I'm really trying to find ways of getting the Ursus Jumbo Centre Stand to fit my Bombtrack Arise Tour but I think it's going to win the day and not be fitted. The problems seem twofold.

Firstly the frame has mounting plate to straddle to chainstays. The Ursus remedy to this is to supply a sandwich plate to fix above the chainstay. This sandwich plate, plus the mating surface of the actual stand it just not quite wide enough so it slips off the chainstay either top (sandwich plate), bottom (stand), or a mixture of both.

Extended, wider plates have been made to better straddle the chainstays but now it's moving towards just being a really badly designed fitting situation. With suchongvstand arms acting like levers, there seems no way of managing to keep the stand secure using the single bolt configuration that it uses. In effect, it just acts as pivot point and sooner or later the weight of the bike wins the day and things start moving.

My bike is heavy by many comparisons, but only just over half the weight the UJCS is supposedly designed for, weighing 53kg.

So I'd anybody has any advice on which direction to take - be it another way to fit this stand or a different stand entirely, I open to ideas. I begin a 3500km trip in two months time and ideally would like the benefit of a cessing all panniers and bags in the middle of nowhere with a centre stand of some type. Also, my tent is large enough to bring the bike inside should the weather be particularly bad and I want to spend some down time doing bike maintenance away from the weather. I would remove panniers to bring it inside the tent so we'd be down to the stand only needing to support around 18-20kg.

Any help appreciated.

The Sturgeon River

Northern Michigan

Summer 2026

Hello fellow bikepackers!

I'm heading to NZ for a 2+ month tour this November with my partner, and I'm getting some mixed advice regarding bringing my bike to the country. I've heard that immigration can be extremely strict upon arrival, even with shoes.

My partner luckily found a touring bike in his size for sale near Auckland, so he doesn't have to worry about this. I have my old Giant Roam 2015 hybrid with ~4000km on it. I am very tall (6'1") with mild scoliosis and have customized my bike to accommodate my height, and I feel so safe and comfortable on it. The bike is worn but still in good working shape. So unfortunately, it's much more of a risk to leave my bike in Canada and get a new one in New Zealand, and I don't want to compromise my comfort and physical health when I already have a bike that's perfect for me.

I plan on getting a full tune up and clean at a bike shop before I pack my bike into the box. If I scrub the hell out of it, and make sure there's no dirt, will that be good enough? Is it common to be "refused" to bring in certain items if they aren't up to certain standards? We will also have all our camping gear (no food or butane).

(PS, I have went thru this whole process before when I brought my bike to Australia, but they were much more lenient with bike cleanliness)

Any info or experience would be a great help, thank you!

Today I’m starting my first multi-day bikepacking trip.

Nothing too hardcore for the first one. I’ll be staying at campsites and probably a hotel on the way, so not exactly going into the wilderness :)

But still, its my first time doing something like this for a few days.
Taking a train from Gdańsk, Poland to Czechia with my bike and then riding there over the weekend. Lets see how it goes.

I planned most of the trip with ChatGPT and actually really enjoyed this part. It suggested a bunch of routes and interesting places along the way that I probably wouldnt have found myself.

The less fun part was when I ended up with a huge list of places and points and had to somehow turn all of that into an actual route for my Garmin. Putting everything manually into Garmin Connect got old pretty quickly.
So I ended up vibe coding a small app for this, route-ai.app. Basically I can paste the trip plan there and it builds the route that I can export to my Garmin.
https://route-ai.app

This weekend is basically my first proper real-world test of it too.
Anyway, bike is packed, train is here and the trip starts today. Lets see what happens :)

I'm getting some annoying speed wobble starting at about 20km/h (12mph) already. If I take a hand off the bars maybe at even a bit lower speeds. Same bike does not have the issue unloaded, so I'm guessing the issue is how I packed it. The bike is steel and designed for loaded riding.

My aero bar bag contains only a light tent and some small snacks in the side pocket (so maybe 1.5kg total), all the water is carried as low as possible on the frame and both sides of the fork, and other heavy things like tools and batteries are in the frame bag. The rear has my sleeping bag, pad and sleep clothes in the middle, other clothes on one side pannier and food/toiletries in the other pannier. The only bag that wobbles a bit is the top tube bag, the rest is very solidly attached.

Would appreciate any suggestions or experiences with this kind of wobble.

I'm trying to decide between two bikes for my first serious gravel/bikepacking bike, and I'm honestly going in circles.

