How do you guys realistically manage to fit a tent, a sleeping bag, an inflatable matress, all the kitchen stuff, water, electronics, clothes and food in this ? Seriously, I just don’t get it. I feel like I will have to carry a trailer with me to take all this.
by mydriase
20 Comments
Oh and I forgoot, tools to repair your bike if something happens
I’ve been reading the list of what to bring [here](https://bikepacking.com/bikepacking-101/pack-list/) and as someone who wants to get into bikepacking, I’m a little concerned
Utilize your fork mounts and have gear cages on each side. You can get tent on one and sleeping bag on the other. Frees up all the other spots. Looks like you’ve got way more room in your handlebar bag as well.
That’s a pretty minimal setup as pictured.
Here’s my setup from last weekend. I have too much stuff for an overnight, but I was testing out everything in advance of a longer trip.
•Rockgeist microwave panniers on a Tumbleweed mini pannier rack
• Tarptent DW double rainbow tent on top of the rack.
• Small Revelate frame bag
• A pair of rockgeist feed bags
• A pair of Revelate Polecat bags mounted on the fork.
• 2L Klean Kanteen on the down tube
• Wolftooth BRad bag and strap for tools on the down tube
https://preview.redd.it/t5u5kw1qphpb1.jpeg?width=2584&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=923341fe702a751d46044fb5fc5439a467c436c5
I’ve only done 1 bikepacking trip so take my advice with a grain of salt. I have a very similar setup with the addition of a small bag on my top tube by the handlebars. I found it necessary to take my sleeping bag out of its compression sack since the bag on the back is basically a compression bag on its own. I put my sleeping bag with 1 Change of clothes and pillow in the back, and strapped my mattress to the outside where it looks like you have your stove. Food goes in the middle bag, and hygiene, stove, battery/cables, etc, goes on the front bag. I also strapped my tent to the outside of the front bag which freed up a lot of space. I kept all of my maintenance stuff in that extra pouch I mentioned.
You can do it! Just have to get creative and sacrifice the non essentials. I only took the exact amount of food i needed, only 1 extra shirt/shorts/socks to wear after getting out of the riding clothes. Leave behind the deodorant,etc. and just take the bare essentials: toothbrush, paste, everything soap, and a small towell.
I also had 2 cup holder bags from rei that I kept my GoPro,some snacks, tea bags, and electrolytes in just for convenience. I think you could add a couple of those if you wanted to but they were my reserved nonessential luxury items
I have a similar setup plus 2x6L front fork bags and a dry bag with emergency stuff instead of one of the water bottles. It all fits pretty well. Just finished a 2–night 66 mile trip in BC and had a blast! https://runawayplankton.substack.com/p/bikepacking-the-sea-to-sky-trail
Do your best to pack what you can and go for an easy test ride, you should be able to figure it out.
We all have our own comfort zone. Finding what is comfortable for you and what works is key.
Pack your gear in all sorts of different ways. I’ll usually put some small stuff (clothing) at the back of the seat bag, then cram a quilt, bivy, and mattress in the back. Tools go in a small bag that goes on the top tube under the seat, snacks go in the front top tube bag. Feed bags are usually for waterbottles and garbage. Water bottle cages are for extra crap, use straps. Frame bag is for a extra battery, 1 cord for light, 1 cord for phone, 1 charger block. Toiletries.
King Cage and Wolf Tooth both sell adapters to be able to have more mounting points. Can always add water bottles to your seat stays or to your downtube.
Things like tyvek or painters plastic reduce space by swapping out things like a tent footprint for some simple plastic, it’s still just as good and reusable. Nearly as fragile as DCF way cheaper.
If you aren’t in the middle of no where get your camp food at the last grocery available. Make sure you’ll make it there before they close. Make sure to save enough room in your bag for x days camp food. Could always carry a draw string back pack or a reusable grocery bag that can work like a backpack.
Put a rack on that bike and two 20 liter panniers. Problem solved.
https://preview.redd.it/2p7zpd47thpb1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=48f158b6b81b0fed01e8687b8e9f496bfc7bf764
This is everything I used for a five day tour from phoenix to mexico… The tent Groundcloth and sleeping pad are in the rear bag… Food is in the framebag… My chair and sleeping bag are on the rack…. My clothes are in the handle bar bag… The top frame bag is just for little things like charging ports et cetera… You can do it, it just takes work.
It helps if you have all the go-faster ultra lightweight gear.
Extra tube. Ya it’s a hard thing to get it all in. I hate it when you haul something for a week and never use it. Ha.
