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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.
00:45So these are large bags that you can either fit on the front or the rear. They sit on top of racks
00:50that you need to fix onto your bike. Now you'll also need to have specific mounts on your bike
00:54to fit the racks on which you put the bags so that's one thing to consider. And these are really
00:59great for capacity if you need to take loads and loads of stuff. And they tend to be really good
01:05on the road as well. So when you start to take them off-road things can get a little bit spicy
01:10especially if you're on like really chunky gravel or mountain biking territory. And because they then
01:15come out of the side of your bike if you're on really narrow single track and you're a bit
01:19limited in terms of how much space you have on the sides then they can be a little bit limiting.
01:24But they do tend to give you a really good center of gravity near the bottom of the bike
01:29over the bottom bracket so that's good. So panniers are kind of your archetypal touring
01:35setup right? You see pictures of people with like front panniers, rear panniers but that can often be
01:42a quite heavy because you've got the rack and the bags might not be as lightweight as some other
01:48options but also it might be that your frame can't accommodate the racks. So to prevent you having
01:53to get a new frame which can there has been a rise in lightweight strap-on bike packing bags.
01:59So essentially it's just a combination of different bags that are spread all over your bike. So you can
02:04have everything from saddle bags to handlebar bags, top tube bags, down tube bags, cargo cage bags, loads of
02:11different ones. And these tend to be really really good because of their versatility. So you can have a
02:15a handlebar roll and a saddle pack that you move from your road bike to your mountain bike to your
02:20gravel bike. You don't have to worry about the specific mounts and then on top of that they're
02:26really lightweight in comparison to a rack and pannier setup because you don't need the rack and they tend
02:32to just strap on really easily. If you're riding a mountain bike for example a full suspension mountain
02:37bike I've seen them where they can they can get fitted around your linkage of your suspension so
02:43they just allow you to use whatever bike you have and just to get out and get riding which
02:47I think is really cool. Yeah 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
02:58but the main ones you would want to get if you were to go on your first bike packing trip.
03:02Yeah 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
03:27but then that's really good for quite a large capacity and just like on the handlebar front they're
03:34either a one piece or you can get a holster with a dry bag inside so it's worth thinking about whether
03:41you're camping right next to your bike for example or if you're staying in an airbnb or a hotel or
03:46whatever you might want to have a holster type so you can just pull the dry bag out and take it with
03:50you rather than having to take the whole setup off your bike each time. Yeah and then moving on to
03:55the frame you can get everything from a full-sized frame bag either one off the shelf or custom made
04:01specifically for your bike right the way through to like a little half frame bag that just comes
04:05down the middle or little ones like we've got in there. And 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
04:16bag type thing and these mount directly onto your handlebars crucially like the saddle bags these tend
04:22to be expandable 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
04:37compared to how much you'd like to pack in there because if you have mechanical shifting you need
04:41to remember that you'll need to have full range of movement of the shifter. Flared bars like these
04:46are actually really great not only for confidence on the descents but it does give you a little bit
04:51more space for a handlebar bag so that's worth noting. And then on top of those three main bags
04:56there's I guess additional storage solutions. Yeah so there's lots of different ones this is
05:02a stem bag so that's just a small little bag that you can fit between the stem and the handlebar
05:07that just straps on there. It's kind of a fill all thing that is now I like to use it for my little
05:13mirrorless camera I have which is really useful because it's very easy to get at whilst you're
05:16riding along. Yeah right in front of you great for snacks your phone if you're just wearing a t-shirt
05:20that sort of thing. Rubbish if you're eating a lot on the bike and you need to be able to put it
05:24somewhere it's a little bin bag on your handlebars. So that's good if you have a bike which is enabled
05:30with cargo mounts on the forks then you can have bags on the forks or water bottles for more storage
05:36so they're really handy. In general it's best to keep most of the weight on the bike from personal
05:42experience the lower down and more central towards the bottom bracket the better it'll be for handling.
05:47You need to pay particular attention to how much clearance you've got between the saddle and the
05:51rear tire and the handlebars and the front tire because that can be a little bit troublesome for
05:55shorter riders and also you're less likely to have so much space in the main triangle for frame
06:01bags you might have a very sloping top tube which limits that. Now this bike we've got here is a
06:05really good example of a very small framed bike and you can see it would be really hard to fit a frame
06:11bag in there for example so we've alleviated this problem by using some wolf tooth b-rad components.
06:17Now these are really cool little tools which just allow you to sort of expand your storage basically
06:22by using your existing bottle cage mounts you can fit a base to it that you can then move everything
06:29up or down much further inside the down tube or on the seat tube so for example we've moved
06:35two full water bottles much further up the frame so we can fit two additional dry bags on the seat tube
06:41and on the down tube which is kind of allowing us to get away with not running a little frame bag.
06:46Yeah it's really handy and I think it's a bit cliche but it's so true they say that the
06:51best bike packing bike is the one that you already own and even if it's not specifically made for that
06:57purpose or ideal for it like little handy tools like this can really help. Absolutely and this had
07:03three sets of bottle mounts and we've managed to fit so much more in that frame because of it it just
07:09goes to show that you can really customize and make your fitting solutions quite bespoke to you.
07:13So how would you pack all of these different bags let's start at the front what are you putting in
07:18your handlebar bag? So that's where I tend to put my sleep system if I'm camping out so things like
07:24your sleeping bag sleeping mat if you've got a bivvy or a tent or a hammock all of that tends to fit
07:32really nicely in there. Yeah it's a decent little space and depending on your bars it can be pretty wide
07:39as well so you can get quite a lot in there. In the frame bag? I tend to find it's really good for
07:44little bits and pieces things like electronics, tools, a battery pack. My top tip you could use
07:53like a hammock or some other slightly squishy soft thing maybe a waterproof to pack just here in this
08:00corner if you're using a half frame bag that is because if you have to do any hiker bike and put the
08:06bike on your shoulder like cyclocross then you have a nice little pad and the top tube won't hurt your
08:11shoulder. That is smart I just tend to find that the frame bag is my catch-all anything that I don't
08:17have another space for just goes in the frame bag. Baguette sandwich. Straight in there fits perfectly.
08:22Now at the back in the seat pack? It's more accessible than the front I think but you still have to get off
08:28the bike to get into it so personally I tend to pack slightly bulkier things like spare sets of clothes,
08:36a pair of bibs every day, fresh set is definitely my go-to after many years of learning.
08:44Clothes, extra layers, toiletries, I tend to put something like if I'm taking a mini stove to cook on,
08:52bits and bobs like that really. Essentials you try and pack them easily accessible and near the top?
08:59Absolutely so things like a spare layer I absolutely swear by a down or a synthetic jacket that's like
09:06really puffy really warm even in the summer you always get like chilly evenings and that's really
09:10really good to have as soon as you reach camp or the pub or wherever. Tools, emergency spares,
09:19a survival blanket is really good idea especially if you're going somewhere quite remote. A waterproof
09:25jacket near the top because the last thing you want to be doing when it's just suddenly out of nowhere
09:31started hammering it down is rooting all the way to the bottom of your bags with everything getting
09:36soaked to find them. So there you go there are top tips for packing your bike bags if you do have any
09:41great tips yourself or any funny stories then please do leave them in the comments section below because
09:47we'd love to hear them. In the meantime don't forget to give us a like and to subscribe to the Cycling
09:52Weekly YouTube channel and we'll see you soon. Bikepacking! Got the echo! Wow. Mastermind subject. Bike bags. Oh boy.
10:04No it was rubbish, sorry Ed.
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