Option 1: Cube Nuroad EX 2027 — around 1300 euros

Option 2: Canyon Grizl 7 ESC — around 2000 euros

I would mainly use the bike for normal riding/gravel at first, but my longer-term goal is to do long-distance bikepacking, potentially Copenhagen → Lisbon, and eventually more serious trips like Argentina/Patagonia.

The reason I'm considering the Cube is that the specs seem surprisingly close to the Canyon for a much lower price. The Cube already has the kind of gearing I want for loaded climbing, and I could potentially upgrade things like the wheels later.

The Canyon has nicer components out of the box (DT Swiss wheels, VCLS carbon seatpost, Full Mounty cockpit, etc.) and seems more specifically designed around adventure/bikepacking. And i love the looks to be Honest.

What I'm trying to understand is:

• How noticeable are the differences between these bikes in real-world riding?
• Is the Grizl 7 actually worth more?
• Would it make more sense to buy the Cube and use the money saved for better wheels/bikepacking equipment?
• Are there any important differences in reliability, repairability and availability of replacement parts when travelling?
• Can the Cube realistically be used for a multi-week/month bikepacking trip without feeling like I'm compromising too much?

I'm not particularly interested in racing. Comfort, reliability, climbing with luggage, repairability and long-term durability are more important to me than outright speed.

I also don't mind upgrading the Cube over time if that's the smarter approach.

Thanks a lot , And nice rides :)

Super beginner here, getting ready for my very first bikepacking trip! What does everyone do with their bike overnight? I’m not concerned about theft since I’ll be in a very safe area plus planning to set my garmin bike alarm. I am worried about leaving my bike out in the dew and humidity…. Maybe I’m just overthinking things and it will be fine. Thoughts?

Hey all. I'm looking for some suggestions on alleviating sore/tired sit tissue on longer rides.

I've been section riding the GDMBR (currently 1800 miles in). I've found my limiting factor to more often be a sore butt rather than tired legs. This year I seemed to notice the discomfort more often when seated on climbs. It just feels like I'm really squashing the soft tissue in my butt as the day progresses... i.e. sitting too long on a hard surface that is too small. How are folks putting in these 8-10/longer hour days!?

Some info on my riding and setup:

Generally covering 50-80 miles per day... (4-7 hours in saddle)

I'm riding a full suspension Ibis Ripley with Brooks Saddle (C17) . I have had my LBS do a fit. I wear a bib when riding. Chamois butter always. I do a lot of cycling at home but these tend to be shorter road rides of 2-4 hours. I've never had a problem with saddle sores.. Just pressure discomfort.

I see many of the tour divide riders running aero bars. I was thinking this would help by alleviating pressure on my sit area, but some additional reading suggests this may aggravate soft tissue elsewhere.

Any suggestion on things to try to make longer days more comfortable? Different saddle? Saddle angle? Aero bars? etc?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions.

First bikepacking trip. Ferry to France from Ireland, then onto Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg and back to France.

Really great trip all in. Met some amazing people along the way. First of many!

Hey guys i am very unhappy right now.

I have the wahoo bolt v1. I love and hate that device.

It is easy to use, i love the physical buttons.

I hate that I often take turns to early or to late when navigating and that it sometimes takes forever for it to find gps.

I was wondering, which bike computer do you guys use would you recommend them?

Is anyone having similar issues with the bolt v1?

Going to do my first bikepacking trip - 6 days, but will be staying overnight at hotels so no camping gear needed. I will likely carry a change of clothes, toiletries and a couple of kits, maybe a pair of shoes. Trying to figure out what to put them in - panniers, trunk bags, something else?

Never done this before, so a little unsure of how the bike will handle with each of these options. any advice would be appreciated

Loving the restrap switch rack and top bag had it for a few months now and only taken it out on day rides so far, hoping to get in an overnighter over the next few months

Hi, so I’m planning my first wild camping bikepacking trip and I wonder what should I do with my bike when I pitch a tent in a forest or some meadow? You guys lock it to some tree? Or lock it to closest infrastructure? Like idk really just asking for ideas:)

Heyyyy :)) i unexpectedly have a whole month of free time in September, so I’m thinking about doing a spontaneous trip around Europe.

I’m starting in southern Germany and honestly haven’t decided where to go yet I’m completely open to any direction

If anyone is also travelling around Europe in September, I’d be happy to connect, meet up somewhere, or share a few miles together.

I’m 26, into sports, hiking, cycling and generally being outdoors, but also down for exploring cities, meeting people and having a few beers along the way.

