So having been going through my pictures of past trips i came across this photo.....
IMAG0060 by mjc_226, on Flickr

One of my first ever bikepacking trips, and how my setup has changed some mainly with the addition of better ways to carry stuff!

Not to bad actually.

Although this picture has just made me realise how long I have had that helmet!

An early effort involving a horrible seatpost rack,

Before this I was on panniers mounted through a long axle and seatclamp mounts



Nearly froze me taters off on that one

Crappy ortleib saddlepack which broke its plastic bracket and Helium 200 tent strapped to the bars. Not shown is my 35l rucksack stuffed to bursting. Can't really remember what I had in it to make it so full.

Actually my first bike packing trip was on a raleigh maverick in 1987. I carried my kit in a set of cheapo Oxford nylon panniers (the ones that draped over a rack and had no real straps to hold them in place) with a phaser dome tent and a cheap karrimat strapped to them. Cooking courtesy of an optimus stove (weighing about 2kg)... happy days

WRT a few years ago


A number of years before that (admittedly youth hostelling, not bikepacking)

Here's a shot of my bike on my first ever 'bikepacking' trip:



Before that it was a rucksack with a tarp, hammock and sleeping bag in it.

I still use a rucksack far more than most with the exception of the BB200 (where I felt I'd finally let go of the need to carry so much on my back) only to discover that many others were ditching traditional bikepacking luggage and carrying loads on their backs - go figure???

Sadly I can't find the picture but if I could it would show a 46lb, 8" travel Banshee Scream with a sleeping bag tied onto the bars

Evolution-
Aluminium hardtail, bar bag, panniers, heavy gear.
2011_1005KielderCheviots0033 by youngray50, on Flickr

Same aluminium frame but now a rigid 69er, myog frame bag, two bar mounted drybags, small seatpack, lightweight gear.
2012_0414westhighlandway0011 by youngray50, on Flickr

Now. Rigid steel 29er, myog bar harness with one drybag, myog seatpack, alpkit framebag, myog frame mounted bladder bag behind framebag, fueltank now replaced with two alpkit stem cells.
Broughton Heights 009 by youngray50, on Flickr

IMG_1306 by pickers48, on Flickr

2008, Black Sail Pass. Nothing on the bike cos it's all in a Talon 33 rucksack. For the first and very last time.

Fast forward to August 2014, and a change of bike and kit...

Packed and ready by pickers48, on Flickr

Ayup, I'm a refugee from STW. Posted once then sussed that all the top [wo?]men were over here. Forgive me for lowering the tone of the proceedings.
By way of tipping my little toe in the murky waters of BBP and risking a post, here seems good a place as any..

Dawes Cougar bought in 1985 – loved steampunk MTBing round old steelworks, industrial areas etc, oh and the odd mountain top. First big outing was hardly bikepacking lite! One month circumnavigation of Iceland, after a sea voyage, with far too much junk although in mitigation there were few resupply dumps.



Later invested in what I still think is the superb Extrawheel. I know, still not “professional bikepacking” but OK for a rank amateur and far superior to a Bob Yak etc, because it just tracks over ANYTHING. Best bit is you can unhook it in 5 seconds, bung it in the long grass, then hammer off on a supertech trail ride for a couple of hours (if such perversions are indeed your bag). Quick cuppa, 5 secs Extrawheel back on, and off to the next spot. Brilliant. It even works with a full sus (I know, heresy! But I get the best of all worlds then), and has survived up/down Foel Fadian, Helvellyn, Eiger, etc.



You can also set up lots of bike-train type configurations to amuse the normals, like this. Note the “emergency” Brompton in the trailer ;-).



Up to now I’ve sported Macpac Microlight (bombproof, dyneema/titanium), Drishell PHD bag, Exped UL7 and pillow, Coleman F1, MSR Miniworks filter, blah blah blah. Time for the next step, egged on by the rest of the inmates in here! Need a bit of luxury in my grand old elder statesman 56-yr-old position ( a position usually horizontal in the nearest boozer), so not prepared to abandon the mat; but am thinking of bicycle 7 with 2mm dyneema and titanium (or maybe splash out on cuben but can’t find one big enough), Hunka or TN Moonlite or RAB Survival Zone, etc. Also looking at Steripen (Traveller at 150g rather than Mini at 105g, cos want easy AAA rechargeables not CR123s). But dunno whether to get Hunka XL so can fit mat inside it and then not need groundsheet. Once you’ve got the tarp, mat, groundsheet, bivi etc you’re almost up to tent weight otherwise. And yes obv by now I know the tarp game is really about “out in the open” rather than necessarily the weight. Then again a tyvek groundsheet from BPL is only 95g. And how often will I really need the bivi with the Drishell bag? ARG! Might visit Alpkit in Ripley and try out various combos.

Glad to see rail travel favoured by many of you. Bike n train is the only way to travel even without proper restaurant cars (remember them eh??). If I can do Milton Keynes – Aber, changing at Wolverhampton with a bike and Extrawheel it can’t be that hard. Book ahead and it’s wayyyyy cheaper than motors too, drink yourself stupid, stare out the windows, talk to nutters opposite (the nutter opposite will be me) etc.

Thanks for not yawning too much at my ravings!

One day I’ll die, and on my grave it will say: “Here lies Reginald Iolanthe Perrin. He didn’t know the names of the trees and the flowers, but he knew the rhubarb crumble sales figures for Schleswig Holstein”. But then bikepacking is the perfect antidote to that disease of course, as you already know!

All the be(a)st, Reg

Nice one Reg, I've always fancied a trip to Iceland.

Reg, loving your last pic of the bike train

Just out of interest is the third wheel as bomb proof as the BOB? I love my bob but it is hard work?

Thanks for the comments chaps, it's good to be here. Apologies for dissin' (is that the word? I'm not really down with the kids I'm afraid) the Yak, but I wanted summat with good vertical clearance and the Extrawheel fitted the bill. With all the aforementioned caboodle packed into the panniers the whole mess weighs about 22lbs (NO sniggering at the back there!!). Did X-Wales couple of years ago and the other girls did "bed and breakfast" - whatever that might be - and therefore just had bikes and credit cards. If I say so meself they professed to be quite stunned that I kept up, and sometimes was ahead of the pack even. It does feel like the trailer isn't there much of the time. There's quite a jolly film of it in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ijnEr1kn98. Old style one with nets rather than panniers. They give you a QR skewer with some special ends, and the trailer frame is slightly sprung. You just pull it apart and it sits on the skewer simply by sideways tension. Gawd knows by which magic it stays attached but it does, and I've not had an embarrassing partings-of-the-ways yet. Had a bit of a flap when full-sus came along, [para getting a bit long here, it's well past me bed time, let's have a gratuitous para-break..

,.. now. But after short investigation the 12mm thru axle has a hole through it JUST big enough for Extrawheel QR! Well, the extra-long QR which I purchased additionally. Stick some rubber washers on to protect the ends of the axle and away you go.

Quite enjoyed X-Wales. Did anybody spot the carefully laid tea set that I left at Claerwen after my mid-morning cuppa? Proper china tea pot (selected from that junk shop in Rhayader that very morn), three-tier cake stand, sugar bowl, nice slice of battenberg, etc. It was 1.5 years ago so the milk's probably a bit off now so I wouldn't risk it really if you're passing unless you're desperate.

Look, I came here for a balanced three-course meal - ravioli, ravioli and ravioli. I like ravioli.

Reg