Lets see those juicy pics.

Anyone rolling 29+ in stupidly innacessible places?

Will be (when the fork arrives!).Kona unit (raw),on one carbon fatty fork with a knard on a 50mm dually and a 2.4 Ralph on a P35 out back.SS with jones’d cranks and bb7’s.Alpkit bar roll,frame bag and saddle bag.

Completely off topic but the BB7 is unquestionably the holy grail of bikepackers but I’m going XT owing to the fact that they are bomb proof.

If one fails the other has more than enough stopping power to keep me happy.

I’ve looked into the bb7 alot and the whole tail side repair just doesn’t sit right with me.

Its not exactly difficult to bleed brakes in the middle of the jungle so to speak.

I think people are buying into this notion too much.

If you factor the price in then XT brakes at the moment are ridicoulously cheap and are without question the ultimate in price to performance bar none in recent years.

Sorry for the rant but BB7 is a no go for me. Plus its inherently more maintenance.

Third post in the thread and still no pics. Sorry.

But I’m watching this thread with interest. The whole bikepacking stuff captures my attention as it’s the kind of stuff that attracted me to mtbing (back in early/mid 80’s).

Hopefully one of the many duties my Carve will undertake might be at least one decent adventure.

As the forth person: sorry.

Also going to watch with interest as I’m starting to plan some summer trips. 😀

The rig for mine will be my 29er Inbred. Will stick a triple on the front to go with the 10-speed on the back. Deore brakes, carbon rigid forks.

The BB7 isn’t unquestionably anything – not that there’s anything wrong with them.

Edit: anyway, the OP wants photos…

Fat

P1050319 by ScotRoutes, on Flickr

Not Fat

IMAG0408 by ScotRoutes, on Flickr

Fill yer boots

Suppose I better put a picture up then and ruin it all:

That was my setup for the Highland trail race this summer. Anything on the ground, was on me.

That was it out on the trail during a pee break.

Its not exactly difficult to bleed brakes in the middle of the jungle so to speak.

Depends where you’re going and yes XTs are reliable, but it’s baggage carriers and that kind of pulled-hose damage that concerns me, it’s a trip to a bike shop job.

Anyway – bikes )

Got a smaller Alpkit Possum bag to try for the next trip. I like the BB7s ) My other bike has XTs but stays in the UK.

(edit, greg and scotsroutes, bstrd5 : ) I have local trail envy. Post some grim drizzly pics please.)

it’s the kind of stuff that attracted me to mtbing (back in early/mid 80’s).

Agreed.

I have BB7s on my Mukluk and do fancy changing them for hydros, they’re capable, but don’t stop me like my Formulas. Maybe not an issue if you/your bike are not heavy.

I’m currently injured so watched Ride the Divide today and it’s really got me desperate to get back out and maybe plan something longer. Hard to believe Reveal the Path was the same folk, it’s rubbish.

canny put pics up here but my current bike is an on one fatty with 29er wheels, works very very well for bikepacking.

minimum kit has been worked down to;
alpkit extra drybag with Tesco down sleepingbag, dry pj’s and exped ul7 mat strapped to bars. waterproofs stuck in the straps for easy access.
helium 100 tent strapped underneath top tube with a big saddle bag or
big old fashioned triangle bag strapped upside down to seatpost-toptube filled with tools snacks and a tube and levers.
relevate big saddle pack with cooking stuff with an emergency meal and more food. some clothes for in tent and if room a pillow:)
small backpack with tube, pump, torch, phone, book, tablets + 1st aid, space blanket, water, sunnies, and other general stuff.

You say tomato…. 😆

Indeed. 😆

also don’t see any good reason to go out of the way to spec cable pull brakes, if you are using road levers fair enough (happy cx bb5 user) but after biking thousands of miles with many different people with many other bikes I have only seen a couple of hydro failures and one was from a pretty good crash. just seems like kind of “that’s what the pro’s use in -20c Alaska”
and besides I don’t like giving my money to sram.

Singular Swift winning the Highland Trail Race:

Full kit list over here: http://www.aidanharding.com/2013/06/highland-trail-race-kit/

For what it’s worth, I had BB7s in preparation for racing the Iditarod and they annoyed me so much that I put some Deore hydros on instead. I’ll put the BB7s back just before I head out to AK.

2nd Jan

4 season down bag,clothing,triangia,terra nova ultra laser,sleep mat,tools,food,lights…Revelate Visachia rear and sweetroll front with revelate pockets,alpkit stem cell and revelate gastank…No Backpack and shimano slx brakes

Great thread.
Now, in addition to all the kit I’m buying, I now want a bearbones bikepacking T-shirt!

Just an idea, but if peeps are that concerned, why not run XT or similar hydro’s on the front and a BB7 rear???
That way, all bases are covered 🙂

No exotic wilderness locations, I’m afraid.

All bags and bar harness are home made.

About half way down
http://riderredux.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/digression-but-why.html
Bike packing. Correct use of the term

Loving the home made bags. I want to make my own this year too!

