Using carbon road bike for light bikepacking/touring?
 

I have a bike I love and don't really want or have the funds for a true "touring bike". I'm wondering if anyone has experience taking their carbon road bike and turning it into a bikepacking bike with frame packs, handlebar bag, etc.

I have an older full carbon Specialized Roubaix with rim brakes size 52 and am looking into possibly getting a custom frame bag if there isn't anything that quite fits. The bike has 28mm tires (that is the max it can take) and has plenty of gears (triple with 11-28 cassette). I know how to work on the bike inside and out and feel a lot more comfortable for longer trips than riding something I haven't had as much experience with.

I don't have a very good sense of how much additional weight I'd be adding, but let's say 20lbs max on top of my 150lbs. I would be riding primarily on roads and possibly light gravel.

Lachlan Morton did it (5500 km, 65,500 m climbing) with his Cannondale SuperSix EVO race bike. https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/lach...ve-days-early/

Lots of people have done this. Frame bags, seat bags (either old-school sideways Carradice bags or modern longways bags), handlebar rolls, etc. 20 lb is not a lot of extra weight to carry. A 52-cm frame obviously isn't very big, and even a half-frame bag will rob you of at least one bottle cage, so you'll need to sort out hydration.

Not clear if your bike has rack eyelets—if you're considering using a rack and panniers, make sure that heel strike won't be a problem. There are ways to work around lack of eyelets, but they can be inconvenient.

Good point. No rack eyelets unfortunately

If you're willing to splurge a bit, there's tailfin racks for road bikes. I'd probably do touring on a race bike with one of those.

I didn't mention this because they're so expensive, but I've got one. Top quality kit. Better than any other rack I've ever used.

What is your concern about a CF bike?

Bike, stuff, rider-around 190 pounds? I weigh more than that. The weight won't be a problem for the bike. You can get a seatpost rack to carry a duffel or even small panniers. You can add a handle bar bag and carry a backpack if needed.

Do an image search on "transamerica race bike setup" for some ideas.

All the touring bikes I've seen are steel so I assumed there was something about carbon that wasn't desirable

I've used my carbon road bike and my carbon gravel bike for bikepacking. Both were absolutely fine. The only issue was my road bike did not have low enough gearing, but you have a triple, so you'll probably be okay on that front.

You'll want to switch to MTB shoes so you can walk around but otherwise this setup works well for me

https://www.wiggle.co.nz/topeak-backloader-saddle-bag
https://www.wiggle.co.nz/topeak-fuel-tank-bag-large-1
https://www.dillpicklegear.com/pickl...egory&path=264

Do you already have the UL gear (eg, tent, sleeping bag, etc.)? If not, wait until you see the funds often required for that. If you’re in the US you might want to check out an REI sale.

Don't know about that. Maybe it's an assumption about cracking or something. CF is incredibly strong. If you do something to it that would damage CF it probably would have damaged steel or AL also. Adding 20lbs to your bike is no big deal. Most bikes are designed to carry riders up to 250lbs+. Or maybe it's that most CF frames are designed on the aggressive side and steel bikes tend to be more relaxed. There should be no issues touring with a CF bike if it's comfortable for you.

There is something to that. If you're touring way out in the back of beyond, the village blacksmith could fix a steel frame, but not a carbon (or aluminum, or titanium) one. Similarly, you'll often see touring bikes set up with cable-actuated disc brakes instead of hydraulic, because they're easier to work on. But if you're touring in the lower 48, these concerns are less of an issue.

I've been gearing up for a overnight bike touring trip. Here is what I have learned about using my carbon road bike as a touring bike:

1) It indeed can be used for lightweight touring and will do quite well in fact
2) weight in the main triangle via a frame bag has the least impact on handling of the bike
3) I don't like putting watter bottles on the stem/handlebar but putting it on top of the top tube doesn't seem to effect handling too much
4) I am not a fan of large saddle bags (10L for example) because they rub on my thighs. Surely there must be high quality ones that avoid this. I'd rather put a rack like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 on my bike and put a rack-top bag instead to keep things out of the way
5) Panniers may not work well on a road bike because of clearance of the shoe to the bags (most touring bikes have longer chain stays which avoids this)
6) I'm not a fan of handlebar bags due to the cabling of my brifters getting in the way

Point 5 can be compensated with setback rack system which is easily sourced.

Everything is possible as long as your arse & back can take it. Will it be as comfortable? No. But it's feasible. 28mm is also suited for gravel.

As for the bags, you could always buy one that straps around the top tube and another one under your bars. I'm guessing yours doesn't have any eyelets to mount accessories.

Why wouldn't it be as comfortable?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...edc7d6b649.jpg
This is a steel bike, but see no reason you couldn't tour with the same setup on a carbon bike. I pack light, this was a 4 day 3 night camping trip. Nice weather and not carrying cooking gear helps to keep the kit pared down.

This is my carbon road bike set up for bikepacking:
Fairly lightweight, no camping kit and staying in b&bs
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2df0b7fc7d.jpg
This is my carbon gravel bike set up for bikepacking: camping and cooking kit included. Bit heavier. Both bikes coped fine. I would add so.e helicopter tape to protect the frame.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...901c081e78.jpg

That is a really nice rig!. However I found that saddlebags can really annoying me by rubbing on my thighs if they aren’t narrow enough where they contact the seat post. Do you have this problem with that saddle bag? If not what brand is it

It's not the frame, though a carbon "racing" bike might have insufficient low gearing to get the rider plus a load through Pennsylvania, it's really all about the wheels. I'd want a 32 spoke, double butted hand built wheel set as minimum. And I would not want to carry the load I'd put on a real touring bike.

Mines a triple with a nice range gearing for hills. Also the wheels are hand built with double butted spokes but they are 28 hole (I would agree that more is better, it’s just the rims that came with the bike). I’m doing lightweight bike packing. Less than 20lbs of gear. I weigh 150lbs so I don’t think the bike will be stressed much