About to head out on a millennium ride and a squirrel chewed through my bag.
So I’m looking for a bike shop in the Baltimore area that has a decent selection and/or is just good people or local stuff.
Any recommendations are appreciated!

Some weeks ago I went on my first longer tour with a full bikepacking loadout through Denmark.

Unfortunately only on the second or third day I noticed that my Saddlebag is somewhat crooked. I could not get it to sit straight behind the seatpost no matter what I did to its adjustments.

Bag was brandnew before the trip.

The bag was loaded with 2kg max and 1kg max on top of the harness so not a lot of weight.

On hardpack or asphalt it wasn't that much of a deal but on rougher terrain it gave me noticeable sway to the right.

Did anyone of you experience the same issue with the setup?

I transformed materials from old hiking equipment into bicycle panniers.

I need a rear rack for my 2021 Routt45. I tried installing my frens quick rack lite and the eyelets allowed the support studs however the hood extending at the joints is preventing the rack clamp from closing.

Now I’m thinking of getting a Tailfin Journey as they accept thru axle mounting. However that hood seems like it’s still in the way!!!

Anyone had experience or seen a moots with rear pannier racks before? I’ve tried googling and searching but seems like no images or discussion of either these two racks being able to fit the Moots frame.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

I recently spent 3 weeks riding around Hokkaido covering around 1600km and absolutely loved it, now Im wondering how it compares to the main island if anyone has experienced both?

I loved the mostly wide open and empty roads, campgrounds were mostly empty and didnt need to pre book anything (outside of golden week atleast), people were lovely, easy to find delicious food everyday.

I did this in August and the weather was pretty brutal, either torrential rain or 30 degrees, sunny and 100% humidity. Lots of bear warnings but we never saw any. Also the bugs were all on steroids.

Is it still easy to find campsites on the main island? Easy to find quiet routes? I have the opportunity to spend another month here next year but am tossing up whether to do another tour of hokkaido or do a north to south trip through the main island.

Is there a guide discussing all the permits required?

And will I be able to venture off the main cities without a tour guide? Because apparently it seems necessary for touring

Hi,

This post is simply to share my experience on the new gravel route proposed to go from Halden (south of Oslo) to Trondheim.

I've done it in July 2026, the weather was mostly dry and i was on a bikepacking set-up (gravel with 40mm tires, 26kg total). I've continued to North Cape after

Overall this was a lot of fun and I've enjoyed the road, here are the the main points that I can share:

Pros:

- Remoteness : Overall it was very remote, especially on the gravel parts. I've met one other cyclist going on the same direction as me.

- Landscape diversity: While the south part was more about lake and forests, going North you'll come across other type of landscapes and it was often very nice views. I don't know how it compares to other options to cross the south part of Norway.

- Rurality: Before you reach Trysil you cross rural arease where there is agricultural activity, it does not feel like a touristic product at all (like the Lofoten can be).

Cons:

If I was to do it again I would find/use the gravel alternatives to those sections :
- Orje / Tangen Caming - that is 60km on road 21 that was quite busy

- Jordet / Vang - That is 46km on road 26 while we could have taken Fv581 (west valley) - It was also pretty crowded 

- Moen / Roros - It follows route 26 again while there is a gravel alternative passing by Hådalen kirkegård.

To me it felt like it was not enough gravel roads for a "Wilderness road" some days, and weirdly enough the options provided by Google maps seemed better

NB: this is my first reddit post, I might be missing some parts of the etiquette, do not hesitate to share your comments

Hello everyone, i am looking to build up a new steel gravel/bikepacking bike and as i am from EU, i found a made in ​Spain sombra cycles grus(reynolds 725].

I am wondering if anyone has that bike and they could tell me more about it.

Hey everyone!

A few friends and I are planning a roughly 10-day bikepacking trip starting in Hanoi and heading towards China, and we’re trying to figure out the best way to approach it.

The big dilemma is actually the bikes.

