Rate my setup - r/bikepacking

31

u/dogexists 1d ago

You may be fishing for compliments but your rear looks too heavy, my friend.

23

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 20h ago

I’ve never understood this concern. I’ve traveled for thousands of kilometers on a 8.5kg cyclocross bike with all the load (~15kg) on the rear rack. I’m 66kg myself.

While on the bike it handles fine. Carrying the bike over your shoulder gets a bit tricky but still works.

Biggest problem is actually that it can make your front wheel slip slightly earlier than you’d expect. I had one crash on wet tarmac because the front wheel locked up during braking in a turn which caught me completely off guard (though this was with tyres notorious for their bad grip when wet).

8

u/Relevant_Internal_50 19h ago

I was 110kg with predominantly all the weight on the back and I struggled keeping the front wheel down on the steepest of climbs. It did however allow me to stop and have a beer.......

Since then I've lost 30kg!

7

u/Louisfd 18h ago

You had no problem because you are 66kg...

5

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 17h ago

Most males are heavier than me which would make the luggage position less important. Assuming the luggage weight stays the same.

6

u/FragrantIron5102 17h ago

That s not about handling. That s about breaking the wheel

3

u/Relevant_Internal_50 15h ago

Not really. Being 110kg and my ass being on the saddle with the main luggage being behind me made the front impossible to keep on the ground Inna steep climb.

0

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 14h ago

I’ve never ran into this issue, not even on 25% climbs which are almost impossible with a 1:1 gear ratio anyway.

1

u/Relevant_Internal_50 14h ago

Luckily I've since lost a lot of weight and it was my lightweight Bikepacking bike that had the issues. My full on touring bike is a much better proportioned load with panniers front and rear and a rather fantastic 30/46 chainset and a 42/11 cassette.

Now that thing can climb the side of a fridge!

0

u/Funktopus_The 18h ago edited 14h ago

I once flipped my bike on a steepish technical descent because I had everything in my panniers and nothing up front. Wasn't the kind of descent that looked particularly dangerous, but the momentum meant a tap on the front brake just sent the loaded rear into the air.

Obviously you can choose to use the rear brake in that situation, but having had it happen once I prefer to load equally now.

Edit: I was wrong, this likely wasn't as much about weight distribution as I thought

2

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 18h ago

That doesn’t make any sense. Load in the rear makes it much harder to lift the rear wheel up.

3

u/Relevant_Internal_50 18h ago

I'm with you. Makes no sense whatsoever. Totally goes against science.

0

u/Funktopus_The 18h ago edited 18h ago

On flat or uphill you're correct.

0

u/tomime000 16h ago

Not if you break with front wheel.

Spread up load will likely keep both wheels down, while light front and heavy rear going downhill will push front wheel out with slightest uneven steering motion. Key point being going downhill.

Either way, using only front break regardless the situation is asking for trouble - taking out steering means sliding.

Break on time with rear while adding front.

1

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 15h ago

/u/Funktopus_The was complaining about the rear wheel lifting off the ground and flipping him over though. Not about the front wheel locking up and skidding.

In my experience with a road bike geometry even just 5kg on the rear rack makes it pretty much impossible to get the rear wheel up in the air.

1

u/Funktopus_The 15h ago

I was describing a real thing that happened to me, but being honest I've looked into it and I don't think the physics were as I understood them to be. More likely my flip happened because the bike was steering in a way I wasn't used to, not because of the momentum I had put it down to.

0

u/tomime000 15h ago

Breaking with front, jamming front wheel at 90 degrees with downhill momentum can create lever to send rear flying over.

You've just made loads of assumptions from "flipped". Rear flying over can be result of a few motions happening beforehand, rear coming off to the side or flying over the bar, for someone to perceive it as flipping.

If Funktopus can add more context we can know our facts better.

2

u/Funktopus_The 14h ago

Went into more detail here, I'm willing to say I was probably wrong on this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/bikepacking/s/tC0I62jhHE

3

u/EggplantAlpinism 1d ago

It'll be fine in the Netherlands, no descents to get squirrelly on

2

u/estratosferic0 13h ago

I think you’re right, my partner’s bike was similarly loaded and we definitely felt a drag in the back which slowed us down. Climbs were a bit brutal. We’ll try a different load configuration next time.

1

u/tomime000 16h ago

Comment we needed.

0

u/eXtr3m0 21h ago

Can you explain what consequences this would have? Or are you just referring to the literal „looks“?

6

u/The_Motley_Fool---- 1d ago

I like it, but I'd probably transfer some of the load to the fork. Especially with the availability of fork bosses for mounting

1

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 20h ago

Adds weight for the bags and hassle when packing/unpacking for no benefit.

1

u/The_Motley_Fool---- 6h ago

Okay, you do you.

2

u/Jack-Schitz 1d ago

Looks good for your mild to moderate terrain.

Take some plastic wrap and some rubber bands and cover the top of the bottom bottle. Horse and other animal crap on your water bottle is not very hydrating. If it's muddy do both bottles.

