Beginners kit.

[godivatrailrider]

Having dipped a toe in the water and found it ok ..... I need to start planning lighter kit.

Our first excursion was laughable.....



I made (actually my mum did) a simple harness for the sleeping bag and clothes.... worked a charm tbh. I bought a Stem Cell which was brilliant.

I utilized a rack that fits on the seatpost..... worked ok, moved a bit over the really rough stuff but was quite heavy, the tent and sleepmat were on that.
I had a warm gillet and windproof gilet in the cage..... it all worked ok. But it's too heavy.

So I need to plan the best way of upgrading.....

[ootini]

Looks quite similar to the setup on my wife's bike. We used the mounting bracket from our son's rear child seat as a base / rack top for carrying a big dry bag.

https://bikepackingonabudget.wordpress. ... wn-a-hill/

[johnnystorm]

Looks alright to me, those white cable ties on the top tube would annoy me more.

[whitestone]

<confucius>The lightest, most compact kit is that which you leave behind</confucius>

Like most people you probably took too much on your first trip, a case of "just in case" Make a list of everything you took, now cross off everything that you used, also cross off toolkit and first aid kit as these need to be on every trip. Look at what's left and ask yourself: "why did I take it?", Could you do without it for your next trip? Sometimes you don't use one piece of gear because another was used, for example, you took a warm cycling top and a waterproof, it rained so you used the waterproof but not the top.

There's no one correct list and you are unlikely to get it right every time, it's a continual learning process, it's also a multi-way balancing act between carrying too much kit, being comfortable, not carrying the right kit. Stu has a posting or two on this on the blog that are worth reading.

If you are just testing the waters to see if you like bikepacking then there's no point in buying loads of kit, you adapt what you have. Once you've got past that point it's a matter of where your priorities lie. Replace/update as and when you identify a problem with what you have, your setup needs to suit you., if you need a 3 season sleeping bag in summer then that's what you need.

[Cheeky Monkey]

What he said.

Have a good search and read on here (forum) and in the "reviews" section http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co.uk/. These questions come up a lot and there's already lots of good information, suggestions and discussion

TBH, as others say, that set up doesn't look as big or cumbersome as some that have been posted on here. If you were comfy riding and bivi'g then it's fine. Do the list thing maybe and/or replace the heaviest bits as opportunity allows (e.g. sales or just because you're flush one month).

[ootini]

Do the list thing maybe and/or replace the heaviest bits as opportunity allows (e.g. sales or just because you're flush one month).

This is what I did. Basically looked at my kit and figure out which bits were the bulkiest or heaviest and made them my priority, in my case, sleeping bag and sleeping mat.

[godivatrailrider]

I took advice from a friend who does long multiday event and knows his sh!t ....
I seriously don't think I carried anything I didn't need othere than either Gilet, but I wouldn't have wanted to be without them either.

The Banshee 200 tent is 2.5 kg ... and the rack isn't light. So a seatpack and lighter sleeping arrangement would be good...

The sleeping bag issue seems hard / expensive to overcome. Good ones are expensive , cheap ones are big. I have a small one which maybe if used in conjunction with a silk liner or somesuch may by ok for a bit.

And we weren't carrying any cooking kit or food, as we camped at a pub. This will change, in time.

Others went with panniers and allsorts, you could barely lift their bikes

I was quite minimalist.... but can see obvious weightsaving improvements.

Christmas's and Birthdays are sorted for the next few years

[whitestone]

Short of being given one as a gift there's no easy way to avoid the hit of a decent sleeping bag. I took advantage of a PHD spring sale that Stu posted in the Bargain Alert thread. The bag was still £170 though A silk liner* helps as does some sort of outer cover like a bivvy bag. So a two season bag might get a boost to 2/3 or even 3 season by using them.

Here's Stu's take on things: http://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.co ... -bags.html

*There's debate as to how much a silk liner "improves" the rating of a sleeping bag, some say it has no apparent effect others think it does. The liner also helps with keeping the bag's insulation clean from your perspiration and body oils, this is probably as good a reason to use one as any thermal benefits.

[FLV]

I'd look for a seat pack to ditch the rack. Maybe a half frame bag too.

Then I'd be looking to ditch the 2.5kg tent. Replace with a small tarp and bivi bag or something like a lunar solo if you prefer tent style.

Then I'd go for the sleeping bag, then mat.

Unless you were carrying 1.5 Kg of stove and fuel or similar. I n which case that can be reduced to a few hundred grams relatively cheaply.

[slarge]

I started with strapping Alpkit dry bags to bars and saddle - took a bit longer to attach to the bike, but was stable and worked well. Then upgraded to bar harness and seat harness from Wildcat, which weigh more but makes attaching the bags much easier. If you keep a lookout on the forums good lightweight kit does come up, which generally means you can get stuff half price, but knowing what to wait for does involve a fair bit of research.

Now have all the kit I need, and it is all based on layering so can be adapted to 1,2,3 or 4 season use. I've bought stuff I have never used, so sold it again, and still have my laserlight tent that I hardly ever use, but it is too good to sell.

[Bearbonesnorm]

As has already been said, it's very much a learning experience ... and one which I think you never fully master, especially if you venture out all year round. At first everyone has a habit of taking too much stuff, usually justified by 'just in case' but over time you realise 'just in case' situations don't actually exist and you start to become happier leaving things behind.

There's also your own 'willingness to suffer' to take into account ... now, I realise that sounds awful but it's not suffering in the true, painful sense, it's more of learning to do without the everyday things we believe will make us more comfortable but usually have no or very little effect. Things like spare clothes and electrical gadgets spring to mind here. On the recent IOM trip, I carried the same gear for a week as I would for an overnighter with the exception of a spare pair of socks. Aside from a down gilet, a waterproof (and said socks) I had no clothes other than what I stood up in ... I wasn't cold (much) and people still stood next to us and continued to serve us in cafes at the end of the week

Personally, I'd never skimp on a sleeping bag or mat. A decent nights sleep is a good reward for a long day in the saddle. That doesn't mean that I carry a heavier bag / mat than required, it means that they're the items I'm willing to spend a decent sum of money on because they're the ones where you really do get what you pay for ... £150 may seem like a lot of cash for a bag but if you look after it, you'll still be using it in 20 years time, so it's a great long term investment.

Anyway, I'm waffling now

[benp1]

Those were people serving you in the cafes must have been VERY polite

[Bearbonesnorm]

Those were people serving you in the cafes must have been VERY polite

They probably were ... but I do now swear by bamboo T shirts.

[Mpolo]

the OP obviously saves weight and rides without clothes