Any bikepackers on here? (3 Viewers)

[JoeW]

Like the title says; any of you like to strap your camping gear to your bike and head off into the woods and camp? Lets see your setups/ routes/ trip reports. As the days now are getting ever so slightly longer, the time to plan Summer trips is here.

The route How is Babby shoed?
I'll start; last summer a few buddies and I did a s24o in the Gifford Pinchot NF in Central WA. The route started and ended in Randle, went up to Takalakh Lake and over to Babyshoe Pass of Compass tire fame. Then a ripping descent down back to Randle

photos Babyshoe S24o

The bike; 2019 Surly Ogre 1x10 32t front 11-36. 27.5+ Terrvail Corranado 3" tires. Deore XT brakes. Homemade frame bag, revelate butt rocket, front basket etc.

Post up what you've got!

 

[Dizzy]

26" rustoleum orange freebee, RockShock Recon fork, bar ends, narrowed bars, recumbent Sugino crank (like 152mm for clearing high-center obstacles) with Surly no-ramp SS middle chainring, Bob Ibex trailer, puncture resistant and slimed. I have the Bob bag for cargo, rock the Bob flag for visibility. Haven't gone camping yet, but pulled groceries, soil and tools home from shopping - goes over curbs just fine; I have hauled camping gear over dirt trails to test the trailer.

And, my target campsite.

The power that probably built the Manhattan Project

Volcano that made the Mesa.

 

[65swb45]

No pics to prove it, but Ive done several self-contained tours carrying tent and sleeping bag, both on and off road.

On one of my more memorable rides, six of us left Northridge and rode fully packed 70 miles to Ojai, then another 20 to a campground in Los Padres NF where we’d reserved campsites. As we’re rolling through camp, some little punk kid comes running out of a tent and squirts my buddy with a little pistol squirt gun.

Without skipping a beat (I mean this was cinematic perfection) my buddy pulls a water bottle out of its cage on the bike, turns it upside down and douses the kid!

Kid turns around and looks at his dad, who calmly said “You deserved that.”

 

[Gesose]

Yep done some trips around PNW. Also attempted the Arizona Trail Race a few years back - 750 mile self supported race from Mexico to Utah. I had to scratch and come out of the race due to some health issues that arose. So I rented a minivan and spent 2 weeks day riding around Arizona and Utah and sleeping in the back. I love it.

 

[JoeW]

@Gesose that Niner is a mean looking ride. How does it handle when its all loaded up?

 

[Gesose]

@Gesose that Niner is a mean looking ride. How does it handle when its all loaded up?

It handles ok. It’s a little slower to respond to inputs but it carries the weight ok. Riding loaded and rigid on technical descents wasn’t the most fun but the climbs and flats were great. I’ve since lightened my load considerably and it’s better.

You’ll also note those photos show it in rigid mode. I now have a 130mm fox fork and a 1.5deg angle set headset which slackened it up. Those changes (plus a dropper) transformed the bike. Made it into a confident ripper on the descents without losing any climbing nimbleness. Also made bikepacking much more pleasurable.

 

[zakthor]

In 2019 I bought a bicycle and gear and did this one trip in india before some roads went in and made the place less remote. Caught it right at the transition. Two years earlier it was totally different and next year there will be bus service. When I got home I've got no wish to bikepack any more so sold the bike and gear (back to original owner!)

Was interesting to live such a slimmed down life but man I sure got dirty. Even spending hours with a bar of soap it was impossible to clean that glacial silt from my clothes.

Journal thing is here:

Loafing Across Zanskar

Site details a trip I did in 2019, dragging a bicycle across the old route from Manali to Lamayuru.

zanskar.travel.blog

 

[JoeW]

In 2019 I bought a bicycle and gear and did this one trip in india before some roads went in and made the place less remote. Caught it right at the transition. Two years earlier it was totally different and next year there will be bus service. When I got home I've got no wish to bikepack any more so sold the bike and gear (back to original owner!)

View attachment 2580704

Was interesting to live such a slimmed down life but man I sure got dirty. Even spending hours with a bar of soap it was impossible to clean that glacial silt from my clothes.

