We'd probably credit Mike Curiak and Eric Parsons with kicking off bikepacking as we know it. Mike started the GDR and Eric made those bags. But this jumped out at me while researching some UK bike history -



Designed in 1976, made in 1978. Geoff Apps Range Rider. Looks a little like the Hunter ridden across the Canning Stock Route recently with those long stays - apparently the builder wouldn't bend them so that's how they ended up! I noted the bar sweep and position too, looks familiar to me. Whenever I look up UK off-roading history of any kind, Geoff Apps is there. 'Hat off' to a true pioneer.

Blog on the recent CSR crossing here:

http://www.porcelainrocket.com/blog/

At the risk of side-tracking myself from what I'm actually looking up, I wonder when the first bivi-bike rides started? I've read about the early climbers riding out to crags for the weekend and sleeping in hedges along the way but who knows where basic sleeping kit + bikes for longer rides first became a popular thing in itself. Somewhere among the randonneurs of the 40s and 50s I expect. They tended to travel quite light, much less than the 4-panniers approach that UK touring became anyway.

Very interesting subject. I've just scanned some pages from a 1959 edition of Adventure Cycling. Some of the gear used isn't too dissimilar - lightweight single skin shelters, saddlebags rather than panniers, etc. Even some of the terrain is familiar - Sticks pass and Bwlch Y Groes.







Nobby's yer man for this. Hopefully he'll be along shortly.

jameso wrote:At the risk of side-tracking myself from what I'm actually looking up, I wonder when the first bivi-bike rides started? I've read about the early climbers riding out to crags for the weekend and sleeping in hedges along the way but who knows where basic sleeping kit + bikes for longer rides first became a popular thing in itself. Somewhere among the randonneurs of the 40s and 50s I expect. They tended to travel quite light, much less than the 4-panniers approach that UK touring became anyway.

I have a copy of TH Holding's 'Cycle & Camp' dated 1897. In the early 1900's he was giving lectures on cycle camping and arriving with all his kit in the pockets of his Norfolk Jacket. He was a tailor of some note and made himself an oiled silk tent for lightweight use. Other equipment, like his 'Mersey Cuisine' cook set he had made to his specifications by tinsmiths.

There is a Wikipedia reference to him under his full name of THOMAS HIRAM HOLDING.

edit: Just noticed Stuart's parting comment - glad to oblige :)

I have a copy of TH Holding's 'Cycle & Camp' dated 1897. In the early 1900's he was giving lectures on cycle camping and arriving with all his kit in the pockets of his Norfolk Jacket. He was a tailor of some note and made himself an oiled silk tent for lightweight use. Other equipment, like his 'Mersey Cuisine' cook set he had made to his specifications by tinsmiths.

And here's the man himself and his bike ... looks like a 29er to me

Here he is with a 56 er (ish)

Wonderful stuff.. thanks for the scans. edit to add, where did you get that from?

Wearable luggage like a fly-fishing jacket, interesting idea or was he just showing off? )

http://www.pinterest.com/arkanciscan/bi ... g-vintage/

lost half an hour here this afternoon

Wonderful stuff.. thanks for the scans. edit to add, where did you get that from?

What? The Adventure Cycling book ... think I turned a copy up on Amazon.

http://www.pinterest.com/arkanciscan/bi ... g-vintage/

Some good stuff on there ... this is lovely.

Well it's not quite bike-packing but Robert Burns went travelling (in france, fair enough) on a donkey with a bivvybag - made from tweed and lined with sheepskin iirc. He ate bread, chocolate, salami and red wine :D

s8tannorm wrote:

Wonderful stuff.. thanks for the scans. edit to add, where did you get that from?

What? The Adventure Cycling book ... think I turned a copy up on Amazon.

Who is the author and publisher, please?
I've got Adventure Cycling in Britain by Tim Hughes but it's 1978 and different photos.

jameso wrote:Wonderful stuff.. thanks for the scans. edit to add, where did you get that from?

Wearable luggage like a fly-fishing jacket, interesting idea or was he just showing off? )

He did use the stuff he showed but there must have been an element of showing off and seeing how far he could push things.
I remember that he started with a quilt but moved to a complete bag and also gave up on the frame bag because his were made of leather and that created some kind of a problem.

A camping enthusiast because of his experience with a Mormon handcart company on the American Plains as a youngster, and he followed John MacGregor's lightweight style of canoe camping when he returned to England. Holding wrote a canoeing book that has recently been republished: 'Watery Wanderings amid Western Lochs'. It comes up on eBay and Amazon at about £15. I haven't read mine yet and I live in hope of finding an original copy at a reasonable price.

Seems to have been a strong willed character; started one cycle camping club and when it went against him he left and started another. The Caravan & Camping Club claim him as a founder and have a site on the Clent Hills dedicated to his memory, but nowadays their Lightweight Camping Section is just about what you can stuff in your car.

The Fell Club are still dedicated to lightweight, self propelled camping and in the '70's had a member named Charles Darvill. He was a retired headmaster who made his own kit and wild camped. I'm not sure what off road he did but his usual camping places were far enough up a bridle path to be out of sight of passers by.

Sorry to carry on but the history fascinates me. I prefer the Romans in Britain but they didn't have bikes. They did camp though and here is a Roman multi tool:
:)

This is perhaps a little off topic as it is about Australia and the uses of bicycles for work rather than leisure. I have bought it but not had chance to read it yet

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bicycle-Bus ... B0053D0ZGI

Who is the author and publisher, please?

Ronald English - Nicholas Kaye LTD (London).

s8tannorm wrote:

Who is the author and publisher, please?

Ronald English - Nicholas Kaye LTD (London).

Ta.

Slightly relatedly, what's now the Camping and Caravanning Club was founded in 1901 as the Association of Cycle Campers:

The prime mover was Thomas Hiram Holding, a London-based journeyman tailor, who had developed a passion for camping at the age of nine, whilst crossing the American prairies with his parents in 1853, as part of a wagon train.

Holding was a keen cyclist and one of the leading lights in the formation of the Bicycle Touring Club in 1878. Then, years later, a chance conversation with a friend, who wanted to try ‘cycle camping’ resulted in him designing some suitable lightweight kit and, with four friends, embarking on a cycle camping expedition in Ireland.

In a book chronicling the experience (Cycle and Camp in Connemara) Holding invited interested readers to contact him and this resulted in the formation of the Association of Cycle Campers, with thirteen members, in 1901. Its inaugural camp at Wantage, with just six people in attendance, was the first meeting of the organisation now known as The Camping and Caravanning Club.

http://www.campingandcaravanningclub.co ... s/history/

Sorry to carry on but the history fascinates me.

No, please do, fascinates me too. Times may change but the basic will or need to travel has always been there.

Its inaugural camp at Wantage, with just six people in attendance, was the first meeting of the organisation now known as The Camping and Caravanning Club.

Spooky, there were six people in attendance at the inaugural 'Winter Bivvy' in 2010 ... which I now believe is becoming a thing of legend. In years to come people will be telling others they were there, just like everyone says they saw the Pistols

Early Bikepacking bags:


and kit: