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My first Youtube video on lightweight bikepacking

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My first Youtube video on lightweight bikepacking

Old 01-24-22, 04:40 PM
  #1  
Symox
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My first Youtube video on lightweight bikepacking

I wanted to share what I learned preparing for my first bikepacking trip and am really excited about this

I'd love to get your feedback and hope it helps anyone thinking about getting into it.

Thanks!
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Old 01-25-22, 07:01 AM
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Originally Posted by Symox
I wanted to share what I learned preparing for my first bikepacking trip and am really excited about this video

I'd love to get your feedback and hope it helps anyone thinking about getting into it.

Thanks!
Good video, you have put a lot of thought into it. Now the important part. Taking it all out there and learning what works and what doesn't. One of my favorite quotes, and I can't remember where I heard it, is "the race doesn't start, until everything falls apart". Although we aren't talking about racing, I think it applies to about anything.

On the subject of brake selection, I'm with you in part. As I looked at going from my old Surly LHT and panniers, to a Roubaix and frame bags, I had the same idea. Rim brakes were more than good enough from my experiences, plus going to disc brakes actually added a bit more weight. But a couple experiences changed my thinking. First was a crappy, rainy mountain pass decent alongside a buddy with rim brakes ( I had just purchased a bike with discs) He struggled to stop in the rain and fog. I was fine with my disc brakes. Later on a brevet, I broke a spoke, but was able to go on with slight modification. If I had rim brakes, I probably would have had to do without the braking for that wheel. Lastly, I have recently replaced my aluminum wheels with carbon. I've heard some horror stories, (no personal experience), concerning carbon wheels and rim brakes on loaded descents. The bottom line now for me, the last two bikes I have purchased have hydraulic disc brakes. An industry movement for sure, maybe as much to do with marketing, but for consistent braking and ease (hydraulic), I prefer what I now have over the rim brakes. YMMV

The clearance between your back wheel and the seatpost bag may give you some grief as you get out there and put up some miles. According to both Revelate and Apidura, the bags I have tried, I was borderline on the necessary clearance. And eventually ALL the bags I used contacted the rear tire. Of course we are talking about thousands of miles including brevets, ultra-distance races and touring. I eventually went with a Tailfin system for stability.

My experience with a full frame bag was short lived. Although I know of many people who do the type of riding I do that use and like them, I didn't care for the "sail" effect of the full frame bag. I do live and ride in a windy region of the U.S., so your experience may be much different. Add in the water bottle adjustment and I decided to go back with my partial frame bag. Actually, for me, having one easily accessible water bottle is enough. the balance of water can go into my Tailfin (seatpost replacement) bag. If the weather is on the cold side, you may not need to carry as much water and if it is on the hot side, better to keep the extra water (well insulated and not lava hot), within my pack inside the Tailfin bag.

Good luck and hope you can get out there and give your setup a good test!
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Old 01-25-22, 08:38 AM
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Originally Posted by gif4445
Good video, you have put a lot of thought into it. Now the important part. Taking it all out there and learning what works and what doesn't. One of my favorite quotes, and I can't remember where I heard it, is "the race doesn't start, until everything falls apart". Although we aren't talking about racing, I think it applies to about anything.

On the subject of brake selection, I'm with you in part. As I looked at going from my old Surly LHT and panniers, to a Roubaix and frame bags, I had the same idea. Rim brakes were more than good enough from my experiences, plus going to disc brakes actually added a bit more weight. But a couple experiences changed my thinking. First was a crappy, rainy mountain pass decent alongside a buddy with rim brakes ( I had just purchased a bike with discs) He struggled to stop in the rain and fog. I was fine with my disc brakes. Later on a brevet, I broke a spoke, but was able to go on with slight modification. If I had rim brakes, I probably would have had to do without the braking for that wheel. Lastly, I have recently replaced my aluminum wheels with carbon. I've heard some horror stories, (no personal experience), concerning carbon wheels and rim brakes on loaded descents. The bottom line now for me, the last two bikes I have purchased have hydraulic disc brakes. An industry movement for sure, maybe as much to do with marketing, but for consistent braking and ease (hydraulic), I prefer what I now have over the rim brakes. YMMV

The clearance between your back wheel and the seatpost bag may give you some grief as you get out there and put up some miles. According to both Revelate and Apidura, the bags I have tried, I was borderline on the necessary clearance. And eventually ALL the bags I used contacted the rear tire. Of course we are talking about thousands of miles including brevets, ultra-distance races and touring. I eventually went with a Tailfin system for stability.

My experience with a full frame bag was short lived. Although I know of many people who do the type of riding I do that use and like them, I didn't care for the "sail" effect of the full frame bag. I do live and ride in a windy region of the U.S., so your experience may be much different. Add in the water bottle adjustment and I decided to go back with my partial frame bag. Actually, for me, having one easily accessible water bottle is enough. the balance of water can go into my Tailfin (seatpost replacement) bag. If the weather is on the cold side, you may not need to carry as much water and if it is on the hot side, better to keep the extra water (well insulated and not lava hot), within my pack inside the Tailfin bag.

