I planned on taking spare bike shorts - is that necessary?

A pair of bike shorts without the pad (compression shorts do the trick) can be a great as they dry much quicker and take much less space. I don't find bike shorts with the pad beneficial personally and avoid them. Even if you like the pad then think about a second pair without the padding so that you have a spare that doesn't take up much space and dries quickly after a wash in a river.

[The gear I've settled on for remote area trips includes:]

I thought I would start a discussion on the camp kitchen as I've always enjoyed the outdoor cooking while on a bike trip.

Unlike some I find cooking (and eating) a good meal before going to bed a good way to wind down. I don't mind putting in a bit more effort to make a nicer meal and enjoy thinking about what I will make for dinner. Some of my recent trips have been to areas where services are rare and I can't expect to stock up on anything but basic food 1-3 weeks apart. I thought I'd share my setup and hopefully get some other people commenting and sharing theirs.
I'm looking to change my setup a bit as my next trip is going to be the Colorado trail where services are more regular and predictable but the terrain demands a more minimalist setup. I am looking to lighten the load but am apprehensive about losing cooking function. I've done my weights in grams, apologies to anyone from Samoa or that other country that still uses the imperial system.  

The gear I've settled on for remote area trips includes:
- Hard Anodised Pot with frying pan lid (just under 1L pot if solo, ~250-300g)
- Insulated (vacuum) flask - wide mouth (~500ml if solo, 335g)
- Various stoves (Bushbuddy woodburning stove for trips with long stretches without services (~150g, wood for fuel scavenged not carried)
- Other items include an Opinel Knife, small plastic flexible cuttingboard and a spoon/fork.

The flask seems like a bit of a luxury item outside of winter but it is really a multipurpose item. I use it to:
- As a 500ml water bottle that can keep water cold on a hot day or tea hot on a cold day.
- Make real coffee  - Pour boiling water over the grounds in the flask, shake and let the grounds settle for 15+ mins resulting in very good black coffee. My preference is to ride for a bit before stopping for a nice coffee and stretch. 
- It has a screw on cup to drink the hot coffee, tea or beer if you manage to have some stashed away   
- Cooking dried beans/lentils - Dried beans or lentils can cook in the flask during the day while you are riding. With the right spices and stock you can do a pretty good dahl, mexicanish blackbeans and rice, soup or add them to anything else to provide some protein instead of relying on carbs, fats and sugars for your calories. Due to this point I think that on big stretches between services the flask may save packed weight as dried legumes are filling energy dense and leave you feeling very full. Also they have fibre in them. Don't go weeks without fibre unless you have packed a lot of toilet paper...
- Cooking a good casserole. Similarly to cooking the dried beans all day I've done casseroles in the flask by browning things in the pot and transferring to the flask once they've come to the boil for a few minutes. It stays at cooking temperature and cooks as you ride. This doesn't really work for backcountry stuff though as you don't usually have sources of fresh meat.

I like the hard anodised aluminium pot set. I like to make real food not dehydrate so I like using a pot as opposed to a tall narrow cup. I am reluctant to spend money on a Titanium pot as there isn't much weight savings and the hot spots on the titanium make it harder to cook some things (oat meal, eggs, frying). The fry pan lid is useful when making things like pasta as you can cook the sauce in the fry pan then boil the water for the noodles using the still full frypan as the lid insulating the boiling water and keeping the sauce hot.

The bushbuddy (same/original design to the solo stove) is great at minimising weight when you have a long time between services or when you don't know what fuels are available. I cooked on it for 3 months in Siberian boonies. The problem is it is labour intensive. On a nice day it takes a bit of extra time. If it has been raining all day, week or more you spend much too much time looking for the driest wood and using the knife to peel back the bark and wet outside to find the dry inner. If you've been riding all day in the persistent rain you don't feel like doing this just to get your dinner. It does force you to learn some good survival/fire skills. On a good day it makes for a nice way to cook dinner as if you are cooking on an open fire, but if you are having a bad day due to the weather the bushbuddy can make it worse. Having a pepsi can stove and a small amount of alcohol fuel as a backup is not a bad idea and weighs very little.

