Go for a basic rigid 29er mountain bike sort of bike and put some big slick (or filetread) tires on it for most of your daily riding. But hold on to the knobbies for any fun trail riding you want to do. Or if that is too much work, get a nice fast rolling knobby tire like the Teravail Sparwood, and use it for everything.

For trails, unless they are super wet, the most important thing is to have enough tire volume. For road riding, the most important thing is to not have too knobby of tires. So you can still get the best of both worlds with a big balloony road tire on a rigid mountain bike.

-- Just be sure whatever you get has rack mounting points!

You are right. There are two major types of bikepacking bikes. Gravel bikes and mountain bikes. You can ride anything on any bike, but you'll have more fun on the one designed for the type of riding you are trying to do. Here are some photos from a recent bikepacking trip with some friends. I had a full suspension Salsa Horsethief with a very minimalist bikepacking load. My friend had a Trek 1120 with a much less minimal load.

You can decide for yourself who chose better.

Right. The age old rule is to look where you WANT to go, not where you don't want to go. So looking at your wheel will almost always result in you crashing. The biggest issue here though is handlebar lights. They can easily get so obstructed that they don't really shine any light on the ground at all. But if you're not riding at night, then this doesn't matter.

Not to mention bikepacking can involve a lot of hikeabike which isn't captured at all in a power meter. For me the biggest appeal on multiday trips is something more like the whoop strap that can help you keep track of calories burned to make sure you're eating enough food. Even wearing that for a few shorter trips helped me get an estimate for how much food I'd need (5000cal per day) when I was shopping for a big restock between towns. Actual power put out on the pedals only accounts for a fraction of the total energy consumed during your trip.

3T makes a nice flip up version:
https://www.bikeparts.com/BPC359479/3t-flip-clip-on-team-armrest-318mm-clamp-carbon-black

But really, you may need to adapt the bag to the setup, rather than the setup to the bag.

Some people make bags specifically designed for aerobats, like the Apidura one

I've attached a drybag straight to my aerobars using cinch straps, which was great for eliminating cable squish. That said, I don't use areobars anymore because I tend to ride with others, and don't spend that much time on flat ground, where they can be used.

If you are looking for just a bit of extra bar space, Problem Solvers makes a beefier mount that holds a typical 22mm bar, and you can even double it up and replace the bar with a wider one if you need more space and strength.
https://problemsolversbike.com/products/accessory-mounts/accessory_mounts_-_27803

I got a pair after a 3 day bikepacking trip. Haven't used them overnight yet, but I am a fan. If you are actually mountain biking, they are way safer than bar ends, cuz they won't catch on trees. Don't MTB with bar ends!!!

FWIW, when possible, put the weight on your bike, instead of your back. If you don't have enough volume on your bike, put the bulky, but light stuff on your back, and the dense heavy stuff in the frame bag. With more technical terrain, panniers are less desirable, but can be OK, but you really need to keep the weight minimal. Again, put the dense stuff in the frame bag, and the bulky light stuff in your panniers.

OMG 100% agreed. Also why is it that all tail light mounting sucks? The ones that mount to the seatpost are pretty good, except when bikepacking you don't have any exposed seatpost. Why can't we have nice lights that integrate into the seat stays WELL? The only tail light mount I've ever had that seemed to be given ANY thought was the fender mounted B&M dynamo light. But you need a fender for that to work.

What bike? Everything is very fit specific. I have a heavily used, frame bag for a 54cm cross bike that I'd give up for a couple bucks more than shipping, but I have no clue what size you'd need.

You'll also get a big benefit from setting your tire pressure appropriately. I ride mountain bike trails a lot on my cross bike, which I have set up with 700x38c tires. If you are running tubeless, don't weight much, and are light on your feet, you can get away with 25-30psi no problem. I have friends on the otherhand who always shove 60+ psi into their similarly sized tires and then complain about how bumpy the ride is.

Bigger tires won't make the ride smoother unless you drop your pressure accordingly. You want to be *just* shy of getting rim strikes.

For whatever reason the mud clearance issue always seems to be on the sides, not the tread section of the tires. I think the tread section keeps getting knocked off as you roll, while the sides keep building up. It is worth noting that while more clearance is better, you could be running 23mm road slicks and still clog up a fat bike fork in mud like Bakerjw posted. Sometimes you're just gonna have to walk.

For tykepacking, anything goes!

With regards to geometry, you'll be fine, but I'd recommend using a strap with some give and stick to it, like the Voile ski straps, so it doesn't slip out.

Do know that 8lbs of water sloshing around will feel a little strange. I had this setup with 2 40oz bottles on a rigid CX bike and on dirt roads it was totally fine, but trying to ride some of the chunky sections of the Arizona Trail, I really really wished I didn't have all that weight on the fork.

Hey Case,
I DMed you. Let me know if that didn't work for you. Happy to buy the rack off of you.

Does anyone have a Pack 'N Pedal rack they are looking to get rid of?



I know they are not particularly highly regarded, but I have a special use case. I'm going to turn my bike travel case into a trailer for getting to/from the airport.

Take shoes off put them under the bivy to raise the head up then whatever else to make up the desired height/comfort.

I used to do this backpacking. Now I live in the land of poison ivy, so shoes are a serious no-go. I found shoving a water bottle under my pad does a pretty darn good job.

It is funny how these conversations go. On one trip my S.O. was adamant about bringing a 3rd pair of socks. At the end of the trip we found that 3rd pair of socks at the bottom of one of our bags - she never touched it - and she'll never live it down. Another time we decided we *really* should bring the big heavy folding lock. When we went to lock up our bikes, we realized we brought the wrong key. On another trip, I found her one night cutting all the little food baggies in half "to save weight!". Still, I'll find her from time to time, sneaking a hard cover book or two into our bags.

Let me get this straight. You want a bike with 2.5" knobby tires, an internally geared hub, and you want to be able to keep up with roadies on it?

It does sorta sound like the Seven Scrambler (https://www.sevencycles.com/bikes/sevenduro-2x2-scrambler.php) might be your best bet. They build fully custom, so they could add in belt and IGH compatibility, plus the bike is designed to nicely run "skinny" 700c tires and "fat" 650b tires.

Not exactly what you are asking for, but I don't think I could ever ride with bar ends here in New England, where the trails are so narrow that I frequently punch trees. Instead, I got a set of SQlab 411 Innerbarends that go between your grips and brakes.



They have the added bonus of also sorta letting you grab the brakes while in that position.