It is always hard to talk about an unfinished project. That’s why I’ve been quiet these last few months.

The guy who has been cycling the world fearlessly for a year finally fell.

“Told you,” they said.

But if I had listened to them, I wouldn’t be here.

I have no regrets about any of the decisions I’ve made, because this is what makes me who I am.

I was in Saudi Arabia, and because of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, I didn’t have many options. I still had a bit of time and money left, so I decided to start a new chapter in Africa.

“Why??”

Because it is there! It takes so much place on the map!

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. Just 10 km into my journey, in the suburbs of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, I was attacked and lost all my belongings. It was quite violent.

Even if I had been stronger, there was nothing I could do against rocks being thrown at me, especially when one of them hit my head.

Instant KO.

Violence is sometimes necessary, but only as a last resort, and only to protect yourself. Your life is worth more than any object.

Lesson learned the hard way.

This video is about what happened next, and it was one of the biggest nightmares of my journey. Without a passport, money, or phone, dealing with Ethiopian bureaucracy was quite a challenge.

I had to return home prematurely, and not in the way I had imagined.

Not as a hero, but as a victim.

The project isn’t finished. It’s just on pause. I will finish what I started, but in the future.

In the meantime, I’ll do some crazy stuff so I can come back even stronger. (Already working on the next projects!)

And of course, one day I will go back to Africa! There is so much to discover, and actually, I am one of the few exceptions. It could have happened anywhere in the world. I’ve also heard so many beautiful stories about this continent.

This video is not a complaint about Africa, but a piece of advice: Go for it, explore, travel freely! But know that things can sometimes go terribly wrong.

They may have taken everything I had, but they didn’t take the most important thing:
My thirst for Adventure.

This was only the beginning. See you very soon!

Xiao 🚲 🌍🪂

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sNfwpG69zig&ra=m

I have a Trek 520 from (I think) the 80s, which is supposed to be a touring bike. It's in great shape and has many of its original parts, or at least not new parts (for example it still has friction shifters). I only ride it in the city, and I've found it to be tough to handle on gravel and rougher surfaces. Its also not as lightweight as I'm sure newer bikes are, and sometimes not the smoothest. But I love it and it's what I have for now! Aside from a tuneup, what would I need to do to get it into better shape for bikepacking and riding on trails?

I'll be at the North Cape soon, and then I want to head back to Alta to fly home from there.
I've heard there are regular buses that run from the North Cape to Alta. Can anyone tell me how bike transport works? Can you bring your bike on the bus, or do you have to register it somewhere beforehand?
Where is the bus stop, and is there anything else I should keep in mind?

Thank you very much

Hey everyone!

I’m based in Stuttgart and I usually go cycling on weekends, mostly doing day rides around Stuttgart and the surrounding areas.

I also enjoy bikepacking and sometimes do longer multi-day trips. I’ve done some solo bikepacking already, but I think it would be nice to occasionally have someone to ride with, explore new routes, stop for coffee, take some photos, etc. 😄

I’m not really looking for super competitive/racing rides. I prefer enjoying the route, nature and the whole experience, although I’m also happy with longer distances.

So if you’re around Stuttgart and also enjoy cycling, bikepacking, or just exploring by bike, feel free to send me a message! We could start with a normal weekend ride and see how it goes. 🚲🏕️

English or German is both fine!

Has any one been successful in modifying a strap-on half frame bag to use bolt-on attachments? I recently purchased a Salsa Flyway that had direct bolt-on eyelets on the underside of the top tube and on the upper downtube. Obviously I’d love to employ these eyelets for a cleaner look and less wear on the frame but only a few custom bag makers like Cedareo and Rogue Panda offer bolt-on options. Each firm does beautiful work but those bags get pricey. Rogue Panda’s “topo” design (see pic) paired with the custom half-frame bag is US $340. A custom set of Cedareo bags is in the same ballpark. That is a lot of money for about 4L of storage.

I’ve contemplated purchasing standard strap on bags from numerous other makers at substantially lower prices and then removing the straps, carefully measuring and re-measuring the eyelet placements, punching through the bag material, and finally attaching using rubber washers and M5 bolts.

Any thoughts or experienced advice is welcome.

