How To Pack Bikepacking Bags | Setups Explained

If you've got your first bikepacking trip planned or perhaps you've been inspired to start plotting one

it can be a pretty daunting prospect to get all of your bags onto your bike

And there's loads of different options for that as well. So we're going to run you through some modern bikepacking setups to help you choose the best

as well as some tips that we've learnt along the way, not always the easy way either

so you can avoid making the same mistakes. Ready? Let's go. Let's go camping

so let's talk a little bit about different ways to carry your kit on a bike

what are they Catherine and what are the benefits of each one yeah so to start with I think most

people will be familiar with panniers and pannier racks so these are large bags that you can either

fit on the front or the rear they sit on top of racks that you need to fix onto your bike

now you'll also need to have specific mounts on your bike to fit the racks on which you put the

bags so that's one thing to consider and these are really great for capacity if you need to take

loads and loads of stuff oh and they tend to be really good on the road as well so when you start

to take them off road things can get a little bit spicy especially if you're on like really chunky

gravel or mountain biking territory and because they then come out to the side of your bike if

you're on really narrow single track and you're a bit limited in terms of how much space you have

on the sides then they can be a little bit limiting but they do tend to give you a really

good center of gravity near the bottom of the bike uh over the bottom bracket so that's good

so panniers are kind of your archetypal touring setup right you see pictures of people with like

front panniers rear panniers but that can often be a quite heavy because you've got the rack

and the bags might not be as lightweight as some other options but also it might be that your frame

can't accommodate the racks so to prevent you having to get a new frame which can there has

been a rise in lightweight strap-on bike packing bags? So essentially it's just a combination of

different bags that are spread all over your bike so you can have everything from saddle bags to

handlebar bags, top tube bags, down tube bags, cargo cage bags, loads of different ones and these tend

to be really really good because of their versatility so you can have a handlebar roll and

a saddle pack that you move from your road bike to your mountain bike to your gravel bike you don't

have to worry about the specific mounts and then on top of that they're really lightweight in

comparison to a rack and pannier setup because you don need the rack and they tend to just strap on really easily If you riding a mountain bike for example a full suspension mountain bike I seen them where they can they can get fitted around your linkage of your suspension so they just allow you to use

whatever bike you have and just to get out and get riding which I think is really cool. Yeah and

maximize the space that you have on that particular bike as well. So there are three main types of

bike packing bags you nod your head like there's clearly loads more but the main ones you would

want to get if you were to go on your first bike packing trip yeah so starting at this end saddle

bags are really popular so they tend to affix to the seat post itself rather than the frame

using one or more velcro straps then it's supported typically by straps which thread through the

saddle rails so one to be wary of if you're running a carbon railed saddle probably not a good idea

and these tend to be quite big obviously all different sizes are available um but that that's

really good for um quite a large capacity and just like on the handlebar front they're either a one

piece or you can get a holster with a dry bag inside so it's worth thinking about whether you're

camping right next to your bike for example or if you're staying in an airbnb or a hotel or whatever

you might want to have a holster type so you can just pull the dry bag out and take it with you

rather than having to take the whole setup off your bike each time. Yeah, and then moving on to the frame

you can get everything from a full-sized frame bag, either one off the shelf or custom made specifically for your bike

right the way through to like a little half frame bag that just comes down the middle or little ones like we've got in there

And then finally at the front, handlebar bag? So like I said with the saddlebags

these tend to come either as a one-piece or as a holster and dry bag type thing

And these mount directly onto your handlebars. Crucially, like the saddlebags, these tend to be expandable, so you can have a play at home before your trip, crucially

A good little test ride is always a really good idea, by packing different widths or probably taking out a little bit compared to how much you'd like to pack in there

Because if you have mechanical shifting, you need to remember that you'll need to have full range of movement of the shifter

Flared bars like these are actually really great not only for confidence on the descents

but it does give you a little bit more space for a handlebar bag. So that's worth noting

And then on top of those three main bags, there's I guess additional storage solutions