Here is my setup:
* In the fork panniers:
* Tent
* Sleeping pad
* Quilt
* Pillow
* Ground cloth
* Puffy Jacket
* Patagonia R1 top, R1 bottoms, and underwear
* Some cord and a 8L dry bag (to put up a tree for bears)
* In the basket:
* Stove
* Coffee and AeroPress Go
* Food
* First aid kit
* Tools, tube, pump
* Camping chair
* Crocs
* Headlamp
* Toiletries
* 2x Trash bags
* In the framebag:
* Tent poles
* More food
* 2 liter bladder for water
* Water filter
Amazingly, I used everything in my kit and I didn’t feel like I over-packed.
https://preview.redd.it/3mq8ktw1uhpb1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=674e20974b92c288aa8f328988c232d74315067b
These minimalistic setups are made for minimalistic, ultralight/ultracompact stuff.
You should buy the bags last. That is a golden rule in backpacking as it is in bikepacking.
My setup is the same for a 6month offroad trip in Southamerica, but it took a long time to find the right gear. Frontroll fits all sleeping stuff (tent, pad, quilt, sleeping clothes). Frame is for food. Accessory bag on frontroll for food and small things.
Feedbacks for water and rubbish/snacks.
Seatbag for clothing and electronics, repair stuff.
It’s not easy and most will not be so streamlined/minimalistic. But it is possible.
My 2 panniers on the back rack hold my food, stove, extra clothes, hammock and sleep system (insulated pad included), toilet paper, a cup or pot.
The middle of the dead space on the rack can hold shoes, rain jacket, small soft cooler for beers.
I use a small expandable pouch under the saddle that has a clip to hold my rear taillight, and inside I have tools, batteries for my head lamp, zip ties, shrink tubing, spoke wrench etc.
I have a full size frame bag that I can store extra food and snacks, more beer or a bottle of whiskey.
My cockpit consists of a feed pouch that I made that has molle webbing to hang whatever and mesh pocket for my wallet/battery pack/phone. I use a Quad Lock mount for my phone on the stem. Then over the handle bars I use a camera bag that I modified to attach to the bars and I keep energy gels/bars first aid and tire repair stuff, a small Bluetooth speaker and charging cables for things.
On my front fork I have a Blackburn cage that I strap my camp chair to or large water bottle to.
I can also ride with a camelback for better on the go hydration and lastly, I made a sweet fanny pack from Ripstop By The Roll’s fanny pack kit that can hold more odds and ends I may need depending on the adventure.
I have a WAY bigger front roll that holds my tent, poles, a few sleep layers and cozy socks, and my sleep pad. And a 14L saddle bag holds more. I also use two small top tube bags and two feed bags for water and snacks. So I don’t waste frame space with two bottle cages. I also voile strap a third bottle to bottom tube underside.
Having at least one other person to go with goes a long, long ways with this.
The setup you have pictured looks more like a racer’s rig or a “one nighter in the summer in Arizona” rig. The big secret to all these sexy bikepacking pictures is that you actually CAN’T fit all the stuff you mentioned in a rig like that unless it’s hot, you’re sure it’s not gonna rain, don’t mind sleeping in a bivy, only need one day’s worth of food, that food doesn’t need to be cooked, and you’re within cell range of a friend to come pick you up if your bike breaks.
Ya the rig that you posted straight up doesn’t fit that much stuff. I own pretty ultralight camping gear and I rock front basket, cargo cages on fork, half frame bag, stem bag(s), and seatpost bag. I like tents and cooking, so gotta have a more packed up rig.
You probably need to downsize most of your gear to get it to work with that kind of setup, e.g.:
* Compact/inflatable sleeping pad
* No tent or tarp/minimalist tent (e.g. 1 person single-wall tent or bivy)
* Compact sleeping bag (e.g. high fill down)
* Kitchen in a pot (looks like they probably have everything in their jetboil)
* Minimal extra clothing (e.g. maybe a single pair of pants, shirt, jacket, underwear, socks only)
* Compact food items (e.g. un-packaged dehydrated meals)
* Potable water available at site and on route or water filter
I run a similar setup for local multi-day bike-packing trips. Sometimes I’ll attach an extra bottle to my downtube or fork if access to water is more limited. You can also get by with less in areas where there might be some shelter available.
full size frame bag, bag below the down tube, and one on each fork post. (and backcountry panniers are awesome)
https://preview.redd.it/xp3acjmz2ipb1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=05a6baa20578dff24e5b58a5db032f81c10706a1
Two comments:
1. it is absolutely possible to fit all of that, but you’ll need to invest in the right ultralight gear (others have said as much). It’s not likely to be cheap and can be a rabbit hole, but some of the gear is pretty remarkable. Check out r/ultralight or the lighterpack.com website (mine [here](https://lighterpack.com/r/9gns6a)), which provides a detailed gear list with loads of specific examples on what gear people use (mostly backpacking, but quite applicable for bikepacking too).
2. Absolutely none of that is required to have an amazing adventure. Wear a backpack. Get big ass panniers. Strap stuff to a rear rack with a bungie cord. You can haul a lot of stuff on a bike and still have fun, so don’t wait until you have it all dialed-in to get out there.