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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00:00If you've got your first bikepacking trip planned or perhaps you've been inspired to
00:04start plotting one it can be a pretty daunting prospect to get all of your bags onto your bike.
00:10And there's loads of different options for that as well so we're going to run you through some
00:14modern bikepacking setups to help you choose the best as well as some tips that we've learned
00:18along the way, not always the easy way either, so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
00:23Ready? Let's go! Let's go camping!
00:33So let's talk a little bit about different ways to carry your kit on a bike.
00:38What are they Catherine and what are the benefits of each one?
00:40Yeah so to start with I think most people will be familiar with panniers and pannier racks so these
00:45are large bags that you can either fit on the front or the rear they sit on top of racks that you need
00:50to fix onto your bike. Now you'll also need to have specific mounts on your bike to fit the racks
00:55on which you put the bags so that's one thing to consider and these are really great for capacity
01:01if you need to take loads and loads of stuff and they tend to be really good on the road as well.
01:06So when you start to take them off-road things can get a little bit spicy especially if you're on like
01:11really chunky gravel mountain biking territory and because they then come out to the side of your bike
01:17if you're on really narrow single track and you're a bit limited in terms of how much space you have
01:22on the sides then they can be a little bit limiting but they do tend to give you a really good centre
01:26of gravity near the bottom of the bike over the bottom bracket so that's good.
01:31So panniers are kind of your archetypal touring setter right you see pictures of people with like
01:38front panniers, rear panniers but that can often be a quite heavy because you've got the rack and the
01:46bags might not be as lightweight as some other options but also it might be that your frame
01:50can't accommodate the racks so to prevent you having to get a new frame which can there has
01:55been a rise in lightweight strap-on bike packing bags. So essentially it's just a combination of
02:01different bags that are spread all over your bike so you can have everything from saddle bags to handlebar
02:06bags, top tube bags, down tube bags, cargo cage bags, loads of different ones and these tend to be
02:13really really really good because of their versatility so you can have a handlebar roll
02:16and a saddle pack that you move from your road bike to your mountain bike to your gravel bike
02:21you don't have to worry about the specific mounts and then on top of that they're really lightweight
02:27in comparison to a rack and pannier setup because you don't need the rack and they tend to just strap
02:32on really easily. If you're riding a mountain bike for example a full suspension mountain bike I've seen
02:37them where they can they can get fitted around your linkage of your suspension so they just allow you
02:43to use whatever bike you have and just to get out and get riding which I think is really cool.
02:48Yeah and maximize the space that you have on that particular bike as well.
02:51So there are three main types of bike packing bags you nod your head like there's clearly loads more but
02:58the main ones you would want to get if you were to go on your first bike packing trip.
03:01Yeah so starting at this end saddle bags are really popular so they tend to affix to the seat post
03:09itself rather than the frame using one or more velcro straps then it's supported typically by straps
03:15which thread through the saddle rails so one to be wary of if you're running a carbon railed saddle
03:21probably not a good idea and these tend to be quite big obviously all different sizes are available
03:26but that's really good for quite a large capacity and just like on the handlebar front they're either
03:34a one piece or you can get a holster with a dry bag inside so it's worth thinking about whether you're
03:41camping right next to your bike for example or if you're staying in an airbnb or a hotel or whatever
03:46you might want to have a holster type so you can just pull the dry bag out and take it with you
03:50rather than having to take the whole setup off your bike each time.
03:54Yeah and then moving on to the frame you can get everything from a full-sized frame bag
03:59either one off the shelf or custom made specifically for your bike right the way through to like a
04:03little half frame bag that just comes down the middle or little ones like we've got in there.
04:08And then finally at the front handlebar bag?
04:11So like I said with the saddle bags these tend to come either as a one piece or as a holster and dry bag
04:17type thing and these mount directly onto your handlebars. Crucially like the saddle bags these tend to be
04:23expandable so you can have a play at home before your trip crucially a good little test ride is
04:30always a really good idea by packing different widths or probably taking out a little bit compared
04:38to how much you'd like to pack in there because if you have mechanical shifting you need to remember
04:41that you'll need to have full range of movement of the shifter. Flared bars like these are actually
04:46really great not only for confidence on the descents but it does give you a little bit more space for
04:51a handlebar bag so that's worth noting. And then on top of those three main bags there's I guess
04:57additional storage solutions? Yeah so there's lots of different ones this is a stem bag so that's just
05:04a small little bag that you can fit between the stem and the handlebar that just straps on there.
