- 46 minutes ago
If you're heading on your first bikepacking trip, working out how to pack your bike bags can be a daunting task. Here's our guide to getting your bikepacking setup correct as well as our tips and tricks on what to pack.
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00:00If you've got your first bikepacking trip planned or perhaps you've been inspired to
00:04start plotting one it can be a pretty daunting prospect to get all of your bags onto your bike.
00:10And there's loads of different options for that as well so we're going to run you through some
00:14modern bikepacking setups to help you choose the best as well as some tips that we've learned
00:18along the way, not always the easy way either, so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
00:23Ready? Let's go! Let's go camping!
00:33So let's talk a little bit about different ways to carry your kit on a bike.
00:37What are they Catherine and what are the benefits of each one?
00:41Yeah so to start with I think most people will be familiar with panniers and pannier racks so these
00:45are large bags that you can either fit on the front or the rear they sit on top of racks
00:50that you need
00:50fix onto your bike. Now you'll also need to have specific mounts on your bike to fit the racks on
00:55which you put the bags so that's one thing to consider and these are really great for capacity
01:01if you need to take loads and loads of stuff and they tend to be really good on the road
01:05as well.
01:06So when you start to take them off-road things can get a little bit spicy especially if you're on
01:10like
01:11really chunky gravel or mountain biking territory and because they then come out of the side of your
01:16bike if you're on really narrow single track and you're a bit limited in terms of how much space
01:22you have on the sides then they can be a little bit limiting but they do tend to give you
01:26a really
01:26good center of gravity near the bottom of the bike over the bottom bracket so that's good.
01:31So panniers are kind of your archetypal touring setter right you see pictures of people with like
01:38front panniers, rear panniers but that can often be a quite heavy because you've got the rack and
01:45the bags might not be as lightweight as some other options but also it might be that your
01:50frame can't accommodate the racks so to prevent you having to get a new frame which can there has
01:55been a rise in lightweight strap-on bike packing bags. So essentially it's just a combination of
02:01different bags that are spread all over your bike so you can have everything from saddle bags to handlebar
02:06bags, top tube bags, down tube bags, cargo cage bags, loads of different ones and these tend to be
02:13really really good because of their versatility so you can have a handlebar roll and a saddle pack that
02:17you move from your road bike to your mountain bike to your gravel bike you don't have to worry about
02:22the specific mounts and then on top of that they're really lightweight in comparison to a rack and pannier
02:29setup because you don't need the rack and they tend to just strap on really easily. If you're riding a
02:35mountain bike for example a full suspension mountain bike I've seen them where they can they can get
02:39fitted around your linkage of your suspension so they just allow you to use whatever bike you have
02:45and just to get out and get riding which I think is really cool. Yeah and maximize the space that
02:49you
02:49have on that particular bike as well. So there are three main types of bike packing bags you nod your
02:56head like there's clearly loads more but the main ones you would want to get if you were to go
03:00on your
03:00first bike packing trip. Yeah so starting at this end saddle bags are really popular so they tend to
03:07affix to the seat post itself rather than the frame using one or more velcro straps then it's supported
03:14typically by straps which thread through the saddle rails so one to be wary of if you're running a carbon
03:20railed saddle probably not a good idea and these tend to be quite big obviously all different sizes
03:26available but that's really good for quite a large capacity. And just like on the handlebar front
03:33they're either a one piece or you can get a holster with a dry bag inside so it's worth thinking
03:40about
03:40whether you're camping right next to your bike for example or if you're staying in an airbnb or a hotel
03:46or whatever you might want to have a holster type so you can just pull the dry bag out and
03:50take it with
03:50you rather than having to take the whole setup off your bike each time. Yeah and then moving on to
03:55the
03:55frame you can get everything from a full-sized frame bag either one off the shelf or custom made
04:01specifically for your bike right the way through to like a little half frame bag that just comes down
04:05the middle or little ones like we've got in there. And then finally at the front handlebar bag? So like
04:11I said with the saddle bags these tend to come either as a one piece or as a holster and
04:16dry bag type thing
04:18and these mount directly onto your handlebars. Crucially like the saddle bags these tend to be expandable
04:23so you can have a play at home before your trip crucially a good little test ride is always a
04:30really good idea by packing different widths or probably taking out a little bit compared to how
04:38much you'd like to pack in there because if you have mechanical shifting you need to remember that
04:41you'll need to have full range of movement of the shifter. Flared bars like these are actually really
04:46great not only for confidence on the descents but it does give you a little bit more space for a
04:52handlebar bag so that's worth noting. And then on top of those three main bags there's I guess
04:57additional storage solutions? Yeah so there's lots of different ones this is a stem bag so that's just
05:04a small little bag that you can fit between the stem and the handlebar that just straps on there. It's
05:09kind of a fill all thing that is now I like to use it for my little mirrorless camera I
05:14have which is
05:14really useful because it's very easy to get at whilst you're riding along. Right in front of you
05:18great for snacks your phone if you're just wearing a t-shirt that sort of thing. Rubbish if you're
05:22eating a lot on the bike and you need to be able to put it somewhere it's a little bin
05:25bag on your
05:26handlebars. So that's good if you have a bike which is enabled with cargo mounts on the forks then you
05:33can
05:33have bags on the forks or water bottles for more storage so they're really handy. In general it's best to
05:39keep most of the weight on the bike from personal experience. The lower down and more central towards
05:44the bottom bracket the better it'll be for handling. You need to pay particular attention to how much
05:49clearance you've got between the saddle and the rear tyre and the handlebars and the front tyre
05:53because that can be a little bit troublesome for shorter riders and also you're less likely to have so
05:58much space in the main triangle for frame bags you might have a very sloping top tube which limits that.