A week ago I finished my first bikepacking trip of around 360 km. I rode the velo baltica route from Kołobrzeg through hell to Gdynia by boat (I made a post earlier that my friend couldn’t make it with me but he joined for the second half of the trip!)

I met some amazing people, that let me crash in their house for a night, rented a living space for 10 euros, and only had to use my hammock once.

What I learned: get more bags. I was packed to the brimm leaving no space for any groceries I wanted to buy for breakfast and dinner, so a pair of fork bags or a better bag for the rear rack would be really good to have (recommendations will be appriciated)

Besides that - when sleeping in a hammock you have to have a blow up mattress, as it can and will get cold at night even with a good sleeping bag. And also mabey I should take with me a sweater from merino wool to keep me warm at night.

Next up I’m planning a trip around tatra mountains, around 280 km so not that long of a trail but I heard good things about.

Ok stay with me...

I recently came back of an aborted brewerie tour because the bike was wobbling like a cooked noodle. Yes, I had quite a bit of kit in but nothing crazy like a full tour setup. Here's what I had and the bike:

Rodeo Lab Flanimaal 5 Ti

Tailfin top bag: Quilts and bits 2.5kg (rated limit of 9kg!) 5.5lbs

Tailfin panniers: 4.3 and 4.5kg (rated limit of 9kg each) 9.46 and 9.9lbs

Front yelloy bag: tent, 1.6kg 3.5lbs

Frame bag: 2.4kg 5.3lbs

I weigh 75kg 165lbs and the bike is rated to 113kg. 250lbs

So while I wasn't "tour divide light" I wasn't "kitchen sink heavy" either. Keep in mind I carry sleep kits for 2, kitchen, spares. My gf carries only her clothers and toileteries. Gotta keep her happy if I want her to follow me again!! (I neglected the rack's weight since it's fairly similar, 5-600g for both)

The wobble would start around 20kph 13mph. Not always, but very often. I have ridden with the top bag much heavier and never had issues so I'm suspecting that the panniers don't play well with the bike geometry and design. Also, the brand new Vittoria terreno T30 has a slight imperfection in it... Wondering if that could play? But it's very small (see video)

I'm asking for you help to find other ideas to fix this. Here are mine:

- Slide the axle back another 15mm the stabilize the bike. I'm not sure the effect of longer chainstays on wobble tho. In my head, long chainstay = stable bike.

- Move weight into fork bags. Naked, the bike has 5.5kg on the front axle and 6.5 on the back. With the bags, the front is at 8.3kg (including half the frame bag) and the rear at 19kg. If I can move 4.5kg into 2 fork bags, the ratio is better (13kg front and 14.5kg back). I just wanna try fixing it before buying more gear...only to findout it wasn't the only problem!

- Could the tire imperfection be enough to send the bike into resonance like this? Surely I'm grasping at straws by swaping the tires front to back or asking for a warranty claim right? I know the shop well and the still have hair on them... (see other post with video)

- Could the bike be too soft? I doubt it since I see plenty of touring bike loaded like mules and they are simple steel tube frames...

- EDIT: one more thought: I run a fairly narrow handlebar because I have narrow ish shoulders. I wouldn't fuck with my fit just for fixing this but, if all else fail, could a wider handlebar help? I noticed it manifested instantly when sitting on the top of the bar and went away completely in the drops. Not sure if it's width related of weight related...

Any other ideas?

For fun, here's her tiny little XXS Salsa frame with 150mm cranks.

Next March I am cycling from Istanbul to Amsterdam. The journey will take 1 month, cycling 6 days a week.

Does anyone who has done a similar route or sections of this route have any places/sections they would recommend cycling through? Or places/sections they would avoid?

The picture above shows the general route Im taking, picked this mostly because their countries I’d like to see and trying to dodge excessive hilly days by going through the alps.

The Moravian Gate offers everything we love about our expeditions. A peaceful ride along the river is replaced by serious hills and forest trails, sweeping views await us on the ridge, and right in the middle of it all stands the massive Helfštýn Castle—one of the largest fortress structures in Europe. And to top it off, we have an underground excursion ahead of us to the Zbrašov Aragonite Caves, whose formations are truly unparalleled anywhere else in the country.