Planned Cooking Setup for the Colorado Trail
I'm reviewing my kitchen for the Colorado Trail to reduce weight and volume and have the following ideas. 

- Making a thin lid for the pot instead of the frypan lid. (saving about 100g and a bit of pack space) This would make make the lid less durable and could be bent in packing/use. I would also be hesitant to use a thin lid to drain something like pasta but I could limit myself to one pot pasta without too much issue. I may have an old pot lid that would fit and be strong but save less weight.
-  Ditching the thermos would save 335g. Dried beans are difficult to buy in small quantities and aren't needed when resupplies are regular. Coffee is an issue but it could be left to settle in the pot. I'd need something to drink hot drinks from and having a solid bottle is pretty useful so it would probably be replaced by a 500ml nalgene bottle at minimum (100g). Ultimately ditching the thermos could save up to 235g. 
- Going all UL and using a tiny titanium cup/pot for all my cooking and drinking. saving around 350-500g. I don't expect to go this far.
- I'll probably be using an isobutane stove as it seems alcohol stoves and wood burning stoves are often banned if the fire danger is an issue. It's probably heavier but will be quicker to cook with.     

I'll be going pretty close to UL for most other gear decisions but I can't seem to pry myself away from my beloved comforts of cooking and enjoying a good meal in a nice place.

What do other people's camp kitchens look like? How does it change with different trips?

Keep in mind that February - March is the end of summer in NZ. I was on the south island a few years ago for November (Equivalent of May in the northern Hemisphere) and had no issues with day or night temperatures but can't remember details. The tent and sleeping bag used were definitely summer gear and didn't cause any issue. Some raingear is necessary.

I've been living in Australia for the last 17 years so take my advice with a grain of salt.

I'd combine some sort of wind/waterproof sleeve over the thermal insulation to keep wind from blowing the cold through the insulation if it is fibrous. Maybe even the insulation used for copper pipes from the hardware store just to try it out.  If practical you could maybe route the hose through your clothing but that could cool you down more than you want if the water in the bag gets cold. 

Sitting higher and forward is probably to avoid fouling on cables and getting complaints from people having trouble fitting them. Holding it forward is more difficult to do successfully as the weight wants to rotate to sit in the typical hanging position. I suspect the blackburn design is more to make it compatible with as many bikes as possible and less about ideal positioning of weight.

Even on the road I don't like typical touring handlebar bags that sit forward. They are convenient but they disrupt handling quite a bit sticking the weight out forward from the rotation of the steer tube and being so high up.  If you want to unweight the front of the bike or even lift it on an MTB having it sticking forward is going to make it more difficult. If you don't have enough space under the bars then you are probably having it on the heavier side so I would try and keep the weight as low and as close to the centre of the bike as practical. Maybe put some stuff under the bars/stem and some above? The stem coukd be used quite well to support stuff.

Here is an example where I went overboard, but I was quite content sipping beer and disassembling the bike leisurely.  Having said that nothing was challenging to remove and the process was pretty quick. The Fork and wheels were in the second package in a similar manner.

but a rack is 2 1/4 lbs before you get panniers on it.

How about a lighter rack? I've accumulated about 6 months of touring including 4 months of rough loaded riding with a Blackburn EX-1 that weighs 570g, a weight comparable to the average seat pack. Strap a dry bag to the top and you are pretty equivalent in terms of weight. A lot of heavy racks are heavy because they have complex designs and more tubes so that you can hang your pannier in different ways, adjust heights etc. All these extra tubes add weight without adding much strength. Of course keep in mind the weight you are carrying. If you want to use a 20L drybag to fit a bit more than your underseat bag and avoid sway a less solid rack is probably more than adequate. If you want to pack all your gear including the kitchen sink still full of dishwater on the rear rack before riding a downhill track then you might need a more solid rack.

