Essentially, I took a lot of my backpacking gear and stuffed it into panniers. Brought some extras on the trip because I don’t have it dialed in for the rain/cold.
I don’t see a lot of panniers on here; why is that? Weight?
Any tips or criticism is appreciated. I included the clothes I wore.
I also have a write up of every piece of gear I brought, if it helps somehow.
Trail is the route of Hiawatha to the Palouse to cascade trail east side of the mountains.
by Brave_Pudding8671
7 Comments
Looks like a super fun trip! great setup, nothing wrong with a rack and panniers, especially if you’re mostly on roads or smooth trail…
but is that a rim dynamo??? abort abort abort
Add a framebag and put the bottles on the front fork and you can drop the 2 mini fridges in the back.
I’m not gonna roast ya because I think there’s too much snark as it is on bike subs. I’ve gone bikepacking on the same bike and had fun/suffering. Handlebars look tilted a bit too high up though, to me. Have you had a bike fit?
I prefer a more typical bikepacking bag setup because the weight is distributed more evenly across the bike instead of all out back, but there’s no rule and if it’s working well for you, then it’s good.
Great set up!
On the point of panniers vs ‘bikepacking’ (bar/frame/seat) gear. Some terrain and conditions historically made panniers too wide, prone to unhook, heavy with the extra weight of racks, lack of rack mounts. To be fair a lot of that was also likely just to be ‘cooler’ than the road touring scene because cycling is excessively cliquey.
That being said handlebar bags and massive seat packs puts the weight a lot higher. And limits volume of storage for shoulder season/winter rides.
We’re seeing a bit of a return of panniers and racks in bikepacking with Ortlieb’s gravel pack set ups and Old Man Mountain’s Elk Horn & Divide racks providing some nice options for gear storage on forks (unsprung weight) and trunk bags to accommodate dropper posts and full suspension touring.
If you have it and it works it is a great set up. I think way too much time and effort gets spent ‘optimizing’ bikes (bike tech, parts, etc) as well as gear choice. Ride your bike and have fun.
I have done a lot of trips on a redwood with panniers, and I found the weight distribution kinda wonky. I ended up putting as much weight in the front and in a frame bag as I could, with lighter stuff in the panniers.
I like it. I prefer back panniers unless crazy trail and then I don’t want to carry much either. I’ve never liked the feel of much in the front or frame.
Redwood!!
I would suggest a bag in the front or fork bags, as someone else who has bikepacked with a redwood. I use panniers too, which I wouldn’t trade for anything unless I was going on a supper bumpy or narrow route