Good luck and hope you can get out there and give your setup a good test!
Thanks for the feedback and all the info you shared! I’ll keep it in mind as I go on my trips
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Old 01-25-22, 09:37 AM
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Thanks for sharing. That is a pretty trimmed down rig for a first attempt. I have gone quite a bit lighter, but only after a bunch of trips and many iterations of going over the packing list over quite a few years and using more ultralight gear. I have used some weird packing methods including using just dry bags strapped on, but that was with quite a bit less gear than your rig. I started touring with the full heavy 4 pannier setup and progressed through a variety of setups from there to as little as 8 pounds of gear (camping and cooking dry weight with no food or water included in the weight total). I have never gone with the full conventional bike packing rig, but have used some hybrid versions of it. These days I am likely to have a base gear weight of 14# +/- a bit including the bags. I put a huge amount of effort into getting to there and find it impressive that you got to the load you are at on the first attempt.

Not sure if I missed something or not, but I hope you are carrying more water than the one bottle on the stem unless you will only be riding where refills are available very frequently. I guess you may have a spare or two in the frame bag? I know you mentioned a bladder in the frame bag but it sounded like you aren't using it. Personally for me I find that even with bike packing style bags i prefer water bottles in cages in the normal location.

It looked like you had some freeze dried meals. Personally, I'd recommend buying real food daily close to where you eat it so as to not carry it far when road touring. You won't always be able to do so but buying just before you need it is the way to go when you can. Some emergency calories are a must just in case, but even for that I'd rather carry something other that freeze dried meals myself.
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Old 01-25-22, 12:15 PM
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Figuring out what works for you is what bicycle touring is all about.
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Old 01-25-22, 12:31 PM
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Originally Posted by gif4445
Good video, you have put a lot of thought into it. Now the important part. Taking it all out there and learning what works and what doesn't. One of my favorite quotes, and I can't remember where I heard it, is "the race doesn't start, until everything falls apart". Although we aren't talking about racing, I think it applies to about anything.

On the subject of brake selection, I'm with you in part. As I looked at going from my old Surly LHT and panniers, to a Roubaix and frame bags, I had the same idea. Rim brakes were more than good enough from my experiences, plus going to disc brakes actually added a bit more weight. But a couple experiences changed my thinking. First was a crappy, rainy mountain pass decent alongside a buddy with rim brakes ( I had just purchased a bike with discs) He struggled to stop in the rain and fog. I was fine with my disc brakes. Later on a brevet, I broke a spoke, but was able to go on with slight modification. If I had rim brakes, I probably would have had to do without the braking for that wheel. Lastly, I have recently replaced my aluminum wheels with carbon. I've heard some horror stories, (no personal experience), concerning carbon wheels and rim brakes on loaded descents. The bottom line now for me, the last two bikes I have purchased have hydraulic disc brakes. An industry movement for sure, maybe as much to do with marketing, but for consistent braking and ease (hydraulic), I prefer what I now have over the rim brakes. YMMV

The clearance between your back wheel and the seatpost bag may give you some grief as you get out there and put up some miles. According to both Revelate and Apidura, the bags I have tried, I was borderline on the necessary clearance. And eventually ALL the bags I used contacted the rear tire. Of course we are talking about thousands of miles including brevets, ultra-distance races and touring. I eventually went with a Tailfin system for stability.

My experience with a full frame bag was short lived. Although I know of many people who do the type of riding I do that use and like them, I didn't care for the "sail" effect of the full frame bag. I do live and ride in a windy region of the U.S., so your experience may be much different. Add in the water bottle adjustment and I decided to go back with my partial frame bag. Actually, for me, having one easily accessible water bottle is enough. the balance of water can go into my Tailfin (seatpost replacement) bag. If the weather is on the cold side, you may not need to carry as much water and if it is on the hot side, better to keep the extra water (well insulated and not lava hot), within my pack inside the Tailfin bag.

Good luck and hope you can get out there and give your setup a good test!
Thank you for the feedback and the in depth response!
I hadn't gotten to it (will be in the second video) but I am bringing a 2nd water bottle inside the frame bag.

Interestingly, I haven't noticed the "sail" effect of the frame bag in windy environments. I thought it was going to happen but did not.
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Old 01-25-22, 12:41 PM
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I took the liberty of sharing the comments from gif4445 and staehpj1 on the Youtube video's comment section as I think others would find their experience useful.
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Old 02-01-22, 03:01 PM
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Here is the 2nd half of the video

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Old 02-10-22, 07:24 PM
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and here is the actual trip all the prep was for!

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Old 02-11-22, 07:34 AM
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Looks like you had a nice trip. Congrats on getting it all together. I am sure there will be many more.
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Old 02-14-22, 07:21 AM
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Looks good! I'm sure you learned some things on the ride and maybe you are ready for this. https://www.facebook.com/groups/3864583083667306
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