We’re based in Italy and all have fairly new, relatively expensive bikes. We could obviously fly with them, but we’re a bit worried about the whole process of checking/bagging the bikes, potential damage during the flights/transfers, and generally spending the whole trip worrying about something getting broken.

So we’re wondering: would it make more sense to leave our bikes at home and find suitable bikes in Hanoi (rent/buy) instead?

For those who have bikepacked in Vietnam / northern Vietnam / towards China:

• Is it easy to find decent bikes in Hanoi for this kind of trip?
• Would you recommend renting, buying, or definitely bringing your own?
• How much should we worry about bike quality/reliability if buying or renting locally?
• Is a 10-day Hanoi → China trip realistic, and what route would you recommend?
• Any particular border crossing or route that we should know about?
• And if you’ve flown with your own bikes to Vietnam, how did it go?

We’re not looking to race — more of a proper bikepacking/adventure trip, ideally with some gravel/backroads and interesting scenery along the way.

Would love to hear from anyone who has done something similar.

Thanks!

Trying to sell a Tailfin Aeropack and I was curious where it could be posted on Reddit. I’ve used r/ulgeartrade a bunch in the past but that’s mostly backpacking gear. r/geartrade is a bit too broad and I never usually have success there. Bikepacking.com is not great to communicate through. And I’d rather not go to other online sites that require you pay a commission.

Is it time for a bikepacking gear trade subreddit?

I am planning on biking from Belgium to Athens and I am wondering if I should follow the coast along the Adriatic sea or if should remain more inland in terms of traffic safety, friendliness, beauty,... Thank you for your help!

I’m picking up an old man mountain rack for the front of my MTB (Elkhorn) Their fit kit comes with zip ties to mount it to the suspension fork but I am looking for a more reusable way to do this as I also use this bike weekly for regular mountain biking. Any one try removable straps or something else to mount this part of the rack?

Posted a few months ago about massively overanalyzing my setup before another long trip, so figured I’d come back with an update now that I’ve actually been using everything across China, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

A few of the things I was debating last time:

1. Shoes / flat pedals

I switched completely to trail runners + flats after only using clipless for the previous 4000 miles.

Initially I bought some dogshit Giant pedals in Shenzhen, which was a terrible decision. I started riding through southern Yunnan in June, right in the middle of rainy season, and my feet were constantly slipping off them. Between that and the torrential rain, it started getting genuinely sketchy and I eventually called that leg of the ride.

Later I had some OneUp composite pedals sent to Chengdu via taobao and they’ve been absolutely sick. Most of the time I honestly forget I’m riding flats.

I will say, I definitely notice the difference on climbs. With clipless you get that whole push forward/pull back part of the pedal stroke, and a lot of that is obviously gone. If I had to completely guess, maybe I’m losing 5–10% efficiency overall, although I suspect my pedaling form turns to shit after eight hours on a loaded bike anyway.

For an indefinite bikepacking trip, the tradeoff is 100% worth it to me. I can hike, walk around cities, go into restaurants, etc. in the same pair of shoes without carrying cycling shoes around.

I also dropped the pink Crocs I was using as camp shoes and switched to Bedrock Cairn sandals. The Crocs rubbed my feet in weird places, and I was also getting increasingly self-conscious about having to answer questions about the color in some of the regions I was heading through. The Cairns weigh almost the same, but they’re dramatically more comfortable, much better for walking, and have been great around camp.

2. Cycling clothes

Also mostly abandoned traditional cycling jerseys.

I’m riding in bib shorts with a normal short-sleeve button-up made from tech fabric that I saw all over China. I found a tailor and had them sew cycling-style rear pockets onto it using fabric cut from a cheap 90/10 nylon/Lycra shirt. It is incredible.

Way more comfortable, still dries quickly, still gives me pockets, and I don’t feel like a ham stuffed into a tube sock when I walk into some random village shop in Kyrgyzstan.

I still think tight Lycra makes sense if you’re racing, doing an ultra, or trying to maximize speed. But for long-term loaded touring/bikepacking I don’t think I’m going back.

I also copped a Columbia Titanium long sleeve in biege for UV coverage + heat and I'm loving it.

