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Semantics: Bike touring vs bike packing

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Semantics: Bike touring vs bike packing

Old 03-02-19, 09:21 AM
  #101  
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Is Geico selling bike insurance now?
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Old 03-02-19, 10:28 AM
  #102  
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Originally Posted by MarcusT
HS!!. I have now seen the extreme video of No-bikepacking, bike packing.
Called: '142 Miles From Monday' by Outside TV.
These guys had a support vehicle carrying all their gear and when the vehicle was late one evening they were practically crying..
These are the people I was talking about.
Oh.. I dunno. Why say they almost cried about something when they didn't?

I watched the video (thanks for the suggestion btw) and thought it was good but it illustrates the difference between people arguing about definitions and people just doing something. The story there is really just about three guys having a little adventure and relating their philosophical thoughts - they didn't claim to be going on a trans continental tour or bikepack trip. And, to that end, they were completely successful and even made a good quality short that may inspire others to get off their duffs into the outdoors. Meanwhile some will argue endlessly about what their luggage means.

This divide we always try to create to bolster ourselves, touring, bikepacking, modern bike, classic, hipster, old man, wheel size, duration... it's all noise that in reality makes the user less likely to learn because they discount an alternative experience. There's a subtle but profound difference between championing ones preference for it's merits and putting down another to make it seem better.
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Old 03-02-19, 11:11 AM
  #103  
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Originally Posted by BigAura
Just to be clear, what you're looking is an instagram star. Although he is a cyclist, his work is creating an image.
He's also a bikepacking gear spokesmodel:

(mildly NSFW)

https://assets.bigcartel.com/product...E07C8C7B7.jpeg
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Old 03-02-19, 11:50 AM
  #104  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
Oh.. I dunno. Why say they almost cried about something when they didn't?

I watched the video (thanks for the suggestion btw) and thought it was good but it illustrates the difference between people arguing about definitions and people just doing something. The story there is really just about three guys having a little adventure and relating their philosophical thoughts - they didn't claim to be going on a trans continental tour or bikepack trip. And, to that end, they were completely successful and even made a good quality short that may inspire others to get off their duffs into the outdoors. Meanwhile some will argue endlessly about what their luggage means.

This divide we always try to create to bolster ourselves, touring, bikepacking, modern bike, classic, hipster, old man, wheel size, duration... it's all noise that in reality makes the user less likely to learn because they discount an alternative experience. There's a subtle but profound difference between championing ones preference for it's merits and putting down another to make it seem better.
good comments, and the last part certainly touches on how the anonymous and certainly "different social interaction with people compared to face to face stuff at a party" thing comes into play.
oh well, just comes with the territory and we are all used to it by now.
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Old 03-04-19, 01:01 PM
  #105  
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If you allow the type of road surface, how you secure your gear, where you eat, and what you sleep on define what you are doing then maybe you should take a self help course to figure out who you are.
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Old 03-04-19, 01:08 PM
  #106  
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Or figure out what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what is really worth doing with your finite free time. Before it's over and you never did figure it out.
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Old 03-04-19, 01:41 PM
  #107  
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Originally Posted by MarcusT
During the winter months I watch mainly bike tourers' videos. Usually on Youtube. I like to see where they go, what obstacles they face, the gear they use, and of course the scenery. After several hundred videos, the well starts to run dry from 'Bike tour'. Then I start to search 'bike packing', even though it is not my preferred.
Watching minimalist touring seems like an added hardship, but I still respect it. It can be compared to the 80's, when there was backpacking, which I was heavily into, and there was fast packing. Same concept. Backpacking was carrying all your gear, clothing, food on your back and could weigh anywhere from 40-70 lbs (weight was higher due to less tech), Fast packing was a super light weight sleeping bag (maybe only an emergency blanket), snacks and a water bottle. I'm sure it still exists today, but maybe under a different moniker.

So back to bikes and Youtube. I started to search for videos under bike packing and was curious to see many posters had titled their clips as "bike packing", yet they still had racks, panniers and full sized tents (comparably speaking).
So is this mislabeling due to the trend and people are trying to get more hits? Or, is it that people interchange packing and touring innocently?
When I hear bike packing, I visualize, a saddle bag, a frame bag, handle bar bag and a small back pack. Am I wrong?

What's your take?
What was bicycle touring back in the dawn of bicycling is now termed bike packing. In other words, once again what was old is new again.

Yes, terms can matter when doing a search for a specific thing and I run across the misuse of terms every single time I do a search for anything.