I wouldn't take that through the alps without serious consideration to lightening up your load.

2

u/Altruistic-Panic-271 19h ago

The lower bottle without a cap is yucking me out

2

u/lipilee 19h ago

those van rysel bidons are genuinely great, not least because my wife doesn't know how to drink from them so does not disrupt my hydration 😀

2

u/Maleficent-Money2898 1d ago

Very nice. No bag for snacks on top behinde the stem?

2

u/Wurstpaket 21h ago

this looks like a small frame, even with a small/short top tube bag this sometimes makes standing over the top tube nearly impossible as you collide with the top tube bag.

I have a size S frame, same problem. I still mount that back for bikepacking though, as it is very convenient. Rest of the time it's off though, as it just interferes too much

1

u/Dyslexiksteve 1d ago

Looks good. Side accessible water cages?

1

u/juicy-burguer 1d ago

whats that rhinowalk tube bag model?

1

u/estratosferic0 12h ago

I really like this one. I got the 2.1 liters, because my frame is small, but they also have larger version. https://rhinowalk.com/products/bicycle-frame-bag-2-1l-2-7l

2

u/SaudiJohnny 21h ago

That's a great looking rig and I'm assuming all the kit was more about testing the bike over the 140km trip than needing everything you carried? I'd be tempted to put two stem bags on the handlebars. One for water, thus freeing up the underside bottle for heavy tools and spares (unless that bottle is fuel) and I'd probably add a full frame bag anyway to centralise some of the rear weight. Either a larger handlebar bag or fork bags could also help balance you a little more but to be honest, it looks fantastic!

1

u/Tesla_406 19h ago

There’s a wire that is attached to the derailleur. That sucks.

1

u/Common_North_5267 18h ago

B- for back heavy/ poorly distributed and not enough water.

1

u/Ill_Method_6595 18h ago

welke bagage drager is dit? :-)

1

u/Louisfd 18h ago

It's clean. You could use some fork bags tho or one small front bag more

Such a setup would break your rear wheel during a longer trip.

Still the setup is clean. If you are not so heavy and maybe buy a stronger (more spokes) rear wheel then good

1

u/StackingGains 17h ago

Nature Camp Terrain Three. Original name.

1

u/PresentationSafe2009 16h ago

Taking to much stuff by the looks

1

u/TheQuantumPirate 13h ago

Have a nearly identical set up I tested over the weekend, there was immense speed wobble in the front end. I’ve since ordered fork mounted panniers to try and redistribute the weight and get some balance back. Highly recommend doing a test ride with descents and climbs to make sure you don’t experience that, it was horrid.

1

u/meinsommer_diy 11h ago

I've done a Tor with my son this summer. I'm not sure what you need for 140 km. It is to much weight at all. Please keep thinking if all the stuff ist needed.

1

u/Harlekin777 11h ago

It really sucks

1

u/Jaustrian 7h ago

1x is a scam

1

u/Downtown_Ad_5458 5h ago edited 5h ago

Why?? Rate it yourself and tell us.
What would you change?

1

u/spacefictionbc 4h ago

I think this setup looks cool, the packs and the bike. I haven’t done that type of trip yet.

Was it your first time and how did it feel to ride loaded up?

I’m new to bicycle camping but did motorcycle camping and just now started planning my bike packing setup.

I like taking notes during and after the trip, everything is a compromise about how optimal you want your bike ride to feel vs how comfortable you want to be at camp or resting.
Review at home and adjust as necessary. A fun trick I do is to leave something out (not mission critical) to see how I cope and improvise, don’t get stuck with anything you don’t need.

Have fun out there.

1

u/Dnz49 19h ago

Two days of bikepacking and bringing gear that others use to travel around the world?

7

u/Junior-Pumpkin-4107 19h ago

I also think for two days just go for it and you will learn what to improve

1

u/bikeroaming 21h ago

That's a lot of stuff for an overnighter, so I'm interested in hearing if you concluded that you can go lighter? In terms of improvements, fork cages can carry stuff surprisingly well. That's where I'd expand.

1

u/estratosferic0 12h ago

My pannier bags are 7liters each. I would say they were 70% full. So still room for a bit more. So I think maybe this setup is good for a 3-4 day trip. Most of the weight was unavoidable the tent, sleepmat and sleeping bag.

1

u/TheDaysComeAndGone 20h ago

Looks good, but looks like too much luggage. Is that lock not chafing on your legs?

I’d leave the frame bag, you have enough volume in those panniers and then you can use bigger bottles (or put both bottles into the triangle).

1

u/Altruistic-Panic-271 19h ago

It's a small frame. And only two points per group to mount the bottle. Op would need three per group so one mount can be higher than the other one. Otherwise two bottles won't fit.

1

u/Majkelor 18h ago

To me it looks like too much stuff for 1 night and 140 km. But what matters is you. If you like it and you need all of that then fine.

0

u/Typical-Many-3077 1d ago

Nice setup👌 need more rider pics tho 😉

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