Journal thing is here:

Loafing Across Zanskar

Site details a trip I did in 2019, dragging a bicycle across the old route from Manali to Lamayuru.

zanskar.travel.blog

So cool

 

[franklin40]

no digital pictures as it happened just as digital cameras were becoming a thing but my wife and i cycled across canada totally self contained. slept in tents with the occasional home of family or friend. it was a great experience. i’d do it again in a heart beat but now have small kids and two months off work is hard to come by these days. maybe when i retire. when we packed up our bikes to come home we rented a car but both felt we’d rather be on our bikes! i guess 6000km just wasn’t enough! we rode slimmed down mountain bikes with rear panniers (i know more of a touring thing) and a water pack on our backs. minimalist life for sure but completely independent. maybe not exactly bikebacking in the off-road exploration sense but kinda similar

 

[Jason hansen]

I was big into bike packing 10 years ago. I wish I could still do it but my back says nope.

 

[coleAK]

We do a bunch of 1-3 nighters throughout the summer. As long as 7 nights in the fall as we caribou hunt using the bikes.

 

[gilamonster]

Been getting my Salsa el mar. kitted up for some trips. I've been talking for to many years now. It's finally time to get a few rides knocked of my bucket list,

 

[weldonchris]

All pics are telling some beautiful stories about the awesome trips....... Thanks for sharing

 

[DaveInDenver]

Put me in for the count! This photo was about 10 days in along the Colorado Trail.

2016 REEB Dikyelous, FOX Factory 34 (120mm), 1x1 (usually geared 32x22 packing), Hadley/Stans Arch Mk3 wheels, Dirtbags frame and top tube bags, Oveja Negra seatbag, Revelate Sweetroll

 

[gilamonster]

Got this frame built up a month or so ago. It's running as a 29+ setup right now, and is going to go on some sweet rides! The two rear bags are from Rockgiest and the frame bag was made by my lovely wife.

 

[JoeW]

Got this frame built up a month or so ago. It's running as a 29+ setup right now, and is going to go on some sweet rides! The two rear bags are from Rockgiest and the frame bag was made by my lovely wife.

View attachment 2868350

Nice ride. Whenever I look at who's riding what on big 'races' like GDMBR or XWA there are tons of Salsas. That bike should do you well!

I've made a handful of frame bags for friends and myself. It makes me want an industrial machine but my old Brother 3000 does the trick for simple stuff.

 

[JoeW]

I'm sitting here recovering from 6 broken ribs while Seattle is slowly being unthawed by rain. Looking through photos and figured I'd share my other rigs/ setups that I've had/used over the last few years. First off is my Surly Straggler. I built this thing up to go down the Oregon Coast (it was called touring back then i guess) and bike camping kind of stuck with me. I've ridden this thing all over Washington and Oregon loaded and unloaded and its performed great. I built it up around 2016 when 1x and 48's were a radical concept. You can't lose with 42's. I've put about 30k miles on this thing and it doesn't seem to be slowing up.

Next up is my Ritchey Timberwolf. I just started using it as a bikepacking rig around 2020. The front suspension fork gives me enough cushion that my Ogre just couldn't give. My homemade frame bag works pretty well in the triangle and I use a Revelate Sweetroll and king cage anything cages. I wear a backpack with this one that carries some food and water. I'm too short to run a dropper/ buttrocket on this bike. It works really well as a bikepacking rig if there is going to be any singletrack involved. If it is all dirt roads/ majority of them the Ogre does just fine.

 

[GTV]

I’ve done a lot of riding of all types and have recently wanted to start bike packing. I was after an Ogre (nice bike @JoeW!) but quickly found out that nothing was available due to the Covid bike boom.
I ended up finding a semi built ECR that appeared to have zero miles with an Alfine 11 speed internal hub and Jones H bars.

Although this bike is a step up from the Ogre I don’t think I’m really crazy about the plus sized tires. Feels a little sloppy on pavement. I think an Ogre with 29x2.5 would be a better all rounder for my wants.

 

[JoeW]

I’ve done a lot of riding of all types and have recently wanted to start bike packing. I was after an Ogre (nice bike @JoeW!) but quickly found out that nothing was available due to the Covid bike boom.
I ended up finding a semi built ECR that appeared to have zero miles with an Alfine 11 speed internal hub and Jones H bars.
View attachment 2882298
Although this bike is a step up from the Ogre I don’t think I’m really crazy about the plus sized tires. Feels a little sloppy on pavement. I think an Ogre with 29x2.5 would be a better all rounder for my wants.

I ended up downsizing to 2.8s G ones on my ogre because I got sick of being slow(est) and wanted something that rolled better. I am pretty happy with the Schwalbes. I also swapped out my Jones bars for some Tumbleweed Prospectors Persuaders. That was a good choice for me since the Jones' kind of negated my basket life situation.

 

[nepbug]

I'm sitting here dreaming of backpacking trips for 2022. I'm thinking Arizona Trail. Anybody got any solid plans for their own 2022 trips yet?