Yeah So there lots of different ones This is a stem bag So that just a small little bag that you can fit between the stem and the handlebar that just straps on there It kind of a fill all thing that is Now I like to use it for my little mirrorless camera I have which is really useful because it very easy to get at whilst you riding along

Right in front of you. Great for snacks, your phone if you're just wearing a T-shirt, that sort of thing

Rubbish if you're eating a lot on the bike and you need to be able to put it somewhere. It's a little bin bag on your handlebars

So that's good. If you have a bike which is enabled with cargo mounts on the forks, then you can have bags on the forks or water bottles for more storage

So they're really handy. In general, it's best to keep most of the weight on the bike from personal experience

The lower down and more central towards the bottom bracket, the better it'll be for handling. You need to pay particular attention to how much clearance you've got between the saddle and the rear tyre and the handlebars and the front tyre

because that can be a little bit troublesome for shorter riders and also you're less likely to have

so much space in the main triangle for frame bags you might have a very sloping top tube which limits

that now this bike we've got here is a really good example of a very small framed bike and you can see

it would be really hard to fit a frame bag in there for example so we've alleviated this problem by

using some wolf tooth b-rad components now these are really cool little tools which just allow you to

sort of expand your storage basically by using your existing bottle cage mounts you can fit a

base to it that you can then move everything up or down much further inside the down tube or on

the seat tube so for example we've moved two full water bottles much further up the frame so we can

fit two additional dry bags on the seat tube and on the down tube which is kind of allowing us to

get away with not running a little frame bag yeah it's really handy and i think it's a bit cliche

but it's so true they say that the best bike packing bike is the one that you already own

and even if it's not specifically made for that purpose or ideal for it like little handy tools

like this can really help absolutely and this had three sets of bottle mounts and we've managed to

fit so much more in that frame because of it it just goes to show that you can really customize

and make your fitting solutions quite bespoke to you so how do you pack all of these different bags

So let's start at the front. What are you putting in your handlebar bag? So that's where I tend to put my sleep system

if I'm camping out. So things like your sleeping bag, sleeping mat

if you've got a bivvy or a tent or a hammock, all of that tends to fit really nicely in there

Yeah, it's a decent little space. And depending on your bars it can be pretty wide as well So you can get quite a lot in there in the frame bag i tend to find it really good for little bits and pieces things like electronics tools a battery

pack um my top tip um you could use like a hammock or some other slightly squishy soft thing

maybe a waterproof to pack just here in this corner um if you're using a half frame bag that

is because if you have to do any hiker bike and put the bike on your shoulder like cyclocross then

you have a nice little pad and the top tube won't hurt your shoulder that is smart i just tend to

find that the frame bag is my catch-all anything that i don't have another space for just goes in

the brain bag yeah sandwich straight in there fits perfectly now at the back in the seat pack

it's more accessible than the front i think but you still have to get off the bike to get into it

So personally, I tend to pack slightly bulkier things like spare sets of clothes, a pair of bibs every day

Fresh set is definitely my go to after many years of learning

Clothes, extra layers, toiletries. I tend to put something like if I'm taking a mini stove to cook on bits and bobs like that, really

Essentials, you try and pack them easily accessible and near the top

Absolutely. So things like a spare layer. I absolutely swear by a down or a synthetic jacket that's like really puffy, really warm

Even in the summer, you always get like chilly evenings. And that's really, really good to have as soon as you reach camp or the pub or wherever

Tools, emergency spares, a survival blanket is a really good idea, especially if you're going somewhere quite remote

A waterproof jacket near the top, because the last thing you want to be doing when it's just suddenly out of nowhere started hammering

it down is rooting all the way to the bottom of your bags with everything getting soaked to find

them so there you go there are top tips for packing your bike bags if you do have any great

tips yourself or any funny stories then please do leave them in the comment section below because

we'd love to hear them in the meantime don't forget to give us a like and to subscribe to

the Cycling Weekly YouTube channel and we'll see you soon. Bikepacking! Woo

Got the echo. Wow. Mastermind subject. Bike bags. Bike bags. Oh boy

No, it's rubbish. Sorry, Ed