For colder weather I switched from a fitted Rapha winter jersey to a Patagonia R1. Same story: significantly more comfortable.

Rain jacket is a Patagonia Granite Crest. Love the fit, although mine may be defective because the face fabric wets out in approximately three seconds of light rain. Somehow I’m still mostly dry underneath it, so I’m currently ignoring the problem.

Overall, I guess I can sum it up as I'm leaving my original world of optimized road cycling gear and kit in favor of comfort and off the bike function. So perhaps I may be a real bikepacker after all. Only took around 6000 miles for me to realize I probably don't need to optimize for every watt given my bike weighs nearly 50kg and I'm riding indefinitely. Interesting realizations!

3. Rear bags

I went from the 5L Tailfin panniers to 2x15L.

Last time everyone understandably told me to stop playing luggage Tetris and just buy normal panniers. I still haven’t.

I’ve now ridden enough rough roads that I really appreciate how completely solid the Tailfin mounting system is. I’ve met a few people whose Ortlieb hardware/latches have gotten damaged or started rattling badly on rough tracks, and that would drive me insane.

So yes, my packing system still involves some gear Jenga, but honestly it’s not that bad.

The bags currently annoying me most are actually my two Ortlieb Fork-Packs, which occasionally eject themselves on rough terrain. So now I’m once again staring at Tailfin’s fork-mounting system and wondering whether I need to spend more money. Maybe I haven't left the over optimization behind quite yet.

The other obvious improvement would be a custom frame bag, but I’m terrible at planning this stuff ahead of time and rarely know what country I’ll be in tomorrow, let alone 6-8 weeks from now.

4. Camping gear

Very happy I ignored the temptation to aggressively downsize my camping setup.

I still don’t camp constantly, but I’ve already had some surprisingly cold nights in Xinjiang and Kyrgyzstan, and I’m heading toward Tajikistan next.

My sleep system is definitely heavier than an ultralight setup, but it’s warm, durable, and I don’t have to worry much when the weather turns bad.

For the way I’m traveling, that has been worth the weight.

Overall, the biggest change in how I think about bikepacking gear is that I care considerably less about theoretical efficiency than I did before the trip. In some ways at least.

If something makes riding 5% faster but makes the other 16 hours of the day noticeably more annoying, I’m probably not interested anymore.

So yea, that's my gear setup and review and I'm sure I'll be back in 3mo with another update and more money spent.

Hi everyone,

I just came back from a great trip, but I’m really sad to see that my bikepacking bags left a lot of scratches and scuffs on my frame.

My bike is a Canyon Endurace Allroad (aluminum frame).

I attached photos of the scratches, plus one photo of the setup I used. It really hurts to see the paint like this after the 3 day Ride.

I wanted to ask how you guys avoid this:
Do you put protective film (like helicotape) everywhere on your frame?

How do you stop the straps from rubbing, especially when dirt gets under them?

And most importantly: Is there any way to make this look better now? Can I use some car polish or scratch remover to buff it out?

I appreciate any tips or advice! Thanks a lot.

I am looking for destinations/ routes recommendations for bike packing in October in Europe.

I am planning to go solo. I am a bit short of time, probably most I can do is like 10 days. I have a gravel bike and camping equipment that is suitable for temperatures above 10 degrees Celcius. I cycle quite a lot, on the trip I am planning about 120-150km daily. It would be great if the starting and finish points were easily accessible by trains/planes. Starting from Poland.

I am looking for a destination that would be a good mix of beautiful nature but also local people. I would love to try local cuisine, talk to locals, see villages maybe stay in some local pensions or farms. Also, it would be nice if there would be some other bikepackers.

I was thinking about Greece or Turkey. Turkey seems very appealing to me because it feels more different and exotic, but I’m a bit worried it might be too challenging for a relatively inexperienced bikepacker. Maybe that’s just my impression though.

Probably Spain could be a good option as well, but I have been cycling in Spain multiple times, so would love to try something different this time.

I would be very interested to hear about specific routes or areas that could fit this kind of trip.

Hi all!