I've a seat bag as it is suitable for some trips I have planned and the Trek stache I plan to do it on doesn't have provisions for racks but I haven't used it yet so I can't really compare.

It helps if the bike isn't in a box. Wrapping it in bubble wrap, camping gear, bits of cardboard and all taped together just makes it look like a mess of stuff that could be "outdoor equipment" (think of all the random poles, tarps, tables etc that people take car camping). Make it smaller than a complete bike by taking the steertube out of the frame helps a lot as well.

 If it is in a nice looking box that looks well looked after or with bike branding on it then you will have more trouble pulling the wool over their eyes. 

I usually pack as much gear with the bike itself as I can while keeping it under the weight limit. If you have an allowance for 2 free bags you can split the bike into 2 pieces and pack gear with both halves so it isn't obviously a bike. The trick is to take the fork out of the steer tube to reduce the size quite a bit. Call it outdoor/camping equipment if they ask when you check in and avoid the bicycle charge even if it is over the max bag size. The airlines never charge for something being a bit oversize, but if it is a bit oversize and happens to be a bicycle they charge a big fee. I've never paid the bike fee and use this method when flying 

 I try and put the gear in places that provide extra protection for the bike where it needs it.

My first thought is that I wouldn't want to carry a few weeks of fuel in isobutane unless you were used it very sparingly. When going weeks without services I've used wood burning stoves (a bushbuddy) and carried a 20g chimney alcohol stove and a small amount of alcohol fuel for when it is too much work to prep wood (after a couple days of rain). A liquid fuel stove would be my next choice for long term use.

If you did want to use isobutane canisters strapping it to the downtube shouldn't be too bad if you cover it in some sort of bag, especially if it has a bit of padding. This should protect it from kicked up stones and sticks. I'd be wary of obstacles that you could drop the bike onto (fallen trees etc). Even it it doesn't pierce you don't want to make the fuel bottle unusable if you have a long time period before you can get to services and not be able to eat the food you've packed. 

I've never myself but I've heard that people get that on the CT. I assumed that it was related to altitude as people get the same thing when on long flights where they are doing no physical exercise.

Panniers, racks and bikepacking bags all have their place. There is only so much space in bikepacking bags but panniers can be difficult on some terrain, though probably not as much as some make it out to be.

I started bike touring on roads and then moved to more remote touring as that's where my interest lies. I haven't done a tour with bikepacking gear yet but plan on it. Excluding a tandem one with my partner which wasn't remote my last 3 tours have all needed 7 to 20 days worth of food which I can't see that working with a bikepacking setup.

I think the issues of panniers is overblown for 2 reasons. Firstly riding with panniers isn't much harder assuming the same amount of gear is with you, just don't take what you don't need and make sure the bike is balanced (don't load it all over the rear rack, spread the weight evenly, road style bar bags make a bike handle terribly). There is extra weight in the rack and panniers but it is proportional to the volume they can carry.

The other thing is not that many people actually ride routes that are technical enough for panniers to be a problem. A lot of people think a full bikepacking setup is necessary for the great divide MBR but really panniers and racks would be suitable as well. People always look at the equipment used in the more demanding applications and tend to copy that even if their application doesn't necessarily justify it. Just like the very unfit middle aged person on a fancy carbon roadbike that would be much more suited to a more robust but uncool hybrid. Bikepacking is the cool thing right now which effects some people's gear choice. Less than half of people using bikepacking use their loaded bike in conditions that panniers would be inappropriate but still didn't consider them.   