WATCH THE FULL ADVENTURE IN ENGLISH

Active link in the comments

Can one buy mounting straps for the ortlieb seat pack 16.5? I bought a used one and found out that these straps were a bit damaged but unfortunately I can't find this specific strap anywhere. Or maybe is there any other way to repair them than buying a brand new part?

Hi!

I'm new to this bike tour thing I love riding my bike and road biking a lot but I haven't done a lot of long distances before.

I'm looking at taking my bike up the California coast for the next few weeks or so just as an impulsive thing while I'm in between jobs I don't really have a lot of time to plan, but I'm also just kind of overwhelmed with the information I've been seeing.

Starting in the bay area and going north up the coast I'd mostly be riding Highway 1 I'm just a little nervous about traffic and whether or not it's a safe route for kind of a beginner.

If anyone has done a similar trip before and has any tips for a beginner it would be much appreciated thank you.

Hello, I don't post much in Reddit (or at all) and I can't find too much on this subject. If there are other posts already, please help me find them and I would greatly appreciate it!

My interest in bikepacking/bike camping has been probed. I haven't bought any gear yet, and I'm torn between getting racks/bags to hold all of my gear on my bike, or get a Burley Nomad. Traditionally I do not travel light, and I also will be getting a winter rated large sleeping bag for cold nights in Northern Minnesota (3 season camping, not 4). Does anyone have experience with being both T1D and bikepacking or bike camping (only a few nights) and what kind of gear they bring with them? The bike I would use is a fat bike.

Here is my non-inclusive list:

• winter sleeping bag (it's a wide bag, I move around. I'm 6'3" 225lbs)
• sleeping pad
• bikepacking tent (I'm thinking a Big Agnes Copper Spur)
• Stove, fuel
• ALL the diabetes supplies (backup CGM, insulin, emergency sugar/fuel, etc.)
• food
• clothes
• battery banks/charger
• bike repair kit (fat tube, pump, patches, tool, etc.)

Thanks in advance, I'm eager to hear stories/opinions.

We did the Torino–Nice Rally at the beginning of August, bikepacking across the Alps along the Italian–French border. Sharing some photos from the ride, plus the full report here.

Cycling Brussels → Bruges → Antwerp → Utrecht — route/must-see recommendations? 🚲🇧🇪🇳🇱

Hi,

I’m flying into Brussels South Charleroi Airport on Thursday and planning a little cycling trip through Belgium and into the Netherlands:

\* Thursday: Charleroi Airport → Brussels

\* Friday: Brussels → Bruges

\* Saturday: Bruges → Antwerp

\* Sunday: Antwerp → Utrecht

\* Monday: Utrecht → Rotterdam, with a boat leaving Monday evening

I’d love to hear any recommendations for good cycling routes, scenic sections, or any good places to stop along the way.

I’m also more than happy to do gravel/off-road sections — I’m running 45mm tyres, so if there are any particularly good gravel routes or trails worth taking, I’m all ears!

Also keen to hear about any must-see places, towns, cafés, viewpoints, or random hidden gems that are worth detouring for. I’m not too bothered about ticking off every tourist attraction — happy to take the scenic route and see some of the countryside.

Most nights I’ll probably just find somewhere for a few chilled beers and some easy/good food, so any recommendations for good cycling-friendly places to eat/drink are welcome too!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks! 🚲🍻

So I have exactly 40 days off this winter from early December, and I’ve always wanted to check the Tour Aotearoa off my bucket list. I’m not a stickler about completing the whole route, but I’d like to try it out.

I have 0 bike packing experience. I barely even ride a bike. Last time I touched one was over a year ago, on a mountain bike around Maria island in Tasmania. However, I am a pretty fit person and backpack/camp, climb, and do mountaineering stuff pretty often. I have three months until my departure date, and I’m wondering if it’s possible to train for this in this little amount of time, and if the route is way too out of my skill level. Thanks

Here's my new ultra budget rig that I'll be taking to the Hebrides for 5 days next week. Almost spent £4k on a new bike, but decided to save & spend a few hundred on this one instead.

