Using a New Sport to Refine Your Ultralight Philosophy

[Andrew Marshall]

Companion forum thread to: Using a New Sport to Refine Your Ultralight Philosophy

Single-speed all the way, baby.

[Matthew / BPL]

Yay @ steel frames and rigid forks!

Wow @ single speeding up 1k climbs and singletrack!(Although it does look like you are geared quite low).

That looks like fun and I think it’s an interesting point to consider this as new perspective on how to choose and pack backpacking gear.

[Andrew Marshall]

Thanks Matthew! Yeah it’s a 24 tooth cog in the back with a 32 tooth chainring in front.

[Hanz B]

+1 . Just want to say you can even start with a good aluminum frame bike and crushed gravel trails – all though not as scenic. I’ve done a few trips. The guys at my bike shop were really impressed with how the UL backpacking mentality spills over. Gear wise , it was a really fun puzzle. Two things I learned randomly was that my extra long zpacks ca 2018 rain coat was a boon in down pours coving thighs and seat. I also learned that panniers can be really light and pack more efficiently then frame bags – a counter culture opinion I’m sure. 

[Andrew Marshall]

Cool stuff, Hanz!

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

I would hope that everyone realizes that panniers pack far easier than on-bike bags. Even if you have not used them.

The weight question is less straight forward, since you have to compare the weight of rack plus panniers to the weight of several on-bike bags, and it depends a lot on what size and model of each you use.

Regardless of what bags/panniers you use, it is true that “bag” weight is much higher than backpacking. A single rear rack (no panniers yet!) or seatbag(~10l), can weigh as much as an entire 40l backpack.

From my packinglist from 9 years ago, I noted I had more weight in ‘bags’, then I did in ‘shelter’, even though we brought a stormproof, 3 person, doublewall mid for the 2 of us, so hardly ultralight there.

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

Fun article Andrew! Always good to try somehting new and use the experiences there to reevaluate somehting you have been doing a long time.

[Glen Van Peski]

Great article, Andrew!  I just got back from my first bike packing trip, 900 miles along the Great Divide.  I was shocked at how much I had to tweak from my standard backpacking setup which is pretty refined at this point.  The sheer weight of the bags was amazing, compared with my 8 oz. backpack.  Single speed is IMPRESSIVE commitment!  I thought I was doing good with a 1 x 12.  And the tools and spare parts was something that I don’t typically take on backpacking trips.  But then, I don’t run into the future Miss Montana on backpacking trips either, so it was a fun experiment, and definitely refined some of the electronics management which will pay dividends for future backpacking.  Thanks for sharing!

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