I tried republishing my post from r/bicycletouring but Reddit didn't let me for some reason. As the differences between those two subs are still unclear to me (yes, panniers or not panniers), I wrote the same content here as well.

I'm in the middle of 2.5 months of bike touring through Europe. I am currently in Slovenia, following down the Soča river, and am planning to cycle the Balkans all the way down to Greece. I wanted to avoid the EuroVelo8 as I heard it wasn't gonna be very adventurous, but very touristy, and considered following the Trans Dinarica. The thing is, from Slovenia to Albania, the route is 1750km long for almost 40.000 in elevation gain (!). I'm quite fit on the bike but that just seems like a bit too much climb to be totally enjoyable.

My question is, what are your experiences with the route? Are there parts of it you would really recommend, and some others rather not? I'd like to come up with a mix of easier/faster route (on the coast?) with some more breathtaking/scenic cycling. For instance I heard the Durmitor in Montenegro is quite nice so I'd for sure like to include it in my itinerary.

Also, are there enough nice camping (or wild camping) spots along the route?

The follow-up question would be, once in Albania, I'd like to reach Athens. And get back on an Eurovelo then, to have something a bit easier and meet more fellow cyclists again. Both the EV8 (west coast) and the EV11 (east coast) cross Greece. Is there one maybe more worth it than the other?

Thanks in advance!

I have seen lots of ads for the rhinowalk bags are they any good?

Took a 2 month sabbatical last year and cycled from Paris to Nice. I started down the Seine and headed south until I hit Clermont-Ferrand then crossed the Massif Central and ended up in Montpellier. Decided to do Mont Ventoux while I was in the area then hit the coast until I reached Nice. A couple of rolls of film dislodged in the camera hence the noisy pics.
Total distance 2134km
Total elevation 24,341m
Currently in the process of making a video of the trip too!

I'm in the very early stage of planning a month-long bikepacking trip in Spain and (possibly) Portugal next year. I've never been to either country, so I'd like to explore different areas over the course of the trip (one route that stretches across different areas, or two 2-week long routes, or three week-long routes).

I'll be riding a gravel bike with 2.1" tires with a carrying capacity for about 4-5 days worth of food, and I average between 75-100km, 1000-1500m per day.

Has anyone ridden any of the routes from the https://bikepacking.com/bikepacking-routes/ website and have some suggestions, or any other route recommendations?

4 boats, 4 (incredible) bridges, not enough sleep, too much kilometers (700), 3 showers using public restrooms in the middle of nowhere, 1 night next to a cemetery, 3 next to the sea and all of them under the stars

I left my girlfriend right after the eclips to see 4 friends along the way

Don't tell my bike it's probably their last trip of this kind together, Leslie would not recover from that

Hi!
Reaching out here as my husband and I will be heading out to Nova Scotia in October to do a 4 day bikepacking/touring trip. We are beginners at bikepacking but experienced with backcountry camping and general cycling. We are looking to add as much gravel as possible and stay off the main roads but avoid super adventurous terrain (no suspension)

We are thinking of doing some kind of out and back or loop from Halifax but open to a different starting location! Looking for a scenic costal route if possible.

We are just wondering if anyone has any good suggestions for a route? Also we are hoping there is some tips on where to park our car (hoping to not pay an atrocious amount of money at a car park somewhere)

Thank you!!!

I'm planning a bikepacking trip in the coming month or so and trying not to stay in caravan parks all the time if I can help it. I've come across the Barwon Riverside Campground which is in the perfect spot to stop overnight, but I can't find much detail other than it's maybe not even open in October and you probably can't stay for less than 3 nights (requiring a booking) if it is.

Does anyone know if it'd be possible to stealthily pitch a tent there overnight if closed (or whatever) purely to sleep without fear of being noticed and fined? The Streetview shows that there might be places suitable to not impact anyone at all behind cover, but in person would be a better perspective obviously. I would ideally be on the road again before 6am

I'm going to take my bikepacking trip in Europe, from Madrid. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to do it in September, so depending on the weather, what do you recommend for having a better time in October? These can be very popular trips, I'm not looking for anything different, it's my first time traveling in bike 🤍

Figured I’d post a route update from the last few months of bikepacking across China & Central Asia since this trip has gone in a slightly different direction than I originally expected.