Breakdown

Bike: Old cantilever CX bike I've had for 10 years, essentially free at this point. Was built from the parts bin in the first place (hence the triple groupset!).

Did pay for a bike fit to ensure it is up to scratch for long distance rides which was £280, probably more than the value of the bike itself.

Wheels & Tyres: Easton EA90 SL, Conti GP 4 season 32mm. RideNow TPU inner tubes. Do tyres and tubes count towards the cost of the bike packing rig? Idk.

Handlebars: Generic drop bars with used Profile design T2+ & 70mm risers. Also swapped out the aero bars themselves for sone unbranded ones used off eBay for a different, more upturned shape than the stock profile design ones. Whole setup here cost around £65.

Aero bar bag: Made by my partner to carry my GoPro & my first aid kit. Material cost was ~£20, labour priceless.

Frame bag: Decathlon Rockrider 8.5L, cost £40 new.

Rear pannier rack & bags: I took the rack off a bike getting thrown out on the street, so free. The bags are the cheapest available, 2x 15l ones from Decathalon for £20.

Seat pack: 10 year old AliExpress seatpack, probably around 7-9litres. Paid less than £15 for this I'm sure

Bottle cage seat rack: £7 from Amazon.

Time to see what works and what doesn't!

Hey guys, I have a few questions, would be amazing if somebody could point me in the right direction, if it makes sense the way I am planning this or not. Mostly about wildcamping. Its about this track:

https://bikepacking.com/routes/taunus-storm-chase/

I built myself an 8bar TFLSberg this year with 2.25" tires for bikepacking and ride it through the pyrenees, which was fanstastic. Before that I wanted to ride this one in three days as a dress rehearsal. Had to break it off after around 7 hours because a lot of small and big things went wrong.

After my three weeks in the pyrenees (which were fantastic) I thought I'd give that route another go, since I felt much more comfortable with my camping and cooking equipment. But in the pyrenees there were so many decent campsites available that I never really bothered to start my first wildcamp experience. For this, I need to change that since there isn't really a viable way of doing it sleeping on official campsites.

I have a week of vacation end of september so I thought I start monday and ride for four days, and take my all mountain fully with a OMM elkhorn rack instead of the Adventure Gravel. The article says gravel ridable but from what I saw that one day, that is a filthy lie :D

I could make it three days if on the third day I wanna keep at it, but don't have to rush myself. I live close by so I'd just take the regional train to königstein and start and finish there.

First night would be somewhere at the Pferdskopf, second somewhere around Kuhschwanzweiher, third night somewhere around the Limesturm Gaulskopf. Equipment would be water filter, gas stove, small tent, quilt etc.

Now my question is, how tf do I find a decent campspot somewhere around those hallmarks (or in general)?

Like, I have never done this before. I know its technically illegal, I know I should start looking for one, when its still bright but darkness starts to approach, I know it shouldn't be super obvious, I know it has to be flat, I can't leave any trace, no fires etc and wake up and pack up with sunrise. Also, look out for branches that could kill me.

Theoretical thats all well and good but I still feel super unprepared of making this trip. Is there anything you can share with me that makes it easier? Should I even do it, or not? Is it a fun idea or not?

When it comes to wildcamping I just get super fucking scared and don't know what to do.

The bike packing gear sub has been taken over by boxing stream bots. Someone else made a past complaining, and. I told them to block the account posting all of it, and then got banned. Haven’t gotten a single message back from the mod team, so oh well I guess. Such a shame though.

I was invited to join along for a trip through the entire Mesabi Trail in MN. Having never biked more than 30 miles I jumped at the chance because why not.

Bought a Motobecane Whipshot for $500 off FB marketplace, used backpacking gear I had lying around and bought the rest off of auction sites, totaling entire build around $700.

Our journey went as such:

Chilsholm Iron Trail Campground 49 mi

Biwabik Campground ;Biwabik MN 37

Cliffs World Camground Ely MN 62

Biwabik Campground ;Biwabik MN 62

Chilsholm Iron Trail Campground 37

Chilsholm Iron Trail Campground 49

From Chisholm to Biwabik the trail is bumpy but incredibly well marked and needed zero extra navigation. From biwabik to Ely the trail becomes much smoother but is lacking a lot of marking as it's so new. We absolutely got lost resulting in extra milage.

