Newbie new bike question...!

[bowlandbiking]

Re the panniers, they're not essential, I just figured for such a long ride they'd be required! If I can get by without them then that's fine it's one ride effectively, the rest of the time will be commuting, cycling with family & possibly cycling places like Gisburn trails in Lancashire but I'd probably avoid any jumps! I just find my gt isn't robust enough for the off road stuff I'd like to do but I'm not a serious mountain biker!

One suggestion I had was another pinnacle, the cobalt as this had front suspension and more gears but wonder if this is just more a commuter bike rather ideal for bike packing!

[whitestone]

My wife did Lejog using just a Carradice saddle bag, it was either the Barley or the Pendle so not huge. She did this some years ago before bikepacking style bags became widely available.

[Bearbonesnorm]

One suggestion I had was another pinnacle, the cobalt as this had front suspension and more gears but wonder if this is just more a commuter bike rather ideal for bike packing!

Perhaps more hybrid. Short travel suspension forks but 40c tyres, one will likely negate the other. The larger tyres on the Ramin 1 would probably inspire more confidence than the forks on the Cobalt. The Ramin3+ takes that to a different level again.

[johnnystorm]

I'm currently looking for a mate and noticed that Evans are selling the Ramin 3+ for £720 through Ebay and 800 on their own site. Have an Ex-Demo medium for £650 if that would fit.

[Jurassic]

I ride a Ramin 1 as my bikepacking bike (I looked at the 3 but I specifically wanted a 29er not 650b+). I can say that it's a great bike for the money and there's no need to worry about the "own brand" thing (unless you're a brand snob). Mine's mutated quite a bit from it's original spec as I had a lot of quite nice bits lying around that I fitted, I also changed the chainset from the outset as I wanted (needed ) a lower bottom gear than the stock 1x9 would allow. I've also ended up putting suspension forks on it which are probably not essential but makes life more comfy for my old bones (incidentally the stock CroMoly rigid forks are incredibly heavy, I was really shocked by the weight so swapping to suspension doesn't add as much weight as you'd expect). Here it is doing it's job near Loch Lyon.
IMG_20170926_151725 by Jurassic690, on Flickr

[bowlandbiking]

Thanks Jurassic - bike looks good! I think to be honest I am really put off by the colour of the Pinnacle at the moment (one option available) and much prefer yours! I don't think the Cobalt is right for me, too commuterish and not enough mountain bikerish, I want to have confidence that should I take it off road then it will cope ,which brings me back to the Sonder or waiting for a new colour way to come in and in my price range for the Pinnacle....

Why is it so difficult!

[Bearbonesnorm]

The Frontier is a very nice bike. I had a rigid 29" version on test, coped well with everything put in its path.

http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... ested.html

[bowlandbiking]

The Frontier is a very nice bike. I had a rigid 29" version on test, coped well with everything put in its path.

http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... ested.html

I had a read of this- twice, it was really useful, thank you! Now I just need to convince the wife its a necessity . Not sure she sees it the same way