Whats the best adventure bike? – bike packing.

Can I use a normal mtb for bikepacking or will I die?

Been asked if I want to go to Iceland for 10days in the summer and was planning on taking my bandit.

Can I use a normal mtb for bikepacking or will I die?

Yes you can.

I used a normal mtb to do 10 x polaris events.
bikepacking is just a fashionable new name for a very old type of cycling.

Can I use a normal mtb for bikepacking or will I die?

it’ll be fine. That’s the point really.. MSP is right. The stereotypical rigid 29er isn’t the best bike for everything, loaded or unloaded. Did a multi-day event last year on some relatively tough terrain and 50% of the field were on FS bikes. I swore at my rigid bike one afternoon : ) Yet rigid SS does ok if you look at the HTR race results. Whatever you like to ride, load it up. The idea that you need a specific bike is daft.

You could bike pack on folding Raleigh 20 with a wicker basket on the front if you wanted to, ride whatever you have and feel comfortable on. Apparently what we as kids used to get up in the mid 80s @ Loch Awe Argyll was bike packing on our bmx’s, I wish I had known it at the time, we were so far ahead of the curve with our plastic sheets for tarps and telescopic fishing rods taped to our frames along with a rucksack stuffed with stolen food from the pantry.

bikepacking is just a fashionable new name for a very old type of cycling.

True.. or at least a re-cycled name. Bought a s/h book a while back, Backcountry Bikepacking, printed in 1982. It’s about touring roads and dirt tracks on drop-bar bikes while camping at night.

bikepacking is just a fashionable new name for a very old type of cycling.

True.

1. Classic Touring – Panniers and a Dawes Galaxy.
2. Bike packing – a Hardtail, a beard and a shed load of custom frame bags.
3. Bivy Biking. Full suspension, Rucsac, box of matches, Beer tokens and a bivy bag. The true path to enlightenment 😆

i actually think that because there is a pretty good selection of bike packing gear that doesn’t rely on braze on / panniers etc that pretty much any bike is ‘adventure bike able’.

and seat packs, frame bags and bar bags etc don’t give you that ‘just about to topple over’ feeling as much panniers either so your bike is still a slightly heavier version of its natural trail friendly self.

having said all that, heading on an extended trip brings in other factors like simple set ups and being able to sort stuff that break enroute in the middle of nowhere. but there is a difference between a malfunctioning xtr di2 (joke!) on ben alder and totally off piste with a soggy map in alaska as well.

The first use of the term seems to be from an article published in National Geographic in 1973 which chronicled a 3000 mile trip across Alaska and Canada.

While off road touring has been taking place for as long as there’s been bikes, I think the Australian sheep shearers might have been the first to use a set-up that somehow looks ‘bikepacky’ in the modern sense. They were crossing the outback on these things from the late 1800’s … covering some massive distances.

And yeah, use whatever bike you have … when Samafunk mentions Raleigh 20, he speaks the truth.

Sale El Mariachi here. Wanted something to cover all possibilities. Rack capable, can be fitted with different dropouts for SS, hub gears etc, but also razor sharp handling and excellent balance for technical whatsits. Needs sus forks for me though.

I disagree that bikepacking is the same as old style rough stuff touring.

The point of it is to use modern equipment both bike and lightweight minimal camping gear to maximise trail riding fun, if you are loading up loads of gear onto your bike then you are touring. It is mountain biking extended beyond the reach of a single day.

And I disagree with your definition. 😆

Don’t you start, I still haven’t forgiven you for buying my old tent 👿

my list of gear for a polaris event was,
saunders jet packer tent
snugpak softie kip bag
half a karrimat
a mess tin
a exi block stove
4 packs of supanoodles

proper lightweight set up , even by today’s standard.

I think in the UK I’d be tempted to bikepack with a rucksack – all the better to enjoy the singletrack. If I were not doing singletrack I’d load the bike.

