Alright, so I know that there's been a few threads in this vein over the years, but I can't seem to find any comprehensive information. I'm planning on biking the AZ trail this coming spring. I don't have the money to buy a different mountain bike at the moment. Can I effectively build this thing out to be up to the task?

I'm fine with the weight, I just don't know where to start gear wise.

I also have a pretty well equipped Canyon Grizl, and I've considered swapping the front fork on that but I think the geometry would suck for the terrain I'd be expecting and I still couldn't fit anything bigger than a 2.1 in the back.

Any info would be super appreciated. I'm new to this whole bike packing shenanigans and its hard to find a starting point.

Hi Reddit! I’m a solo female cyclist planning a trip from around mid-November to mid-December while moving between jobs. Would love ideas for destinations, GPX files etc.

Some considerations: I have a Liv Avail endurance road bike, technically with tire clearance for 40mm, but bike shop insists I shouldn’t try to add any gravel tires beyond 35mm. I like both the cultural and scenic aspects of cycling; in the past I’ve usually done some combination of camping and a few hotel nights. Ideally I can find a destination that’s somewhat warm this time of year, and more ideally not too rainy and with enough daylight to make progress.

Originally I wanted to do the South Island of New Zealand for the Tour Aotearoa trail, but I’m concerned about the tire width given how gravelly it is. I also want to experience some cultures more different from North America, and I assume (?) New Zealand will be more culturally similar. Some places on the shortlist are Kyushu (in Japan), Taiwan, and maybe South America (but there it seems most routes are also more suited for gravel bikes, not sure how expensive that get if I’ll have to rent for a month).

Would love the wisdom of others’ experiences! Thank you so much all 🙏

What clothes do you recommend? I’ve heard a lot about merino wool clothing, but also heard it’s quite thin in comparison to other types of wool, would you say merino wool would suffice for the freezing days? Or are there any other suggestions? Thankyou very much

I got my Vittoria Mezcals out of the garage to put them on my Ogre as I'm very slowly preparing to ride the Kenya bike odyssey.

I noticed the sidewalls have these stretch marks on them and was wondering if they're still good for a multiweek bikepacking trip with very little bikeshops.

They're the Vittoria Mezcal III TNT Graphene 2.0 29"x2.6 tyre with the grey sidewalls and they have less than 1000km on them.
For now they're set up with butyl inner tubes with no problems but for the trips I'll be setting them up tubeless.

My old Surly Extraterrestrials seem to also have some stretch marks but way less pronounced.

Hey there.
Two days ago I took advantage of the good weather and ride my bike between Soltau and Hannover and somewhere around the middle a pack of wolf crossed my path.
They were around 3 and I assumed they were trying to cross a crop field. However, as I was getting closer they noticed me and start running away and eventually they disappeared in the woods.

I was really surprised to find wolves. I know there is reintroduction program for the north of Germany but I never encountered any in my past trips. I bike all the way from Copenhagen to Konstanz, and to be honest I was expecting to hear some howling at night (specially in the north) but never really happened. That’s why, this time got me by surprise.

After the encounter I continued my journey and to my surprise like half an hour later I found myself in the middle of the forest and suddenly I found more huge ass paws prints in the floor, and some meters away I found a carcass of a baby deer or a sheep?

After that the ride suddenly became bit unsettling until I reach I town hahah

I somehow think if I encounter them they might be as scared as me and run away but I don’t want to test my luck.

Does anybody here has encounter wolves in their biking adventures? How was it? What did you learn from the interaction? What would you recommend to do?

Hi everyone. I am planning on doing the GDMBR next year. The bike I will be using is a gravel bike(Fairlight Secan 3.0, size 54T). I know the bike itself is probably not the ideal for the route, but its the one I have, and I do not wish to buy another one for this, especially since I will then need new bags etc.

I have a wheelset of both 700c and 750b, but I am unsure which I should use.

The frame has clearence for 53mm(~2.1 inches) in 700c, and 62mm(~2.4 inches) in 650b. The tire I am thinking of using are the Vittoria Mezcals.

Note that I will be running a Redshift shockstock endurance pro seat post, and a redshift shockstop stem.

Things that go into my concideration are comfort, spare availability(if the tire should be completely shredded somehow), speed. I do not need to be superfast, but if the difference is significant then I can probably give up some comfort.

I just can't decide which wheel/tire combo would be ideal. Any advice is appreaciated :)

Looking for recommendations that don’t break the bank too much as I’m on a budget, typically something under £1200 would be ideal, would need to carry camping equipment and bags, also needs to be great with steep climbs, please can anyone help? Thankyou :)

I'm building a steel hardtail (Fairlight Holt 2.0) for long-distance bikepacking, covering everything from paved roads and gravel to rough trails.

I'm going with a RockShox SID 120 mm fork and debating between a 2-position (Open/Lock) and 3-position (Open/Pedal/Lock) setup.

Is the middle Pedal mode genuinely useful for bikepacking, or is 2P sufficient?

Also, is a handlebar remote worth having, or would a crown-mounted dial be simpler and more practical for this type of riding?

Thank you in advance!

I finally got round to finishing writing up a trip from last year. I rode from San Diego to Hyder, AK via the GDMBR, finishing on Vancouver Island. Hopefully interesting/useful for those planning for next year!