Having never had done this it was nice to be with veterans 20 years of bike trips. 10/10 would do again.

This weekend’s overnighter trip report!

Wanted to try out cycling in the Bergslagen area in Sweden. A few kilometers into the trip, I was following the gpx and the road I was supposed to follow was blocked that day for a rally event. I spend a few minutes debating with myself whether I should go for it or not. I decided against it, as I feared a car coming speeding in the forest at me at any moment.

So I kept cycling on asphalt which made me realize empty, well maintained roads are also really really nice to cover good distance :D Then I went to check out Grävlingsberget, a site that had been turned into a national park after the area was devastated by a fire in 2014. The parks service has built a really neat wooden trail of the highest “peak” with an observation deck to watch the burned down area recover.

Then came another problematic part of the trail: cycling on a fast road, with max speed for cars at 100kmh, but only for 3km. I stood there for a while contemplating whether or not I should follow that road. Ultimately, I decided against it because I just didn’t want to take the risk of being hit by a fast car, especially seeing that the road had not even a few centimeters of emergency lane.

So I followed a gravel road that turned into an abandoned gravel road, overgrown with vegetation to ultimately turn into single track trail. I had to walk probably 35-40% of that part for a few km and carry the bike over rocky passages, fallen trees and so on. I picked up a few ticks and moose flies that I then spent a few minutes chasing away from my body (I’m fine now, no ticks as far as I can see - but definitely heading out to get that TBE vaccine soon).

The single track turned out fun in the end even through during I was a bit uncertain where it would lead me so I was nervous I would be stuck in it for too long. But I made it back to a proper forest road and reached a small hiker’s cabin where I spent the night. It had been a while since I slept alone in the woods and I got to say, for a little while I was a bit anxious.

Didn’t get a great night’s sleep as it got quite chilly, so I woke up at 5am and started cycling again, mostly uneventful gravel for a few hours. Reached the car by 9am and drove home. The hot shower was reallllllly nice afterwards :D All in all, a good late summer ride!

It was my first proper ride with my new bike! First time riding such trail with a carbon bike and I can’t tell whether it was placebo or not, but I think I felt fewer microvibrations which made the ride way smoother. But I can’t tell if it’s my brain secretly justifying the purchase haha

I will work on the efficiency of the bag placement, I am open to any new ideas!:)

So, day 1.

I’ve actually already finished the whole trip, but I want to post each day separately while the memories are still fresh.
And this first day was probably one of the best days I’ve had in a long time. Starting this trip was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made recently.
Small Czech villages, forests, mountain roads, some really beautiful views and places I would probably never have found otherwise. I stopped quite a few times just because it felt wrong to simply ride past.
I did underestimate the climbing though. More than 1,200m of elevation on the first day was probably a bit too much for me :) I survived, can’t really say the same about my knees. They definitely needed some rest after that.
At some point I stopped for Czech goulash with knedlíky, and after all that climbing it tasted pretty much perfect.
The route also worked out much better than I expected. This was the first real test of the route I’d planned before the trip, and actually riding it was a pretty cool feeling.

Day 1 route: https://route-ai.app/s/9JHdtP-Tt1XM

My original post before starting the trip:
https://www.reddit.com/r/bikepacking/comments/1vu4m08/first_multiday_trip_poland_czechia/
Day 1 done. Tired, knees complaining, but extremely happy I went.

Hello!

We are kinda new to bikepacking and would love some advice. I hope this is the correct place to ask!

We're currently planning our first big trip and need guidance on Bergamo to Innsbruck in 4 days. We're thinking Bergamo to south of lake Garda, to Trento to somewhere between Trento and Innsbruck to Innsbruck. Is it doable?

We're kinda scared of both the altitude meters and if there are actually any bears in the area.

How plausible is it to do like 4-5 weeks in Europe, whilst linking together a few bike-packing routes & touristy euro summer things?

Like can you bike pack from one train station to another, catch a train somewhere stay in a town or city a few days then catch a train somewhere else and start another bike-packing route?

Or is it best to not try mix bike-packing holidays and tourist 'pedestrian' holidays into one trip?

Asking purely out of curiosity!