I think in the UK I’d be tempted to bikepack with a rucksack – all the better to enjoy the singletrack

Try it : )

I’ve tried that and it can work OK for very short trips – especially if you can really, really cut down what you are carrying. It can also make manhandling a bike over tricky terrain a good bit easier. However, bike-fitted gear works out much more comfortable on longer trips which is why that approach has been almost universally adopted.

I’ve done quite a few Polarises, used a rucksack for all of them. Also makes it easier to carry the bike, because the rucksack ends up acting like a bit of a harness for it. As I said, depends on the riding. And.. you know.. personal preference.. 😉

bikepacking is just a fashionable new name for a very old type of cycling.

So what Tony? ALL kinds of modern cycling(and therefor modern bikes) are just a process of evolution of what’s gone before, of materials/building processes coupled with user experience/feedback. Obviously when someone sniffs a dollar the marketing kicks in and new(or rehashed) names arise to try and kick new life into something.

Why must all STW threads descend into “we used to do this stuff back when I were a lad and didn’t have to call it x”

I guess it’s the typical demographic on here? Old Man bollox I suppose. Speaking as an Old Man that isn’t a dig at you Ton, or anyone else for that matter.

Personally I love the new style bikes labelled for Bike-packing/adventure biking/off road touring….and I’d much rather attempt this stuff on them than on an old 1920’s pig iron SS/Fixie laden down with soaking wet sacks tied to the frame with twine…

****EDIT**** I’m getting to the point that even a near empty Camelbak annoys me to the point of distraction on the bike

just my twopenneth mussed…sorry to upset you, or anyone.
I will leave this post now…….. 😐

Not upset mate – just adding my tuppence as well, in the spirit of debate! A thousand other things to be getting on with but debating bikes is currently taking precedence…

Personally I love the new style bikes labelled for Bike-packing/adventure biking/off road touring

I bought mine for longer rides with lots of road and rough tracks – I guess that could qualify as ‘rough stuff’ but I think it’ll be better with XTR and 2.2″ tyres than with a 60s touring bike.

Haven’t yet been on such a ride though – hopefully get out on Saturday AM 🙂

I’ve done quite a few Polarises, used a rucksack for all of them.

Ah, ok if you’ve tried it already. I was remembering my first couple of multi-day trips with 15, maybe 20lbs with food and water in a rucsac.. fun but uncomfortable. Tend to forget the uncomfortable faster than the fun though.

Why must all STW threads descend into “we used to do this stuff back when I were a lad and didn’t have to call it x”

I think it’s just a point worth remembering as ‘what bike for x’ often comes from forgetting that riding any bike is way better than not riding while shopping for the possibly ‘ideal’ bike, ideal only according to brands that tend to categorise everything and fuel that specialism need, N+1 etc (aware of some hypocrisy in saying this while working on bike ranges). Specialism in bikes is over-rated unless you only do one thing on them. That’d bore me pretty fast.

Oops. Didn’t mean to derail things. Just wondering if my bandit would be totally impractical.

Fargo + Jones bars x10000000

Love mine, just so comfy, feels so right (but yes looks so wrong)

Teeto lets get a ride planned

Nah. As jameso says, the best adventure bike is the one you use for your adventures.

As jameso says, the best adventure bike is the one you use for your adventures.

True.

The only difference the bike really makes is practical stuff like having rack mounts (if you want/need a rack of course) or space to put a frame bag. I really wanted rack mounts – not necessarily because I will use a rack for bikepacking (but I might) but because I like to travel for work with panniers, and prior to the Salsa the only bike I had with rack mounts was my commuter hybrid.

And there’s also the possibility of something like family touring where I’d have to carry way more than I would bikepacking on my own. Can’t put front panniers on my Salsa Cromoto Grande fork though.. 🙁

I had pannier mounts added to my Burls “just in case” too as I may well use it for on-road touring where panniers make a lot of sense.

