Do I need to buy a new bike or can I just change some parts to turn it into a bikepacking bike ?
This one is 6 years old and it's a 450€ bike, so a lil cheap but very agile and comfortable for some reason. I used to use it to go to work a long time ago but I tried it on some rocky terrains like those hiking trails and it worked (kind of)
I don't know if it's supposed to be a road bike or a city bike but wanted To use it for a 3500 km trip through Europe next year
If not can you recommend a super lightweight bikepacking bike ?
by AvokAlien
10 Comments
Is there a reason you think you couldn’t?
If you dont think it will cut it, its a perfectly fine starting point for shorter overnighters. Just add some kind of frame bag and 2 drybags with straps
I did quite some light bikepacking with a fairly similar Decathlon RC120 and it was just great. However:
– You have rim brakes. It will be difficult to go for wider tires. That’s a shame, because some beautiful rides such as the Via Rhôna have a fair share of light gravel.
– I’m not sure you can attach rear rack & pannier to this frame, you might want to check that.
– I think you can attach a certain model of very lightweight rear rack from Decathlon, limited to 4-5kg per side, the Decathlon Speed Rack 900.
Short answer: yes.
Longer answer: looks like those are semi-slick tires and road-style rim brakes, so there likely isn’t a ton of clearance for wider tires. This bike will be absolutely fine to do bikepacking/touring trips on pavement, packed gravel and dry dirt paths but you may struggle on anything more rough or loose than that. As always though, the best bikepacking bike is the one you already own!
Try it out, thats the only way you will know if it suits you.
personally I would happily use this for a big tour on road but its going to be a challenge to cross Europe on those tyres off road
Wouldn’t be suited to a heavy setup I would say
If it doesn’t have the holes for a typical pannier frame, you could get one like I got, it fixes to the seat post.
Only problem I had was it would sometimes need straightening as leaning it against the wall over night or longer, it would slowly rotate as it was only connected via the seat post.
“Can” and “should” are very different things. You’ll be very limited on weight you can carry with that road-focused carbon frame, and even more limited by tire clearance if you want to do actual bikepacking (offroad – on road is just touring). To say this is not a good bike for bikepacking is putting it lightly.
Slap a rack on this bad boy, put wider tires on and invest in some small panniers, frame bag and top tube bag. If you still need more space strap a dry bag on top of the rack and you are golden.
I helped a friend makig exactly this bike into a BP rig. You need some gravel tires (be careful not to go larger than the frame and fork allow) and a rear rack. You will be limited on technical stuff of course but for tarmac and gravel it will be solid.
Not my main bike anymore, but my Triban 500 still gets some love from time to time. And yes, you can do bikepacking with it!