this: