BikePacking Equipment 101

There is a small, but quickly growing legion of MTB riders that are pursuing an extension of our sport, and it's called Bikepacking.

Essentially the same as cyclo-touring, however you ditch the BOB trailer and Panniers in favour of something more sleek and streamlined so that you can still enjoy singletrack.

I am very fortunate to have some very crazy friends in the UK, who first alerted me to this bikepacking idea around 5 years ago when an e-mail came though one July saying very simply "RHINO YOU MUST RACE TOUR DIVIDE", and from that point on my outlook on mountain biking has changed.

The Tour Divide is simple: Race the rooftop of North America by mountain bike; travel self-supported along all 2,745 miles from Canada to Mexico.

While I have wanted to do this race for 5 years now, something has always come up, however it is pencilled in for 2013 where I will join some UK friends on the insanity which bike packing can be.

More closer to reality is the opportunities that having some quality bikepacking equipment can have, for the mean time I won't talk about the kit that goes in (superlight cooking, camping, steripens and merino wool wonders), and just focus on the best way to contain your belongings into a singletrack friendly system.

There are some major players in the bikepacking market (Salsa are offering frame bags), but for many years it was only down to Revelate Designs and Carousel making custom only frame bags.

There was a very small number of other people making bespoke bags, and that's how I managed to find Cleaveland Mountaineering.

Jeremy is a mechanical engineering student (2nd year) who makes custom stuff on his weekends, cutting material and sewing them together on his floor using a grandma sized sewing machine, for that image alone I had to buy from him.

I do believe times have changed, as he now has a fancy website. Other that the 3 listed 'bikepacking' companies listed, the other notable one is Porcelain Rocket.

My KIT:

1) My frame bag has a velcro divider, left side map pocket, is reflective, and a hydration tube hole if I decide I don't want to take a camelbak.

You can have either a full panel for more volume or just the top section with a lower compartment separated by a velcro divider.

I have reflective tape sewed onto my frame bag, as most of my adventures will be overnight and I plan on riding at night (thinking tour divide). As each framebag shape is unique, I had to send him my internal triangle dimensions off my YETI ARC, and he did the rest.

The primary purpose of my frame bag is to hold my cooking items into the top compartment, and the spares/water/food in the lower compartment. The map pocket on the side is brilliant, as well at the hydration tube hole, really gives me more scope for what and how I can travel.

2) The saddle bag (which I will use to carry all my clothing) is a great design, and the volume would be around 5 litres.

The saddle bag contains a lightweight plastic section that helps keep the shape, and also prevents the whole bag from sagging and hitting your rear wheel.

The size is large, but as its similar to a drybag, you can make it as large or small as you like. It's also big enough to hold a spare set of cycling kit, merino leg/arm warmers and my camping clothes along with a lightweight down jacket. This thing is priceless.

3) The bar system is designed to hold my bed roll. My bed roll is my Bivvy bag/sleeping bag and thermarest in one unit, and roll it up and place inside a drybag, then I use the bar system to hold this bag in place.

The beauty of this is when I want to camp I just throw down my bivvy bag and inflate the thermarest, a "very quick" sleeping system. The system also comes with a removable pouch on the front, which I will use to put my "quickly needed" items like, lunch, sunglasses and lightweight rain jacket.

I typically use this pouch to carry items for when I don't want to take my frame bag. Again, it's about having a versatile system.

4) The last item is the Top Tube Bag, which can either be placed on the top tube near the stem (which I got), or on the top tube near the seatpost.

Within this section will be my riding food, money, camera and phone. They are also called a "mountain feed bag", or "gas tank".

Jeremy uses two different types of material for all the of the above, you can either have black (VX21) or grey (VX42), both are very similar except the VX42 is heavier and more durable.

I went the grey one as it should last longer. If you do go the black one, in the higher wear areas Jeremy will place grey anyway. I also heard from Jeremy recently, and he informs me that for his coming summer he will be sewing full time, but just for his summer.

He will also be cranking out stock items too. Last but not least, he also informs me that he'll be getting a better sewing machine too!!!

*******Kindly note I am a full retail paying customer of Jeremy's, and will be a repeat customer!

Rhino................

More To Come: This article is the first in a three part series. Stay tuned as Rhino puts the gear to the test in his first S120 (sub 12 hour overnight) then reports back on all the gear needed to complete your own Bikepacking journey.