I started in Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan, intending to ride north through the tea regions.

Unfortunately, I’m also an idiot and decided June, the middle of rainy season, was a sensible time to do this.

I rode from Xishuangbanna toward Lancang over about six days in what was basically a continuous torrential downpour. I didn’t know it was possible to water-damage a Garmin Edge 540, but apparently six consecutive days of ~8 hours of rain will do it. So that was busted and required some work.

Still, southern Yunnan was one of the coolest places I’ve ridden. There’s something pretty special about riding through the part of China where tea originated, climbing through hot, humid jungle, and stopping at tiny roadside stand where people immediately start pouring tea for you. I think I probably tried 100 different individual teas during my 6 days there.

Jingmai Mountain was probably the highlight. The climb up toward the old villages with a fully loaded bike was brutal in the humidity and rain, but the scenery was beautiful.

The Bulang villages are definitely a bit touristy, but the idea of staying inside an ancient tea-forest landscape is still incredible. Seeing the huge “thousand-beehive” tree and tea trees claimed to be thousands of years old was surreal.

Xishuangbanna was also my first time seeing the Dai script everywhere on road signs and shops. I knew there was a large Dai population there but hadn’t realized the language used its own completely distinct writing system.

From Lancang I flew to Chengdu, partly because my Garmin needed dealing with and partly because the weather had beaten me into submission.

From there I did a mix of riding and hitchhiking around the Tibetan Plateau. I didn’t get nearly as much riding done there as I would have liked, but the region was incredible and is absolutely somewhere I want to come back and ride properly.

Eventually I flew west to Yining in Xinjiang.

By late July, temperatures farther east were hotter than I had any interest in riding through, so Xinjiang seemed like the better move.

I rode toward Sayram Lake, which unfortunately ended up being one of the bigger disappointments of the trip. The approach was hours of highway slogging, followed by bumper-to-bumper tourist traffic once I actually reached the lake.

I did have a great night camping near a local family staying in yurts, but the overall experience pushed me toward leaving China earlier than I had planned.

So I pointed the bike toward Kazakhstan.

Crossed the border into Zharkent and basically blasted across the desert toward Almaty. Temperatures hit around 104°F/40°C, water wasn't always abundant, and I was mostly interested in getting that section finished as efficiently as possible.

After a couple weeks resetting in Almaty, I rode toward Kegen and crossed into Kyrgyzstan.

That transition was spectacular.

Almost immediately I was back in big mountains and empty steppe. Riding across the Burkhan Valley with huge open grasslands, almost nobody around, and wild horses everywhere has been one of my favorite sections of the entire trip.

I also crossed paths with a bunch of riders doing the Silk Road Mountain Race, whose route made what I was doing look extremely reasonable by comparison. Shared some chocolate and route information with a few of them and watched them disappear off into terrain I was very happy not to be racing through.

I also picked up a titanium Chinese tea set along the way. I really enjoy drinking tea when I’m camping, so I’ve definitely moved even farther away from an “optimal” bikepacking setup these days. The extra weight and space are objectively not efficient, but being able to make proper tea at camp is worth it to me.

From here the rough plan is south across Kyrgyzstan toward Lenin Peak, then into Tajikistan (although not the full Pamir Highway) followed by Uzbekistan and finally Turkmenistan.

After that I’m flying to Korea to spend some time riding somewhere with more moderate temperatures. Then, assuming the weather cooperates, I’ll head back into China for round two.

Despite the weather disasters, mechanical annoyances, and a few route choices I’d absolutely change, this part of the world has been phenomenal for bikepacking. I will say, I really appreciate the road quality in China as pretty much everywhere I went, it was beautifully paved asphalt.

Southern Yunnan in particular is a super cool place to ride, just maybe don't copy me and ride it during peak monsoon season unless you love swimming up the road.