To be honest if there were carbon XC race bikes with rack mounts I’d have been very tempted. The build would’ve ended up a good few lbs lighter, I could’ve XC raced it too.

Speaking of adding mounts to things though – who did you use?

I think I would like mounts of some kind added to the fork – either standard low rider front rack or the Salsa anything cage. Or both.

Based on almost no experience (1 trip) and lots of internet daydreaming…

I think my choices would be…
With soft Bikepacking set up
Roads/Gravel Tracks = Fargo
Roads/Gravel Tracks/Singletrack = Rigid Surly Karate Monkey with Jones Bars
Gravel Tracks/Singletrack = Surly Krampus with Jones Bars

I actually own a Karate Monkey (by choice) and Krampus (by pure dumb luck).

If I were to do an extended tour with racks. I would probably take a Surly Ogre or ECR.

There were other considerations in my purchase too – I wanted a 15mm front axle and also a tapered fork for future compatibility…

Sorry – I meant that I had them “added” during the build. Pannier mounts, an under-downtube cage mount and routing for one-piece outers all made it onto the frame, along with some specific geometry changes I wanted.

Wow there has being a lot of activity since I last logged in yesterday.

I have used my 29er front sus for bike backing (sorry off road touring) and it was good but I think I am a bike whoare and just like building bikes. My Kaffenback has being used on and off road, done some epic trips on it but as soon as I hit the rough stuff it just feels like it could throw me at any time.

I’m liking the sound of the Jones loops as I like drop bas but I tend to spend most of my time on the hoods or tops. not very often on the lower D’s

I’m torn between a Fargo, Singular Gryphon, and Genesis Longitude. There are some amazing bikes on here but I’m not sure I could afford some of the custom frame builds, titanium jobs. I do like the steel idea as one day I would love to go ride in some far of countries and if some how something happened to the frame I like the idea it could just be welded back together.

I’m cycling from Amsterdam to Paris next which will be a road tour, so the Kaffenback will probably be used then.

I need to find a stockist of Surly so I can go have a look at the ECR.

I do like the steel idea as one day I would love to go ride in some far of countries and if some how something happened to the frame I like the idea it could just be welded back together

I am far from convinced that modern steel tubing could be repaired by any village odd job repair man, in fact I am fairly convinced that it is a bit of a silly, although often repeated, myth.

Realistically a frame failure is one of the least likely events that could terminate an adventure.

If I snapped a frame I would probably start looking for a stick and some gaffer tape.

If i snapped a frame on a round the world tour i’d expect my support vehicle to arrive pretty damn sharpish, and whilst my mechanic swapped the parts over and set the bike up to pre-determined measurements i’d be getting a massage from the sports physio that’s on call 24 hrs/day. To be entirely honest i’d also expect a decent feed from my personal chef but he’d better remember to remove the stones from my Kalamata olives this time – you ever tried to get your personal dentist to drop out of a hovering helicopter in the middle of the Afghan Kush?…Pah!…big soft jessie that he is….doesn’t he realise this is a dangerous adventure i am undertaking?.

Everyone needs to pull their weight or they’re out…no if’s….no but’s….no more excuses will be suffered……adventuring is not for wimps!, mtfu or go home.

It’s surprising how little mechanical knowledge you need to be a round-the-world cyclist. I’d expect to be able to replace a HT2 bottom bracket without having to be emailed instructions (or talked through it over the phone) by my LBS.

adventuring is not for wimps!, mtfu or go home.

Says the man who has mounted a Bluetooth speaker to his Tripster as “has to have tunes whilst out on a ride”! My eyebrow(left) is raised….

I’ve just bought a Longtitude but not built it – I doubt I will ever use it for true bikepacking but you never know.

Anyway my point – have you seen the full two page advertisement; despite the fact that the frame is full of brazed on fittings, the bike is shown in all its splendour fully kitted out for bikepacking and all the bags are attached with velcro.