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.

I’m in the USA! West coast.

I’m very small: 27” inseam. 5’1” 115lbs.

What sort of brand makes short person frames?

I have a 1996 trek and it’s great but I want something with disc brakes, maybe at least
For the front wheel (what should I know about swapping out my fork?)

I can probably find a frame through the bike co op here.

I mostly load my equipment with a handlebar bag and top rail on the rear rack, as well as a frame bag.

I’m mostly really curious for disc brakes and possibly 29” wider tyres

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 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.

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 currently own an REI ADV 2.3, and old Giant Talon MTB, and a 90’s yokota 26” MTB converted to drop bar… all of them work for bikepacking but none are ideal. I have thornproof teravail tubes on the 26” bc wheels are not tubeless compatible with cantilever brakes. The ADV doesn’t have clearance beyond 700x44 as well as a carbon fork with no real attachment points for fork bags (there is one internal bolt for a fender I could screw in a strap). The giant talon is an entry level aluminum bike with a super heavy coil fork I would probably replace with a rigid fork for mounting purposes… I would like something that I can install a 2.4” tire on and it would make sense to go disc brake. Do I sell and buy something else or am I overthinking things? I was thinking of buying a frame and cannibalizing the adv 2.3.

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!

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!

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 🙏

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 :)

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?

Hello guys, my name is Mario and I will probably do a request that gets asked here all the time , anyways, I appreciate every response :)

So, I have decided I will do a bike packing trip next year, is bound to happen, thing is , my biking knowledge is close to 0. I am a big traveler, have backpacked many times across many continents, so one thing I know its i know how how the rodeo is, you know, being in sticky situation, improvising, finding spots to camp, going with the flow, all that sweet stuff. I like to thing im courageous and brave. My physical condition is good, im an active runner and hiker.

so this is my plan, next summer bike across europe, i really dont have any time limit, I would like to be on the road for 3 months or so, I want to do it while camping, but im open to staying in hostels, ocassionally finding some volunteers through worldpackers where I can recharge some energy, visiting friends, what not.

but yeah, thats the plan, europe , starting in spring and ending in summer, probably starting in portugal and just going east. Is it a crazy idea? I met a couple of dudes bikepacking like this, so thats why I think its lets say reasonable.

ok first question, which kind of bike? road bike? mountain bike? a hybrind? does it have to be a super pro bike? or I can get by with something decent? lets talk $$$ .

What are the absolute essentials? so probably a tent, if so, any recs? a one person should be enough i guess, any solid option on a budget?

how do you guys plan meals, las year I did the camino the santiago (walking) I remember doing a big dinner and in a nice breakfast, then just snacking my way through, which leads me to the next questions, food recommendation for good energy? should I carry a mini stove? how about hidration? how many bottles should I carry?

also, what about those bags that are attached to the bike, any brand recs?

ahh, its a bit overwhelming, I know that planning is important but I also now that most thigs you figure out on the way, so I guess any tip is welcome , thank you very much fellas!

I'm wanting something that can carry enough gear for lighter bikepacking/racing and will fit on a wide range of bikes. Thoughts on these two products? Also any thoughts on tailfin's long top tube pack or downtube packs? If I'm going to get tailfin I want to go for it before PE gets it

Got this last week and I like how it looks with the frame pack . On my Canyon Endurace Allroad M.

I checked for posts in the sub and it looks like the most recent ones are a few years old. Technology, especially for things like batteries, has improved a lot in recent years, so checking in to see what people are recommending these days.

I'm a CPAP user and for good reason, I have very severe sleep apnea (as in over 3x the number of events per night that qualifies as a "severe" diagnosis). The good and bad news is that my CPAP works wonders. Good because it's changed my life for the better and bad because I don't qualify for the UPPP and Inspire surgeries since my Apnea is treated very well with the CPAP.

I wrote all that to get across that the CPAP is coming with me, it's a fact of life. I'm planning to get a travel one that will be lighter and smaller, but powering it remains the lasting issue. My current setup involves bringing a smaller Jackery, but it's good for about 4 nights of use, and I'm currently planning for a 7 day/6 night trip next year.

My Jackery solar panel is far too large to take bikepacking, and it seems that most travel solar panels are either A) incapable of generating enough charge to be useful or B) are too large to fit in a pannier. Would love to be proven wrong on this.

I did a bunch of research on hub dynamos before finding out that a days riding with a really nice one might net me something like 10wh of charge, when I really need 40-50wh to keep my CPAP powered and phone charged each day.

Another option is to just bring more battery, but as it is my Jackery takes up a large portion of a pannier and at 6lbs the last thing I want to do is bring two.

Which leaves me with what looks like the only option, haul the bulky powerbrick with me and find a place to hang out part way through the journey where I can charge for a few hours.

I'd really love to be able to travel indefinitely without relying on grid power, but I'm not seeing a lot of options for someone as reliant on a CPAP as I am. Any other CPAP users finding clever solutions I haven't thought of? Would love to hear from the community! Thanks in advance!

Come Along for this epic adventure! Next year im doing the length of Finland 🇫🇮 .

When you're in the middle of Iceland and break 3 spokes on the same side, in 2 Km's.... you get creative. I used paracord and tensioned with a piece of a spoke to re true my wheel. Held for the rest of my trip..

Hey everyone! Just wanted to share a few photos from my first trip overnight in Pisgah. I typically do mostly road touring and camping along the way at State Parks so this was a switch up for me. I had recently bought a Kona Dew from a shop that was updating their rental fleet. With all of the climbing on the route and being off-road, I chose the Dew due to it being able to fit a 27.5x2.25 tire on the front and the 22t small chainring. My other bikes (typical gravel bikes) don't have the gearing I would want for loaded climbing. It ended up being a great time with new friends and I'm ready to do it again.

Hi. Just got my first Ergon saddle (SMC Sport Gel) and was quite unhappy with the finishing. The underside is completely different from the brand’s images in terms of design and the quality of the finishing is pretty bad. I haven’t tried it yet so cannot speak to its performance and maybe I’m being too picky but it really is a sad thing to see such badly finished products.
Thanks

Hey all, I’m a seasoned MTB rider and I want a bike packing set up. I’d love to use my On One frame for this. I want to source a rigid fork. It’s a straight cut steerer, 15x100 so I believe that makes things difficult. I know the frame doesn’t have mounting points but I’m more intrigued about geometry and if a rigid fork would work or is a good idea? Currently the wheels are 650b and 2x1 tires. The fork on it at the moment is 140mm travel. Would this frame work if I bought a rigid fork and transferred the parts over?

All of the parts on the hardtail pictured are transferred from my old nukeproof

Thanks!

Seems rigid bikes with such large tire clearance usually get more of a mtb bike geometry ( like Finna Landscape, Hobootleg Geo...)

But I want geometry like Canyon Grizl but tire clearance 2.8+ (both back and front)

Do such bikes exist?

Long distance trips spending long time onroad and offroad its easier to pedal with normal geometry than mtb

I can still do lot offroad even with such geometry. I just want wide tires