06:03Now this bike we've got here is a really good example of a very small framed bike and you can
06:09see it would be really hard to fit a frame bag in there for example so we've alleviated this
06:13problem by using some wolf tooth b-rad components. Now these are really cool little tools which just
06:19allow you to sort of expand your storage basically by using your existing bottle cage mounts you can fit
06:26a base to it that you can then move everything up or down much further inside the down tube or
06:32on the
06:33seat tube so for example we've moved two full water bottles much further up the frame so we can fit
06:38two
06:39additional dry bags on the seat tube and on the down tube which is kind of allowing us to get
06:43away
06:43with not running a little frame bag. Yeah it's really handy and I think it's a bit cliche but it's
06:49so true
06:50they say that the best bike packing bike is the one that you already own and even if it's not
06:56specifically made for that purpose or ideal for it like little handy tools like this can really help.
07:01Absolutely and this had three sets of bottle mounts and we've managed to fit so much more in that frame
07:08because of it it just goes to show that you can really customize and make your fitting solutions
07:12quite bespoke to you. So how do you pack all of these different bags? Let's start at the front
07:17what are you putting in your handlebar bag? So that's where I tend to put my sleep system
07:22if I'm camping out so things like your sleeping bag sleeping mat if you've got a bivvy or a tent
07:28or a
07:29hammock all of that tends to fit really nicely in there. Yeah it's a decent little space and depending
07:36on your bars it can be pretty wide as well so you can get quite a lot in there. In
07:41the frame bag?
07:43I tend to find it's really good for little bits and pieces things like electronics, tools, a battery pack
07:50and my top tip you could use like a hammock or some other slightly squishy soft thing maybe a waterproof
07:58to pack just here in this corner if you're using a half frame bag that is because if you have
08:04to do
08:04any hiker bike and put the bike on your shoulder like cyclocross then you have a nice little pad
08:09and the top tube won't hurt your shoulder. That is smart I just tend to find that the frame bag
08:14is my catch-all
08:15anything that I don't have another space for just goes in the frame bag. Baguette sandwich!
08:20Straight in there fits perfectly. Now at the back in the seat pack? It's more accessible than the front
08:25I think but you still have to get off the bike to get into it so personally I tend to
08:31pack slightly
08:32bulkier things like spare sets of clothes, a pair of bibs every day, fresh set is definitely my
08:41go-to after many years of learning. Clothes, extra layers, toiletries, I tend to put something like
08:49if I'm taking a mini stove to cook on bits and bobs like that really. Essentials you try and pack
08:56them
08:56easily accessible and near the top? Absolutely so things like a spare layer I absolutely swear by a
09:04down or a synthetic jacket that's like really puffy really warm even in the summer you always get like
09:09chilly evenings and that's really really good to have as soon as you reach camp or the pub or wherever.
09:17Tools, emergency spares, a survival blanket is really good idea especially if you're going somewhere
09:23quite remote. A waterproof jacket near the top because the last thing you want to be doing when
09:29it's just suddenly out of nowhere started hammering it down is rooting all the way to the bottom of your
09:34bags with everything getting soaked to find them. So there you go there are top tips for packing your
09:40bike bags if you do have any great tips yourself or any funny stories then please do leave them in
09:45the comment section below because we'd love to hear them. In the meantime don't forget to give us a like
09:50and to subscribe to the Cycling Weekly YouTube channel and we'll see you soon. Bike parking!
09:57Got the echo! Wow. Mastermind subject. Bike bags. Oh boy. No it was rubbish, sorry Ed.
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