How To Pack Bikepacking Bags | Bikepacking Setups Explained
If you're heading on your first bikepacking trip, working out how to pack your bike bags can be a daunting task. Here's our guide to getting your bikepacking setup correct as well as our tips and tricks on what to pack.
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00:00 If you've got your first bikepacking trip planned or perhaps you've been inspired to start plotting
00:04 one, it can be a pretty daunting prospect to get all of your bags onto your bike.
00:09 And there's loads of different options for that as well. So we're going to run you through some
00:13 modern bikepacking setups to help you choose the best, as well as some tips that we've learned
00:18 along the way. Not always the easy way either, so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
00:23 Ready?
00:24 Let's go.
00:25 Let's go camping!
00:26 [Music]
00:33 So let's talk a little bit about different ways to carry your kit on a bike.
00:37 What are they, Catherine? And what are the benefits of each one?
00:40 Yeah, so to start with, I think most people will be familiar with panniers and pannier racks.
00:45 So these are large bags that you can either fit on the front or the rear.
00:48 They sit on top of racks that you need to fix onto your bike. Now, you'll also need to have
00:53 specific mounts on your bike to fit the racks on which you put the bags. So that's one thing to
00:57 consider. And these are really great for capacity if you need to take loads and loads of stuff.
01:02 And they tend to be really good on the road as well. So when you start to take them off-road,
01:08 things can get a little bit spicy, especially if you're on like really chunky gravel or
01:12 mountain biking territory. And because they then come out to the side of your bike,
01:16 if you're on really narrow single track and you're a bit limited in terms of
01:21 how much space you have on the sides, then they can be a little bit limiting.
01:24 But they do tend to give you a really good center of gravity near the bottom of the bike
01:28 over the bottom bracket. So that's good.
01:31 So panniers are kind of your archetypal touring setup, right? You see pictures of people with
01:38 like front panniers, rear panniers. But that can often be a quite heavy because you've got the rack
01:44 and the bags might not be as lightweight as some other options. But also it might be that your
01:50 frame can't accommodate the racks. So to prevent you having to get a new frame, which can, there
01:55 has been a rise in lightweight strap-on bike packing bags. So essentially it's just a combination
02:00 of different bags that are spread all over your bike. So you can have everything from saddle bags
02:05 to handlebar bags, top tube bags, down tube bags, cargo cage bags, loads of different ones.
02:12 And these tend to be really, really good because of their versatility. So you can have a handlebar
02:16 roll and a saddle pack that you move from your road bike to your mountain bike, to your gravel bike.
02:21 You don't have to worry about the specific mounts. And then on top of that, they're really
02:26 lightweight in comparison to a rack and pannier setup because you don't need the rack. And they
02:31 tend to just strap on really easily. If you're riding a mountain bike, for example, a full
02:36 suspension mountain bike, I've seen them where they can get fitted around your linkage of your
02:40 suspension. So they just allow you to use whatever bike you have and just to get out and get riding,
02:46 which I think is really cool. - Yeah. And maximize the space that you have on that particular bike
02:50 as well. - So there are three main types of bike packing bags. You nod your head like this.
02:56 Clearly loads more, but the main ones you would want to get if you were to go on your first bike
03:00 packing trip. - Yeah. So starting at this end, saddle bags are really popular. So they tend to
03:07 affix to the seat post itself rather than the frame using one or more Velcro straps. Then it's
03:13 supported typically by straps which thread through the saddle rails. So one to be wary of if you're
03:18 running a carbon railed saddle, probably not a good idea. And these tend to be quite big, obviously
03:25 all different sizes available, but that's really good for quite a large capacity. And just like on
03:31 the handlebar front, they're either a one piece or you can get a holster with a dry bag inside.
03:38 So it's worth thinking about whether you're camping right next to your bike, for example,
03:43 or if you're staying in an Airbnb or a hotel or whatever, you might want to have a holster type.
03:48 So you can just pull the dry bag out and take it with you rather than having to take the whole
03:52 setup off your bike each time. - Yeah. And then moving on to the frame, you can get everything
03:56 from a full-sized frame bag, either one off the shelf or custom made specifically for your bike,
04:02 right the way through to like a little half frame bag that just comes down the middle
04:06 or little ones like we've got in there. - And then finally at the front, handlebar bag.
04:10 - So like I said, with the saddle bags, these tend to come either as a one piece or as a holster and
04:16 dry bag type thing. And these mount directly onto your handlebars. Crucially, like the saddle bags,
04:22 these tend to be expandable. So you can have a play at home before your trip, crucially,
04:27 a good little test ride is always a really good idea, by packing different widths or
04:34 probably taking out a little bit compared to how much you'd like to pack in there. Because if you
04:39 have mechanical shifting, you need to remember that you'll need to have full range of movement
04:43 of the shifter. Flared bars like these are actually really great, not only for confidence
04:48 on the descents, but it does give you a little bit more space for a handlebar bag. So that's
04:53 worth noting. - And then on top of those three main bags, there's, I guess, additional storage
04:58 solutions. - Yeah, so there's lots of different ones. This is a stem bag. So that's just a small
05:04 little bag that you can fit between the stem and the handlebar that just straps on there.