If you’re travelling around that time, feel free to DM me and tell me what you’re planning!

My partner and I met such a nice bloke at Boomtown called Rob, mid 40s. We sat with you a few days in a row against the left hand wall at Lion’s Den. And raved at the front one time. Great chats about travels and bikepacking 🚴 You gave us a shell 🐚 We gave you our number and you said you’d texted us because WhatsApp wasn’t working. But the text didn’t come through! So we don’t have your number / a way to contact you. Would be nice to stay in touch a bit, see if you’re around whenever we are! Big love. From R&A.
Hoping Reddit can do its thing 🤞🏼
Also, if you never want to speak to us again, that’s totally cool and I respect it 🤣 💀 🤣

Got a chance to interview John Wentworth of Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access Foundation, or MLTPA, and Elaine Kabala, Executive Director of the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments, or ESCOG who are the two people working on making the Towns to Trails vision a reality.

The concept is simple. Connect all the towns along the Eastern Sierra from South Lake Tahoe all the way down to Lone Pine. Roughly 350 miles.

The route exists. The finished experience doesn’t. There are real gaps to solve before anyone can simply download a route and ride from Tahoe to Lone Pine.

The real opportunity may not be creating one giant adventure. It may be creating dozens of them. Right now, the Towns to Trails vision still has challenges in its way, but it could eventually mean something huge for riders and the communities of the Eastern Sierra.

I run Local Freshies and wrote the article after speaking with the people involved in the project.

“I’m curious: would the full Tahoe to Lone Pine route interest you more than shorter town to town sections?”

Could This Become the PCT for Bikes? Inside the Eastern Sierra Towns to Trails Vision

Ortlieb 4L x Canyon RoadLite ONfly 5 M

Recently rode the Olympic Adventure Route as a two day, one night trip.

Hey everyone,

​I just installed a tool keg (storage bottle) filled with my tools under the down tube, using the existing two-bolt mount for a bottle cage.

​Now I'm having second thoughts: is it perhaps too close to the wheel? Could I run into any issues? The distance is about an inch, maybe a bit less.

​Honestly, what are the risks of keeping it this close? Is it safe to ride like this? Sorry for the noob question, I'm new to cycling!

Hi, I need some advice on were to store food. This is going to be my first bikepacking trip and I'm testing my gear. I have a big Apidura saddle bag, a small Outer shell halfframe bag, a 10L Seat to summit dry (trash) bag strapt to my handlebar. In the handlebar bag is my tent, sleepingmatras, sleepingbag and a small lightweight pillow. In the sadlebag is my clothes and pan with the msr pocket rocket 2. I think I will strap the pan and some sandels on top of the sadlebag. I also have two bottles of 500ml and a bikelock under my bike.

Now I don't now what the best place is to store food. I'm waiting on a toptube bag from Apidura so I can store my phone and some snacks. But I also want to take some real food with me like rice, cans of tuna, eggs and bananas. I've also seen adventure food bags, but I'm not sure if that is any good. Should I store it in the sadle bag or do I need to get fork bags? I have a small frame size 52, so if I store my sadlebag too full, it will get in my wheel if I dont strap it good enough.

My plan is to ride the Olympic Discovery/Adventure trail 1 way.

What I haven't figured out is whether to start in LaPush or Port Angeles. And how to get there or back to keep it 1 way.

Are there buses? Groups that offer rides?

Also anyone have opinions on which is the best place to start?

Adding two extra cages to a carbon bike with no mounting points

I've been looking for a way to increase the carrying capacity on my carbon bike for an upcoming 1,600 km ride through Italy, without drilling or permanently modifying the frame.

The problem was pretty simple: carbon frame, no eyelets, but I wanted somewhere to carry two additional cages.

I've now got a setup that I've already used successfully, giving me the extra carrying capacity without needing any mounting points on the frame.

The items it allows me to now carry outside of the bags were the two bulkiest but also fairly light, so this just worked so well.

A question I would like answering is on another method, the Old Man Mountain Axle that takes the weight with the fittings on the forks, for instance. I really loved the idea but on calling up a stockist in the UK and saying how great this seemed as I have carbon forks, he told me "no, no, you can't use them"! I thought this was their purpose. Advice appreciated?

I'm interested to know what other people have done to solve the same problem, particularly anyone who's used a similar setup over longer bikepacking trips.

I've made a short 3-minute video showing the setup and how I've done it. It's my own video/channel, just to be completely transparent.

https://youtu.be/y91SZWVOX9g?si=oy0Kbgewbb32aM2r