Newbie Hello! :)

[giryan]

Firstly, Hi! :D

I've been pondering bikepacking for a while, and love following Tour Divide etc..
And when work basically made me have a week off on holiday next week I decided I really ought to just do some! :D
Having rapidly gathered a big, but hopefully not too big, pile of kit I'm nearly ready.

I'm going to go round the Pennine Bridleway Double, doing the bridleway as a whole seemed good, but this way I end up much nearer home at the end

Matt

[Single Speed George]

sounds cool , you doing the whole lot including the newer bits through the dales etc , as that's really nice ! or just up round the loop bit and back

[HaYWiRe]

Will that be your first proper trip out or just another notch in the belt? So to speak

And what kit are you taking? You know we're all gear nuts, gram counting, tussock racers, give us something to weigh!

just be careful talking to some of the 'carbon/cuban/titanium ' fetishists on here over in the corner, they're contagious

[Single Speed George]

just be careful talking to some of the 'carbon/cuban/titanium ' fetishists on here over in the corner, they're contagious

Just remember its all about the carbon ridged forks and single speed fun ....

just remember to keep all your gear well stowed and light ! but not so light you freeze to death all night as sleep is useful

[ootini]

Hey , welcome to the forum.

[giryan]

I've done a fair bit of road riding, and some MTB, including Exodus's Atlas Descent trip in Morocco, but no bike packing at all.
Did backpacking/hiking with my dad when I was younger, but no "real" camping for a good while.

Thanks for the welcome :D

OK, big gear list coming up :)

The bike I'll be riding is a Cube LTD Pro 29er (with dropper seat post I'll have to avoid with the seat bag on )
I've not got pics of my gear, as it's just arrived/still in transit
Bagwise I've got an Alpkit Kanga & 20L drybag xtra, wildcatgear tiger & alpkit tapered drybag.
As the trip/gear purchase was very last minute, I've not got a frame bag, as I didn't have time for a custom one to fit the frame and I wasn't sure about the sizes either.
I got a great deal on a shimano Unzen bag from my LBS, so will wear that.

Sleeping wise I picked up a yellowstone matterhorn tent in amazon's summer outdoor sale. At £20, as long as it doesn't fall over on the first night I feel I've have got a good deal
I spent ages dithering over sleeping bags, and decided not to go for an uber light/expensive one, so have a Vaude Kiowa 300 Ul.
Alpkit Airo 120 sleepmat, who needs padding for your legs :)

Eating/drinking, so far I have a yellowstone stove set, a travel tap bottle, and the bladder in the backpack.

And that's kinda it I think, at least for big bits.

[ootini]

Hey, if you want my opinion on the Yellowstone Tent, and other bits, take a look here https://bikepackingonabudget.wordpress. ... tent-pt-1/

[giryan]

Hey, if you want my opinion on the Yellowstone Tent, and other bits, take a look here https://bikepackingonabudget.wordpress. ... tent-pt-1/

Oh, cheers, I've been looking at people's pages when I came across them so it's great to read more :)

It's the Matterhorn 1 that I have, which does look from the pics like the 1 man version of the Alpine. :)

[Single Speed George]

seems quite allot of weight but you shall see i guess might be ok ! , have you thought about just using a bivi bag , reduce the bulk quite allot as well as the weight so bike will ride better ?

[benp1]

Dropper and a seat pack still work fine, although maybe not ideal

This is my Cotic Solaris with a Rockshox Reverb dropper and a Revelate Viscascha. Dropper function still worked fine, wrapped some material (chamois from the car) around it to protect the post for any rubbing

[giryan]

Cheers, that's good to know.
I'm going to have a test fitting of everything this evening, so I'll find something to look after the dropper mech.

I'm going to aim for a bit overloaded and a bit more comfortable this time, and once I've done it try the lighter approach and things like biving :)

[whitestone]

Dropper and a seat pack still work fine, although maybe not ideal

This is my Cotic Solaris with a Rockshox Reverb dropper and a Revelate Viscascha. Dropper function still worked fine, wrapped some material (chamois from the car) around it to protect the post for any rubbing

What's the bottle mount? I've a Solaris along with a Wildcat Ocelot frame bag and I can't use the installed cage mount as it's too high on the down tube. About the only negative of the bike TBH but I didn't originally buy it for bikepacking.

[FLV]

I made one, but I believe people have bought / used these

https://mountskidmore.com.au/

[whitestone]

I made one, but I believe people have bought / used these

https://mountskidmore.com.au/

With a drill and a tap and die set knocking one of those up would be easy. I just need a tap and die set

Unfortunately the offset required to get the bottle low enough would put a lot of strain on the existing mounts - you can see the lower bolt in the photo around the level of the Cotic decal.

[FLV]

Yep, easy indeed. Just use nice stiff material so that it dosnt wang around. I had to source short bolts so they dont poke through to the frame too

[giryan]

All packed and, pretty much ready to head off! :D


although I have re-packed and worried more since then
but I do have sunlotion and bike tools which I had missed at that point :)

[HaYWiRe]

That looks,like a pretty slick and light setup, well done

Took me ages to get anywhere near that compact, reducing the front bag to help with balance would be a good bet, but I'm a bugger for front/rear symmetry with bags

What,backpack is that in the photo?

[Ray Young]

All packed and, pretty much ready to head off! :D


although I have re-packed and worried more since then
but I do have sunlotion and bike tools which I had missed at that point :)

Nice one, enjoy.

[Single Speed George]

Looks good get some pikes up etc of how it went on trips and adventures if you get on ok ! Have fun !

[FLV]

Can you see over the top of that dry bag up front?



Just kidding. Have fun.

[benp1]

Dropper and a seat pack still work fine, although maybe not ideal

This is my Cotic Solaris with a Rockshox Reverb dropper and a Revelate Viscascha. Dropper function still worked fine, wrapped some material (chamois from the car) around it to protect the post for any rubbing

What's the bottle mount? I've a Solaris along with a Wildcat Ocelot frame bag and I can't use the installed cage mount as it's too high on the down tube. About the only negative of the bike TBH but I didn't originally buy it for bikepacking.

Elite bottle cage mounts from Halfords. They're about £3, bargain. I'm hoping the mount skidmore adaptor will let me move the bottle cage lower than the current mount position

[giryan]

That looks,like a pretty slick and light setup, well done

Took me ages to get anywhere near that compact, reducing the front bag to help with balance would be a good bet, but I'm a bugger for front/rear symmetry with bags

What,backpack is that in the photo?

Thanks :)

Yeah, the front bag was definitely too heavy, it was pretty unwieldy, and I really could have done with some more pre-load on the shocks, the tyre was touching on bumps.

The backpack is a Shimano Unzen 10L, I think it's last year's model as the specific one doesn't appear to be available, although they do have a new model. http://www.shimano-lifestylegear.com/gl ... aypack.php