How light is (or isn’t) your bikepacking kit?

[Dale Wambaugh]

I've been looking at bike touring kits and some are really huge and heavy. With all the fuss about lightweight components for roads bikes, it seems that long distance touring riders have taken several steps backwards on weight. I haven't seen much that equals the gear lists of unsupported long-distance hikers.

I have leaned to racks with panniers and dry bags rather than the bikepacking style seat, handlebar and frame bags. The math on the bikepacking gear doesn't impress me: they are heavy, expensive and clumsy to me. I'm not doing wilderness singletrack bike travel, so side clearance isn't an issue. My racks aren't very heavy and they were cheap compared to UL backpacks or bikepacking bags.

I haven't made an effort to keep my bike as light as possible and have made an emphasis to get the ergonomics and terrain handling issues handled first. I haven't worried too much about gear weight as I have simply planned to take my UL hiking gear. Tools can be a pitfall, but a little UL diligence can take care of that.

So the base weight on my bike is 35 pounds. I'll define bike base weight as the bike with lights, racks, bottle cages and fenders: all the bolt-on stuff, but no packs, gear or consumables.

I plan to use two waterproof panniers at 3lbs total plus a couple waterproof roll-top stuff sacks and then add my usual 3 season hiking gear base weight plus a couple tools and the usual water/fuel/food consumables. I just realized that I get to take the backpack off my base weight— offset those panniers!

It would be easy to go with a couple large dry bags instead of the large panniers and go with a Spartan SUL style gear kit.

Whatcha got?

[Don Morris]

You mention only two panniers, presumably for the rear rack. I have been very happy with two for the front, as well. They simplify organization and my bike (Surly LHT) is even more stable with the front loaded. I don't obsess about weight when on the bike; like you, I am using UL gear.

What does matter is gearing, especially the lower range. In my lowest gear, I usually do about 3 1/2 miles per hour, just barely above hiking speed. I may regear my bike and just forget about some of the higher gears, saving some weight as well.

[John S.]

I did a San Juan Hut trip in August and didn't have to carry shelter and food so did the bags on handlebars, gas tank area and seat. If full bikepacking I think I would do the rear rack with larger drybag on it. I hope to never need panniers on trips just because the rack I bought it not for those ; ).

[BlackHatGuy]

Can't tell you the weight as I never weighed things then (I don't much weigh things now), but this is the basic setup I used for years (different panniers over the years). This setup, including the bike, has toured East Germany, France, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand (south island), Arizona and Vermont. All road riding, though.

Edited to add pic, duh!

[Dale Wambaugh]

My current plan for bags is to use a light dry bag with sleeping bag and pad on the front rack and two waterproof Hyalite panniers (44L/pr) on the back and a rack trunk bag or another dry bag on top. That will give me 65 liters capacity and I hope to only use that when hauling a lot of food.

I can hike with that volume or less, so I don't see any need to plan for any more than that. I could do a summer warm weather trip with a couple dry bags or just the panniers.

Around town I usually have a rack trunk bag and add a market style pannier if we are going to a farmers market.

I recently got a Topeak MTX Explorer rack that is disc brake compatible and uses a trunk bag with a sliding track mount. I was lucky enough to find an MTX trunk bag with deployable panniers on Craigslist. The fabric doesn't impress me, but it will be fine for in town and day trips where the panniers would be used for spare clothing. I see that Jandd makes a similar trunk bag in their usual bombproof style and that attaches with Velcro straps.

I'm experimenting with smaller rack trunk bags on the front rack for day trips. That Sunlite rack on the front of my bike is small, with a 9×6 platform. It is fine for a dry bag with bungee cords. Some rack trunk bags have the Velcro attachment straps closer to the middle, allowing traditional fore and aft mounting or even athwartships.

I was surprised to see that a 50 caliber plastic ammo box fits the front rack very well, with a single bungee cord in a V arrangnent run through the top handle, which stops if from sliding sideways. The ammo boxes aren't the lightest at nearly 3lbs (a stout rack trunk bag is half that). They are waterproof and are far cheaper than a trunk bag. With the gasket seal, it may have potential as an odor-proof and rodent resistant food box. I do like the Mad Max look too.

So my max planned baggage is two panniers and two dry bags with bungees. My minimalist kit would use two dry bags.

FYI, Jandd has a sale on their mountain handlebar bag for $20. http://www.jandd.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=FMBHP-CO

[Kevin Buggie]

Here is my kit for a four day trip next week along parts of AZT passages 15/16 near Kelvin, Arizona. H60 L38.

The black Surly Krampus ops (lg) w/kokpelli bike co. ti fork and 4 (2 ss King and 2 Salsa Anything) empty bottles/cages (5.5L capacity) weigh 32 lbs. This 29+ bike with 3" tires rolls nicely on 12 psi.

The four bags together weigh 2 lbs 2oz. (Zpack zero xs 6.5oz., Revelate Designs tangle frame bag sm 6.5 oz., R.D. seat bag with spot bag 15.5oz., 'ryog Gastank' 3.7 oz)

My baseweight for the four days is around 9 lbs. 8 oz. Includes all bags, tools/pump, 1 knard tube/patches kit/2oz tubeless goo, 30 enigma quilt, borah bivy, xlite reg., 5 oz tarp, steripen, esbit imusa, night base layer, WPB jacket, nano puff, wind pant, small stuff kit, spot Gen 2, galaxy 5s

Weights:
zpack zero hybrid xsbackpack(6lbs.),

2 lbs in the seatbag (+6lbs of food will go here),

14.5 oz in frame bag (will also hold daily food and shed arm/knee warmers)

9 oz in gastank (+food and small gear from backpack.

Wearing bike kit with arm/knee warmer

Sometimes I like to ride with nothing on my back. In that situation I use the revelate design sweet roll waterproof handlebar bag (11 oz.). Good when extra insulation bulk is carried, but I ditch it for the zpack backpack, when a technical trail demands better visibility up front, better aerodynamics, and generally easier packing/access with the backpack.

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