Budget Bikepacking Bike?

[HaYWiRe]

A question without an answer no doubt but worth a debate....

What would be a budget bikepacking bike?
I know its probably whatever bike you already own but if you were to have a bike solely for touring what's the best option for cheap?

I've always been of the opinion of K.I.S.S, and prefer high quality basic parts, mechanical V- brakes, rigid, fewer gears to poorly made imitations of fancier hardware,
Can this still be done in an age of sub £100 full sus,33 speed, disk brake, supermarket bicycle shaped objects?

[Ben98]

Depends what budget is, but the Pinnacle Ramin 1 is what you're looking for.

[HaYWiRe]

From what I've gathered, most peoples budget is sub £300, but sub £500 might be more reasonable


(I'm not looking to buy, I'm still testing the longevity of a £160 bike, still surprised after 6 months and 600miles of welsh valleys)

[Bearbonesnorm]

I was considering buying one of these from Decathlon for £85 and conducting an 'experiment' ... then, I couldn't think of a good reason to bother. If someone has an £85 bike budget I figured they'd be much better served going down the SH route.

[Karl]

Pinnacle Ramin 1 is my goto bikepacking bike. To be honest I use it for my goto bike full stop. Really nice bike to ride and great value for money.

You can't go wrong.

[HaYWiRe]

I've had 2 bikes from decathlon, my current bikepacking bike is a rockrider 340, £160.
Sr suntour forks, cheap tourney derailers, but its surprised me how well its coped so far, not brilliant but its taken me places and let me enjoy bikepacking, and certainly better than most 'car accessory retailer' specials you get for that price

I couldn't justify too much money on an mtb given its my road bike that gets the most use (2000 miles not a glitch, its why I like B'twin)
But I'm considering better wheels and a rigid fork to make it a lighter tourer,
Better to get out there and go adventuring than sit around saving for something sexy like a pugsley....actually...

[Bearbonesnorm]

something sexy like a pugsley

I think that's the first time I've ever heard a Pugs described in such a way

[HaYWiRe]

I think that's the first time I've ever heard a Pugs described in such a way

What? Fat tyres and brutal simplicity :)
What's not to like aha

[mat_swan]

Those cheap decathlon bikes are surprisingly useable. We used to run a fleet of them out in france when I led and spannered for a holiday group in my uni holidays. Fire road stuff mostly but I used to go trail hunting on my day off.

Handlebars had a nice sweep, gears were cheap gripshift and generally pretty reliable, hard to go wrong with v brakes. Only major kit issue that caused me problems was the rear hub wasn't up to scratch- old freewheel style hub and the long bit of unsupported axle wasn't up to being mashed by the bigger guys so I had to cannibalise a lot of rear wheels because of bent axles.

For long distance use I'd say your main problem would be getting broken by the stiffness. Each and every one of the frame, bars, and post were bone judderingly stiff and I don't remember the tyre clearance being that amazing.

I'd still buy one if I wanted a really cheap hack though

[Joshvegas]

I was with you until vbrakes.

I have no issue with v brakes in general but for a long day in the saddle where alot of brake dragging may occur I'd be rocking disks.

I can't see how disks are any worse than vbrakes in the kiss principle either!

[Dave42w]

On my first time trial (short, local and very informal) a few weeks ago a front spoke broke. Wheel was immediately pretty bucked. Fortunately I had disk brakes so just carried on.
When I did the Coast 2 Coast on a Giant MTB the rear wheel had lots of spoke issues, fortunately disk brake so they didn't mean I had to give up.

[Richpips]

When I did the Lakeland 200 last year it was on a Cannondale with V brakes which I picked up for just over £100.

[HaYWiRe]

The way I see it, they are cheap, easy to replace, fix, adjust. You can always find spares,which is something long distance third world racers swear by, and its cheaper to get a decent set of v brakes than a poor set of disks

But using my girlfriends bike setup with hydraulic disks they are far superior, and ill agree to the wrist ache from long term braking with vbrakes
But they cost more, and I've used cheap mechanical disks that were god awful and outright dangerous...

[Ben98]

I use TRP Spykes, they take a little more maintainance than hydro discs, but less than V-brakes, and they stop very well. I also have canti studs on the back of my frame just incase I find myself somewhere remote, which won't happen for several years yet.

[mat_swan]

Perhaps I should have qualified that as 'can't really go wrong with v brakes at that price'. Personally I think I'd give up pretty much any other mod con/luxury on a mountain bike before discs but at that price the option isn't really there.