Here are three different bikes for bike touring and bikepacking. Quick PROS & CONS. Different bikes; carbon road, aluminum road (but can handle gravel), and titanium (gravel but can also handle road and single-track). There were used on different routes; TransEurope road cycling, New Zealand’s Tour Aotearoa (TA) 50% paved roads & 50% gravel grinding, MTB single-track, and country rocky roads, & England’s Sea 2 Sea S2S or Coast to Coast C2C routes of pavement and rails to trails. Picking which bike and set-up depends mostly on the route surfaces and the amount of cycling “stuff” you wish to carry.
1) Specialized Diverge 2015: (TransEurope Bristol UK to Istanbul, Turkey May 2016)
Aluminum/Alloy Road Bike
25mm Marathon Schwable tires
Rivets for Bike Rack/Panniers
under Seat Bag
Shimano 105s
Set Up: Tubus Rack & Ortlieb Rear Panniers
Pros:
Good on Roads. (Can easily do gravel as it fits up to 35mm nubby tires)
Lots of room in panniers
Easy Access to Water Bottles and handle-bars
Every bike shop has Shimano
Cons:
Uneven weight distribution for Handling
drag
2) Ribble Ti Sport 2022: (Trans New Zealand TA or Tour Aotearoa Jan/Feb 2023)
http://www.touraotearoa.nz/p/home.html
Titanium Gravel Bike
1×11
up to 45-47mm tires,
Rivets for Bike Rack/Panniers
Frame Bag, Handle Bag
behind Seat Bag
disc brakes
SRAM Rival gearset
Pros:
Can handle Road, Gravel, Country rocky Roads, Mud, anything up to Intermediate Mountain Bike Terrain
Titanium durability and lightness
Handling well
Cons:
Slower and less comfortable than road bike
Vibration from Terrain (should I have bought Future Shock type system?)
SRAM parts not as prevalent at remote bike shops
3) Specialized Tarmac 2020: (England’s C2C/Coast to Coast or S2S/Sea to Sea August 2023)
https://www.youtube.com/@UCB36xa6h9dtAlubIGfMNzcQ
Carbon Road Road Racing bike
Carbon Wheels (tubeless)
28mm Continental Gatorskins (can take up to 35mm tires)
No Rivets for Bike Rack/Panniers
Frame Bag, Handle Bag
behind Seat Bag
String Bag
disc brakes
Shimano Ultra. (Granny gears so some 105s)
Pros:
Light & Fast
Great Handling
Shimano parts at every bike shop
Cons:
Carbon cracks, not dents, if there is a disaster…bike done!
Loves good surfaces, but not so much gravel, and NOT country rocky roads
Safe travels! 👍
#biketouring #bikepacking #bikepackinggear
How to get started bike packing or three types of bikes that I’ve used for traveling or touring by bikes we’re going to talk about each bike the set up quick pros and quick cons on each one so first was a 2015 specialized diverge here’s a setup for going across Europe in
2015 aluminum road bike I had some very durable 28 mm tires front bag I actually had two water bottles I just have one on the bike right now you can see the rear paniers on the rack which works really well and then just for demonstration purposes I showed you how you can put
Extra things on there in this case a pair of shoes what I liked about this setup was you can carry a lot of stuff those are two 40 L bags you have your bag up front and then I had camping stuff here what I didn’t like about this setup
Is it’s heavy um it’s heavy and all of your weight is on the back so handling is a little bit more difficult you feel a little bit slower there’s a lot more drag because when you’re traveling this way your profiles become a lot wider in the
Back to go from the top to the bottom of New Zealand tour aora this was the setup this has really become a favorite setup of mine we’ve got the rear bag where all the camping thing fits the frame bag where I kept all my change of cycling clothes the front bag
I kept my civilian clothes a little bag off the front of that it’s where I kept my toiletries here I kept bars gels and everything to change a tire you can see the two water bottles and what I liked about this was it was very in line so
There was wasn’t a lot of extra drag or wind resistance um it’s a very sturdy distribution of the weight and I just felt solid on the bike and it handled well what I didn’t like about it is uh gravel grinding it’s slow and we were on a lot of Country Roads
There is a lot of vibration I did not buy any kind of Future Shock to put up in The Handlebar system and obviously it doesn’t have any shock so my wrists and a little bit of the shoulders could definitely feel the wear and tear and lastly or thirdly this is
Where I’ve evolved to this has now become my favorite where I have a frame bag where I keep both cycling and cloes off the back any kind of camping or cycling stuff I want to take a string bag I actually keep on my back and then
I put my water bottles in my back pockets of my cycling Jersey what I like about this is it’s really great if you’re getting off an airplane and you need to get to a start of say a supported ride and we’ll talk about those in future videos or if you just
Want to stay super light and super good weather um this is very fast it’s very comfortable you’re all in line so there’s not a lot of additional drag and you can see it’s very lightweight and and I love carbon but the bad part about carbon is if you’re
Doing day after day after day and you crack your frame your trip is over it’s not just a dent
1 Comment
Waw excellent video , clear and precise. Love it . Keep up the good work Todd