Newbie of sorts ...

[godivatrailrider]

Hi folks,
Sort of a newbie, on here anyway. Quick intro. I run Godiva Trailriders mtb club out of Coventry. We, as a club, have started bikepacking ... 6 of us did a taster ride from Calver in the Peak District back to Coventry over 2 days and had a great time.

Kit is basic at the moment but we'll modify as we go.

My tent is a Vango Banshee 200 which I already had, but at 2.5kg seems a bit heavy. Sort of fancy getting an Alpkit Hunka XL (I'm a fat bloke) with a DD tarp but have concerns over it's effectiveness as a combination.

We've loads of questions, as you can imagine.... but we'll try and limit them :)

[Bearbonesnorm]

Sort of fancy getting an Alpkit Hunka XL (I'm a fat bloke) with a DD tarp

Hunka XL is a cracking piece of kit. There's better bivvy bags out there but nothing that works as well for anywhere near the same money. Why the DD tarp? The Alpkit bicycle tarps are lighter, pack smaller and are much more versitile due to the extra tie-outs. A 3.5 is actually plenty big enough for solo use when teamed up with a Hunka.

but have concerns over it's effectiveness as a combination.

It sort of depends what you mean by effectiveness? They'll keep you dry, give you somewhere to sleep and some covered storage / cooking space for less than half what your Banshee weighs. However, in all fairness some people just don't get on with a bivvy / tarp combo, although most that try it, do stick with it.

[HaYWiRe]

Welcome to the Forum!

Coming from an MTB club, what made you decide to try bikepacking? Is it for the touring? Or simply not wanting to stop biking after one day

I suppose your advantage would be making group rides easier, although remember to keep groups reasonably small when stealth camping, what's the laws on "raves" again?

[godivatrailrider]

Seems an obvious progression really, MTB to Bikepacking.... we're very XC biased and so we have half the kit already... well the bike stuff anyway I prefer natural riding to Trail Centres so bikepacking ticks a lot of boxes.

I don't think I'm ready for doing it solo....

[godivatrailrider]

Why the DD tarp?

Seemed like a good buy (not that I have bought one) and I like the loops down the middle .... plus quite a bit cheaper. The bicycle 3.5 sounds tiny.... so I was looking at the bicycle 7 is quite a bit bigger so I figured more versatile.... the DD is 3m x 3m so bigger again and half the cost..... but is 790g +

It sort of depends what you mean by effectiveness? They'll keep you dry, give you somewhere to sleep and some covered storage / cooking space for less than half what your Banshee weighs. However, in all fairness some people just don't get on with a bivvy / tarp combo, although most that try it, do stick with it.

thing is, you don't know if it's the right thing for you until you try it

[FLV]

Hi folks,
Sort of a newbie, on here anyway. Quick intro. I run Godiva Trailriders mtb club out of Coventry. We, as a club, have started bikepacking ... 6 of us did a taster ride from Calver in the Peak District back to Coventry over 2 days and had a great time.

Kit is basic at the moment but we'll modify as we go.

My tent is a Vango Banshee 200 which I already had, but at 2.5kg seems a bit heavy. Sort of fancy getting an Alpkit Hunka XL (I'm a fat bloke) with a DD tarp but have concerns over it's effectiveness as a combination.

We've loads of questions, as you can imagine.... but we'll try and limit them :)

Oooo. I work in cov. I live in the edge of the dark peak and am something of an old re bikepacking. Certainly spent enough cash and tried enough things.

Can I join you for a ride round your way?

I'd be happy to be quizzed on on bikepacking and more than happy to reciprocate and show you some lesser used corners of the dark peak.

[godivatrailrider]

Can I join you for a ride round your way?

I'd be happy to be quizzed on on bikepacking and more than happy to reciprocate and show you some lesser used corners of the dark peak.

Feel free .... it's hardly exciting round Cov but we have a nice social ride, gotta make the most of what you've got.

We're easy to find --> http://www.godivatrailriders.org/
:)

[paramart]

hiya i saw your bikepacking trip photos,looks like you had a good time, met alot of you at ssuk, you most probably need to camp on route to your first hill, bit flat around your area
surprised me how well represented your club is, and a decent bunch as well,lots of great info on here 4 of us go bikepacking from the chase area, good place to test out stuff as well, i ride with the wmmtb lads you know a few of them

[godivatrailrider]

hiya i saw your bikepacking trip photos,looks like you had a good time, met alot of you at ssuk, you most probably need to camp on route to your first hill, bit flat around your area
surprised me how well represented your club is, and a decent bunch as well,lots of great info on here 4 of us go bikepacking from the chase area, good place to test out stuff as well, i ride with the wmmtb lads you know a few of them

:)

We're surprisingly well known :) And yes I know a few of the wmmtb lads

We'll be at SSUK in a couple of weeks and BeSSC the following week in Belgium. If you see us, say hi to the fat bloke with the beard and tats.

[paramart]

going to ssuk, can,t wait won,t get to go abroad tho,deaky did mention it

[godivatrailrider]

Deaky is a top bloke. He's coming to Belgium , I'm sure, and Gogo Hellcross in November in Belgium too..... stock up with the Belgian beer

The club has about 15 going to SSUK so we'll have quite a presence there