Originally Posted by cyccommute

While bikepacking equipment has been borrowed by people who want to ride marginal bikes for touring and carrying stuff that is loaded too high for such twitchy bikes, bikepacking gear did originally have a purpose. As I stated above, I’ve tried all the methods of carrying stuff off-road and bikepacking gear is by far the best tool for the job. Revelate Designs’ development of bikepacking gear really was revolutionary for off-road touring. Prior to 2007 the only options were trailers or panniers both of which have issues as I detailed above. For road touring, bikepacking gear is a poor substitute for panniers.



I’m not a hipster. I am a geezer. But I do off-road touring and I have few issues with bikepacking gear for that purpose. I’m not about to put the bags on my Dean El Diente SL and go touring with it, however. I have an excellent...and very stable... Cannondale touring bike for that purpose.