05:08 - It's kind of a fill all thing that is. Now I like to use it for my little mirrorless camera
05:13 I have, which is really useful because it's very easy to get at whilst you're riding along.
05:16 - Yeah, right in front of you, great for snacks, your phone if you're just wearing a t-shirt,
05:20 that sort of thing. - Just rubbish if you're eating a lot on the bike and you need to be able
05:24 to put it somewhere, it's a little bin bag on your handlebars. - So that's good. If you have a bike
05:28 which is enabled with cargo mounts on the forks, then you can have bags on the forks or water
05:34 bottles for more storage. So they're really handy. In general, it's best to keep most of the weight
05:40 on the bike from personal experience. The lower down and more central towards the bottom bracket,
05:45 the better it'll be for handling. You need to pay particular attention to how much clearance
05:49 you've got between the saddle and the rear tyre and the handlebars and the front tyre,
05:53 because that can be a little bit troublesome for shorter riders. And also you're less likely to
05:57 have so much space in the main triangle for frame bags. You might have a very sloping top tube,
06:02 which limits that. - Now this bike we've got here is a really good example of a very small
06:07 framed bike. And you can see it would be really hard to fit a frame bag in there, for example. So
06:12 we've alleviated this problem by using some Wolf Tooth B-Rad components. Now these are really cool
06:18 little tools which just allow you to sort of expand your storage basically. By using your
06:23 existing bottle cage mounts, you can fit a base to it that you can then move everything up or down
06:30 much further inside the down tube or on the seat tube. So for example, we've moved two full water
06:35 bottles much further up the frame so we can fit two additional dry bags on the seat tube and on
06:41 the down tube, which is kind of allowing us to get away with not running a little frame bag.
06:45 - Yeah, it's really handy. And I think it's a bit cliche, but it's so true. They say that
06:51 the best bike packing bike is the one that you already own. And even if it's not specifically
06:56 made for that purpose or ideal for it, like little handy tools like this can really help.
07:00 - Absolutely. And this had three sets of bottle mounts and we've managed to fit so much more in
07:07 that frame because of it. It just goes to show that you can really customise and make your
07:11 fitting solutions quite bespoke to you. So how would you pack all of these different bags? Let's
07:16 start at the front. What are you putting in your handlebar bag? - So that's where I tend to put my
07:21 sleep system if I'm camping out. So things like your sleeping bag, sleeping mat, if you've got
07:27 a bivy or a tent or a hammock, all of that tends to fit really nicely in there. - Yeah, it's a
07:34 decent little space. And depending on your bars, it can be pretty wide as well. So you can get
07:40 quite a lot in there. In the frame bag? - I tend to find it's really good for little bits and pieces,
07:45 things like electronics, tools, a battery pack. My top tip, you could use like a hammock or some
07:54 other slightly squishy soft thing, maybe a waterproof to pack just here in this corner.
08:01 If you're using a half frame bag, that is, because if you have to do any hiker bike
08:05 and put the bike on your shoulder like cyclocross, then you have a nice little pad
08:09 and the top tube won't hurt your shoulder. - That is smart. I just tend to find that the frame bag
08:14 is my catch-all. Anything that I don't have enough space for just goes in the frame bag.
08:18 - Baguette, sandwich. - Straight in there, fits perfectly. Now at the back in the seat pack?
08:23 - It's more accessible than the front, I think, but you still have to get off the bike to get
08:28 into it. Personally, I tend to pack slightly bulkier things like spare sets of clothes,
08:35 a pair of bibs every day. Fresh set is definitely my go-to after many years of learning.
08:42 Clothes, extra layers, toiletries. I tend to put something like, if I'm taking a mini stove
08:50 to cook on, bits and bobs like that, really. - Essentials, you try and pack them easily
08:57 accessible and near the top. - Absolutely. Things like a spare layer,
09:02 I absolutely swear by a down or a synthetic jacket that's really puffy, really warm. Even in the
09:07 summer, you always get chilly evenings and that's really, really good to have as soon as you reach
09:12 camp or the pub or wherever. Tools, emergency spares, a survival blanket is a really good idea,
09:21 especially if you're going somewhere quite remote. A waterproof jacket near the top,
09:26 because the last thing you want to be doing when it's just suddenly out of nowhere,
09:30 started hammering it down, is rooting all the way to the bottom of your bags with everything
09:35 getting soaked to find them. - There you go. There are top tips for
09:39 packing your bike bags. If you do have any great tips yourself or any funny stories,
09:44 then please do leave them in the comment section below because we'd love to hear them. In the
09:48 meantime, don't forget to give us a like and to subscribe to the Cycling Weekly YouTube channel,
09:52 and we'll see you soon. - Bike packing.
09:55 Got the echo. - Wow.
10:00 - Mastermind subject. - Bike bags.
10:03 - Bike bags. - Oh, boy.
10:04 No, it was rubbish. Sorry, Ed.