indyfabz

That's nothing compared to all the money and clothing Mr. and Mrs. Howell brought on a 3 hr. tour.

RB1-luvr

^^ I pack like that for three days! haha

pdlamb

By the time you've got enough gear for six days, you've got enough for six months (except for soap and money). I think you hit that level at two nights/three days.

robow

classic : )

gna

Maybe it's just fashion, but I'd guess more people are interested in bikepacking now. If one makes a substantial investment in a suitable bicycle and the various bags and packs but then wants to ride on the road, why not use that bike? You've got a bike setup to carry gear. Maybe the bikepacking trip is in the future. Not everyone has room in the stable for both a touring bike w/racks and panniers AND a bikepacking bike and its bags.

str

Well, in that case I say: place the shoes in one of these whole household bags.

john m flores 

💯. Sometimes decisions are influenced by what gear you have available. You make it work and don't worry about labels.

djb

I tend to agree, so many things are smaller and lighter, so it's easier to carry less stuff now.
And I chose a bike that can easily do panniers as well as take wider tires and go with small bike packing stuff--lots of bikes like this now.

indyfabz

He lobbed one over the plate (whether he realized it or not). I couldn’t resist.

str

Still thinking about why touring LIGHT could be fashionable..... 🙃

Nothing better than a light moving bike.

1970bikes

Wow!

Someone clearly does not like chains and derailleurs.

Not sure if I should be impressed or burst out laughing.

Garthr

I never met a bikepacking seat back that didn't rub on my shorts, so a rear rack it is. I don't have huge thighs, more like a narrow pelvis structure. Plus my frames are relatively tall(60-62cm), and having any weight at tack level and/or below is better balanced than up at saddle level. The seat packs are a weight weenies delight though, if you have no leg rub !

staehpj1

I never found tour length made much difference to me. I pack about the same stuff for any tour length from a week to multiple months. If I went longer or shorther I'd likely still take the same stuff.

The only difference might be that if I pass from one season to another or one geographic area to another I might need different gear, but in that case I might mail some stuff home and have different stuff mailed to me.

Tourist in MSN

I am not sure what type of pack you cite here. I use a Carradice bag on some of my bikes.

I did not like the bag rubbing on my legs when the legs are extended, so I wanted to move the bag further back. Used a stem with an appropriate shim on the seatpost and a short wood dowel, sprayed black in the other end of the stem to position my bag where I wanted it. This saddle did not have the loops for the bag, so I ran the straps through the spring loops.



Sometimes you have to get creative.

Tourist in MSN

If I am out for a few days, I might use backpacking food, dehydrated stuff that I throw into a pot of boiling water. A single pot and a small butane stove.

A week, more likely to want more of a variety of foods. Perhaps some cans, like a can of chili and/or soup.

Several weeks or over a month, I will bring a fry pan so I can cook up a wider variety of foods. There were two of us on the trip with the photos below, thus a larger fry pan. And for several weeks when an airplane is not involved, I will bring a liquid fuel stove instead of a tiny little backpacking butane stove.



When you are out for several weeks, you need to be more careful to make sure you are getting adequate protein, etc.



But, if the route will be near restaurants at least a couple times a week, then the heavier cooking gear may stay home while I eat more restaurant food for variety.

But for other non-food supplies, I largely agree, if you are out for a week or a month, pretty much the same stuff.

Occasionally you might wish you had a lot of excess volume in one of your bags when you walk past the big box of croissants on sale in the grocery store. The photo below is from a five week solo trip. I had lots of spare volume capacity for food in a rack top bag.



I think that 10 pack of the mini croissants lasted for three days.

indyfabz

Yeah. Potential weather conditions is the big driver for me. If I’m doing a long weekend in the summer around here and there’s little chance of rain or chilly temperatures, then there are things that I will leave at home, like rain gear and a warm hat. But if I might likely face varying conditions, I’ll pack the same stuff for a long weekend that I pack for two weeks.

Yan 

I pack some maintenance related stuff for long tours that I don't take on short tours, a spare tire for example.

Tourist in MSN

I think one of the shortest tours I did was only five days. That is the one tour where I needed a cassette lock ring tool.

I have only needed that once on a tour, I suspect most people would never need one on a tour for their whole life, but one of my shortest tours is when I needed it. I am glad I had it.

cyccommute 

The worst trips to pack for are short tours of 3 to 5 days. I tend to take enough clothes to do laundry every 3 to 4 days on weeks long tours. But on short tours, there’s not really enough time to take some of it to do laundry…especially when doing remote bikepacking. I also carry about 3 days of food with me and hit a grocery store every 3 days. Again, there’s not really that much time…nor stores in remote locations…to stop and resupply so I carry more clothes and more food on short trips.

I also don’t do long tours here in Colorado at altitude all the much. My trips tend to be in that 3 to 5 range but weather in the high country even at the height of summer can be variable and quite cold. I carry more warm clothes for the mornings on those short trips as well.

frogshawn

Fashion.

tcs

Re: saddlebag (Sheldon 'touring bag') rubbing on thighs

Sometimes you avail yourself of the commercially available part.



Seatpacks (backpacking style) rubbing on thighs...hmm. Some, like the Revelate Terrapin, are a composite of a stuff sack into a more stout holder. Dunno if that would help.



Others, like the Ortlieb Seatbag, seem constrained quite narrow at the seatpost.

HappyAussies

"Liver and onions" haha. Used to get this served up as a kid, the worst food on the planet :-). To me panniers are just sensible, an easy way to balance the bike. My wife and I just did a circuit of South Korea. Rear Ortlieb panniers, and for me an additional bar bag for the camera. We each only had 6kg, so clearly not camping! Oh, and not many changes of clothes.

Tourist in MSN

Thanks, but I am aware of the Carradice brackets, such as the Bagman.

I have been surprised how many people want to use the long skinny bags like the bags that you cite, then complain that they do not like the way they sway back and forth. My Carradice bag never had any side to side sway that I could notice. The one in my photo was a smaller one, but I have used a bigger Carradice bag for touring.

Someone I met on a tour had a DIY bracket to stop the swaying of his long skinny saddle pack, I took a photo. This also kept it from rubbing on his tire.

cyccommute 

The Revelate Design bags don’t sway all that much in my experience. They have to be compressed really well with the outside straps. They aren’t all that long either. There are others which I’ve seen that seem to be about 5’ long which is way too long.

Of course, using a seat bag is one of those compromises you make for off-road travel to avoid panniers hanging up on stuff. Most people would be better served by panniers but they choose the less stable option for various reasons.

Steve B.

It's bike dependent as well. Bikepacking started as I recall as an off-road adventure, where a touring bike might have been the poorer choice compared to a mt bike with larger tires plus maybe suspension. Such bikes typically cannot easily have panniers attached, especially if using a full suspension, so the alternative is a different bag system. I find the bikepacking bag designs to be very creative and useful, albeit with somewhat less capacity for food, compared to panniers, thus a limit on trip duration potenially. There a now a lot of variations and methods to mount racks and bags and variations in the type of bikes used to offer up any solution.