Cheers
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Old 03-04-19, 02:10 PM
  #108  
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Originally Posted by skookum
Bike packing is for younger people, and is trendy right now.
Bike touring is for older, stodgier people and is kind of passe.
I certainly resemble the bike touring crowd. Had my Kirtland panniers and handlebar bag, a tent, lots of Michelin maps and cycled through Europe the summer of 1981. Good times.
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Old 03-04-19, 03:04 PM
  #109  
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To me loaded touring has been.

I have 9,000 miles of usa loaded touring . To me loaded touring has always been minimal size tent (lightweight 2 pound childs tent slept in diagonally), pad, weightless space blanket sleeping bag (light throw blanket inside to abdorb sweat), plastic ground cloth, minimal dress in layers clothes including seethrough but weightless and warm painters overalls, bike tools/parts/2 pumps/ extra tube/tire. All housing materials in plastic trash bags on front rack, everything else in large. school backpack, and large insulated shoulder bags hanging on sides of rear rack. Small insulated drink pack for maps tire patch, pump etc on handle bars. Everything as cheap, functional and lite as possiable. Never considered using huge, heavy, air catching bicycletouring front/rear tire and handle bar paniers.
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Old 03-04-19, 03:36 PM
  #110  
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Originally Posted by u235
You want the even newer and more improved version!!!
Variables:
1) Some amount of weight and supplies
2) How is it mounted and where?
3) How long are you going for?
4) What is the primary terrain or path goal?

They (mythical third party that is everyone else) wants there to be a distinction between touring and bike packing. The lines are blurred on what exactly "they" define all of the possible permutations of those variables. Soody above nailed it. If I was going to define it... I would use only 4 above, 1-3 are the result of your planning and experience. Could you do the same route in a car? If so, maybe you are bike touring. If not, maybe you claim bike packing.
touring
If your putting gear on your bike and spending some days traveling then I call it touring. My early tours featured a shower curtain and a blanket and fresh socks. I met some "touring cyclists" packing a credit card. Now it's 50lbs of gear, a map and the will to live. How you pack and what seems less important than enjoying the independence it provides. My ex got very insulted when I insisted on taking off on my own for weeks at a time but I needed it for my piece of mind so whatever you call it, it's all the same.
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Old 03-04-19, 07:56 PM
  #111  
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From my first "real" bike tour in 1989. Gas pipe 2x5 mtb with mismatched panniers front and rear, garbage bags and a bottle cage that needed to be taped to the DT because there were no bolts. I don't regret it for a minute but am glad my current bike has brakes that actually stop. On that trip I ran both the Kicking Horse Pass and Nine Mile hill out of Hope by dragging my foot while applying full pressure to the levers in the rain.

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Old 03-04-19, 08:27 PM
  #112  
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Originally Posted by Happy Feet
From my first "real" bike tour in 1989. Gas pipe 2x5 mtb with mismatched panniers front and rear, garbage bags and a bottle cage that needed to be taped to the DT because there were no bolts. I don't regret it for a minute but am glad my current bike has brakes that actually stop. On that trip I ran both the Kicking Horse Pass and Nine Mile hill out of Hope by dragging my foot while applying full pressure to the levers in the rain.
So was that a bike touring or bike packing?
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Old 03-04-19, 09:01 PM
  #113  
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I believe the technical term was bike schlepping.
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Old 03-05-19, 12:41 PM
  #114  
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Is that the same yellow helmet?
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Old 03-05-19, 12:51 PM
  #115  
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Originally Posted by alan s
Is that the same yellow helmet?
Yes!

I bought it for that first tour. Before that I never wore one really but my new GF (and soon to be wife of 30 years) insisted I wear one to preserve what little brains I had.
I have used it on and off until about 2016 when I got a Garneau something and then a MEC Chinook which is a lot lighter.

The Bell Pro hardshell made a great mallet to hammer tent pegs and ward off dogs
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Old 03-05-19, 12:53 PM
  #116  
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Originally Posted by alan s
Is that the same yellow helmet?
Ha, good spot.
last week when I saw the photo of hf eating out of a can of beans, I almost wrote a smartass comment about his yellow helmet being damn old and he needed a new one--partly because for a while I had the same helmet a loooong time ago---but that was a very good spot from ye ol daguerrotype he put of him back in the 1880's.

I remember my helmet never fitting me that well, and the one I got after that had better ventilation, so was comfortable and so much cooler in really hot weather. Helmets really have improved greatly, and a good one can be comfortable, provide some shade and enough air moves through a good one that it doesnt bother me at all in really hot riding, especially that the shade aspect is better than no helmet (or a hat that doesnt let air through as well)--but thats me.
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