[/url] Untitled by Steve J Makin, on Flickr[/img]

Krampus kit test, more here

Stevemakin…you, are king of the selfie… 😀

I couldn’t look that good after a day in a studio, & I’d still need some heavy photoshopping.

red wine and fine cheese 😉

Travers 29+ that I had for test … ready for the ‘off’ on the Bear Bones Winter bivvy.

My usual bike. Inbred 29er sporting Enabler forks and a SS rear wheel in the front.

Same Inbred – different day 😉

I want to go away for a night or 2 this year i will be taking the cross bike so will have to play around with the bar mounting storage situation also looking to get a small 1 man coffin style tent instead of bivi anyone have any pics of this setup on a cross/road bike?
Pardon the hijack lol

I think the whole BB7 thing needs consideration amongst bikepackers.

I’ll think you’ll find that the frequency of cables snapping under tension is significantly higher than say damage to a hydro hose or pressure loss.

With correct hose routing/securing and reinforcing around potential failure points then there is absolutely no reason that shimanos bomber proof XT brakes shouldn’t be considered.

When you factor in the price of BB7’s and all the stuff you need i’ll think you may find that XT’s are much cheaper and give a vastly improved ride experience.

The XT brakes are superior in every way. It all seems to stem around leaky pipes in the middle of no where.

Besides. What are the chances of two XT brakes going down simultaneously?

With a 180 rotor up front the front brake alone has serious stopping power to get you down the mountain and if you have an icetech rotor with finned pads its unlikely they are going to cook that badly.

Its like saying single speed drastically reduces your maintenance commitment.

Yeah the drive train is much easier to clean but thats it. Everything else on the bike is still the same and you still have to give the drive train some serious wipe down. Especially after muddy rides.

I spend a hell of a lot of time cleaning with just one gear.

Rp16v – can’t post pics, but I recently got a revelate pika seatpack for Croix de fer. Its especially designed for setups with less exposed seatpost than mtb yet still has about 12 litre storage. That, combined with a 5l Alpkit drybag on the bars gives loads of space.

not a lot of people seem to be using panniers, is there a particular reason (other than mounting complications due to disc calliper) or are these just more for single night trips? I plan on doing a few 4-6 night trips with a small rent, and can’t decide between panniers and extra wheel trailer kinda thing – or both for longer trips

Its like saying single speed drastically reduces your maintenance commitment.

It does … which is one reason why quite a few people choose it 😉

I want to go away for a night or 2 this year i will be taking the cross bike so will have to play around with the bar mounting storage situation also looking to get a small 1 man coffin style tent instead of bivi anyone have any pics of this setup on a cross/road bike?

Depending on the width of your bars, a Wildcat Gear harness should fit well. You’ll be limited to how wide a dry bag you can fit but you’ll usually find something. Pod dry bags tend to be shorter but fatter for a given capacity.

Plenty of pics of loaded crossers over here

Here is mine just after the bb200

Awesome set up. Bb7s too

not a lot of people seem to be using panniers, is there a particular reason

It’s all just touring unless you’re racing so panniers may do it, depends where you’re going, main drawback is they’re heavier and will get in the way on singletracks. I think the aim is to go lighter and more reliable for longer rides, a set of bikepacking luggage can weigh less than a pannier rack alone and they don’t really break. I’ve seen off-road tourers struggling with broken racks a few times, on what we’d call easy off-road terrain.
Having said that the Great Divide Race, the Idita, loads of rides that inspired bikepacking bags were ridden with racks and panniers first. More important to go and ride than worry about what kit to use.

forexpipz – not saying I disagree with your analysis regarding braking systems but I’d be interested to see your bikepacking setup and hear tales of your travels upon which said views have been founded.

not a lot of people seem to be using panniers, is there a particular reason (other than mounting complications due to disc calliper) or are these just more for single night trips? I plan on doing a few 4-6 night trips with a small rent, and can’t decide between panniers and extra wheel trailer kinda thing – or both for longer trips

I’ll stick my neck on the line here and say that most of the bikes in this thread are loaded with enough gear (except food) to cover a trip of up to a week. I’m not going to say why panniers / trailers aren’t always the best idea … because everyone has their own opinions and I really can’t be arsed getting into the whole debate 😉

anyone have any pics of this setup on a cross/road bike?

Summer sleeping bag, 3/4 length matt and a bivi bag with a bag for odds and ends. A Bearbones tarp pole stuffed in there sometimes too. Starts to feel a bit cumbersome on a quicker-steering CX bike but no problem really. Midge bars etc are a bit more roomy, the swing of the STI can be limited if I use this same kit on my std road bike.

Now using an Alpkit Possum for this kind of bike, this was a cobble-together with my MTB kit and a cheap ebay frame bag. Worked fine.

I ride single speed and I can tell you with certainty that there is still shed loads of maintenance.

There is more with a geared bike granted. Cassette, derailleur etc but you still spend a considerable amount of time maintaining the bike especially for xc duties.

Most people dont ride single speed because it reduces maintenance. That is only a small factor. They ride single speed because its without a doubt the purest and funnest form to ride.

Hammering the trail and putting the power down whilst out of the saddle is incredibly fun. Silence etc is just a biproduct. The real reason to go single speed is fun. In abudance.

As per real world experience with XT’s. They have served me well in horrendous conditions. Albeit not on tour but over a two year period. Faultless.