05:08It's kind of a fill all thing that is now I like to use it for my little mirrorless camera I have which
05:14is really useful because it's very easy to get at whilst you're riding along. Right in front of you
05:18great for snacks your phone if you're just wearing a t-shirt that sort of thing. Rubbish if you're
05:22eating a lot on the bike and you need to be able to put it somewhere it's a little bin bag on your
05:26handlebars. So that's good if you have a bike which is enabled with cargo mounts on the forks then you
05:33can have bags on the forks or water bottles for more storage so they're really handy. In general it's best to
05:39keep most of the weight on the bike from personal experience. The lower down and more central towards
05:44the bottom bracket the better it'll be for handling. You need to pay particular attention to how much
05:49clearance you've got between the saddle and the rear tyre and the handlebars and the front tyre
05:53because that can be a little bit troublesome for shorter riders and also you're less likely to have
05:58so much space in the main triangle for frame bags you might have a very sloping top tube which limits that.
06:04Now this bike we've got here is a really good example of a very small framed bike and you can
06:09see it would be really hard to fit a frame bag in there for example so we've alleviated this problem
06:14by using some wolf tooth b-rad components. Now these are really cool little tools which just allow you to
06:20sort of expand your storage basically by using your existing bottle cage mounts you can fit a base to
06:27it that you can then move everything up or down much further inside the down tube or on the seat
06:33tube so for example we've moved two full water bottles much further up the frame so we can fit
06:38two additional dry bags on the seat tube and on the down tube which is kind of allowing us to get away
06:43with not running a little frame bag. Yeah it's really handy and I think it's a bit cliche but it's so true
06:50they say that the best bike packing bike is the one that you already own and even if it's not
06:56specifically made for that purpose or ideal for it like little handy tools like this can really help.
07:01Absolutely and this had three sets of bottle mounts and we've managed to fit so much more in that frame
07:08because of it it just goes to show that you can really customize and make your fitting solutions
07:12quite bespoke to you. So how do you pack all of these different bags let's start at the front what
07:18are you putting in your handlebar bag? So that's where I tend to put my sleep system if I'm camping out
07:23so things like your sleeping bag sleeping mat if you've got a bivvy or a tent or a hammock
07:31all of that tends to fit really nicely in there. Yeah it's a decent little space and depending on your
07:36bars it can be pretty wide as well so you can get quite a lot in there. In the frame bag? I tend to
07:43find it's really good for little bits and pieces things like electronics tools a battery pack my top
07:51tip you could use like a hammock or some other slightly squishy soft thing maybe a waterproof to
07:58pack just here in this corner if you're using a half frame bag that is because if you have to do any
08:04hiker bike and put the bike on your shoulder like cyclocross then you have a nice little pad and the top
08:10tube won't hurt your shoulder. That is smart I just tend to find that the frame bag is my catch-all
08:16anything that I don't have another space for just goes in the frame bag. Baguette sandwich.
08:20Straight in there fits perfectly. Now at the back in the seat pack? It's more accessible than the front I think
08:26but you still have to get off the bike to get into it so personally I tend to pack slightly bulkier
08:32things like spare sets of clothes a pair of bibs every day fresh set is definitely my go-to after
08:41many years of learning clothes extra layers toiletries I tend to put something like if I'm taking a mini
08:50stove to cook on bits and bobs like that really. Essentials you try and pack them easily accessible and
08:58near the top absolutely so things like a spare layer I am absolutely swear by a down or a synthetic jacket
09:06that's like really puffy really warm even in the summer you always get like chilly evenings and that's
09:10really really good to have as soon as you reach camp or the pub or wherever tools emergency spares
09:20a survival blanket is really good idea especially if you're going somewhere quite remote
09:23a waterproof jacket near the top because the last thing you want to be doing when it's just suddenly
09:30out of nowhere started hammering it down is rooting all the way to the bottom of your bags with
09:35everything getting soaked to find them. So there you go there are top tips for packing your bike bags
09:40if you do have any great tips yourself or any funny stories then please do leave them in the comment
09:46section below because we'd love to hear them in the meantime don't forget to give us a like and to
09:51subscribe to the cycling weekly youtube channel and we'll see you soon. Bike parking!
09:58Got the echo! Wow! Mastermind subject! Bike bags! Oh boy! No it was rubbish sorry Ed!