Bikepacking gear just like everything else is a compromise. Saddlebags for instance aren't the best way to store gear on the back of the bike. Many of 8-12L volume are around 500g (~1.1 lbs) and reportedly can't take too much weight otherwise there is annoying sway. My very reliable Blackburn EX1 rear rack is 570g and can have a drybag (which many already have in their saddle bag) strapped to the top holding more bulk and weight.  This may make a backpack unnecessary which could result in less overall weight and more comfort. It also makes a dropper post a possibility though an unlikely combination. Not all frames will fit a rear rack (especially full suspension) but I can guarantee that many people who could have fit something similar didn't even consider it as bikepacking gear seemed the be the thing to do. Rack reliability is a concern but so is every bit of gear. I've accumulated between 5 and 6 months of offroad touring and more onroad with one of my EX1 racks with no Issues with quite a bit of weight in 40L of heavy panniers bouncing around on them. Halve the loaded weight and you should have no issues on the roughest tracks you would want to take your loaded hardtail down.

That's not to say that bikepacking gear is a silly fad. It's another valuable option for people to load gear on their bike but shouldn't be seen as the only option. Decide on your gear based on the conditions you expect to use it in.   

Here in Eastern Australia there are few tracks that are long enough to make a decent trip without having services so far apart that bikepacking gear is still able to hold enough food unless you can manage to get food drops organised. I can only think of one moderate length "local" ride that could be possible with bikepacking gear and that is on the other side of the continent and panniers would still be ok.

It seems that the majority of long distance rides with notable technical elements are in North America with a bit in the UK and Europe. I'm jealous of the logistical simplicity of bike trips on some of the famous routes. To have guidebooks and maps telling you where shops,  watersources, to turn and where to get the best beer is you can go quite minimal on gear which allows bikepacking gear. When there is a lack of information on track conditions and services you have to prepare for the unexpected including bringing more gear. On a solo trip to Siberia I had little information, daily river crossings that could be flooded, some very deep muddy tracks and a lack of services beyond the occasional town meant I had to prepare for the worst. My gear and food amounts meant a bikepacking bag setup wouldn't have been possible. Now that I've been and am familiar I could go lighter and a bikepacking setup could probably work. Not following in other people's footsteps (tyre tracks) is rewarding but it is hard work to prepare for something like that and the heavy bike isn't as quick/fun. I am jealous of the well documented bikepacking friendly trails available in North America and am in the early stages of planning to ride the Colorado trail next year which has me really excited and I will need to use bikepacking gear due to the trail conditions. 

Quite a lot of information on www.advrider.com on mongolia. There was an interesting trip report there a couple years ago of a group who bought cheap local motorbikes and followed mainly herding tracks (so probably non technical single track) just following valleys on the contour map and asking locals to confirm that the track kept going. There are of course a number of rough unsealed roads through Mongolia to ride as well. 

The easiest one would probably be some sort of rissotto/rice based meal. Parmesan cheese keeps very well as it is dried (~3 weeks unrefrigerated in the Canadian summer before the block was finished was my longest, no issues there).

Risotto (Mushroom for this example)

Salami or similar (optional, does keep quite well unrefridgerated but there are of course limits)
Garlic (Real cloves aren't too heavy)
Oil (can be skipped if you aren't frying anything at the start)
Onion (Packaged fried onion is not bad)
Dried Mushrooms (Asian supermarkets have all sorts packaged a dried. They can be bulky but they weigh nearly nothing)
Stock cube (Chicken or Vegetable are good options)
Salt, pepper, herbs and spices to taste (An Italian spice mix works well)
Rice (white of some time so it cooks in a reasonable time, arborio if you feel like being authentic)
Parmesan cheese (A block keeps best, or you could go for the questionable stuff that doesn't need to be refrigerated

Fry the salami, garlic or onion if it's fresh. Add water (roughly 1.5 to 2 parts water per part ride), stock cube, mushrooms, rice and anything else. Bring to the boil (slowly is possible). Let it sit for a while until the rice absorbs all the water (15 minutes, depending on how long you took getting to the boil). Stir the parmesan through (it shaves pretty easily with a sharp knife) and eat.

Play around with the ingredients and make just about anything flavour wise. You can use any fresh or dried vegies, meats, beans or whatever in there. It's a pretty versatile base that you can make do with what you have on hand. If you want to carry as little as possible you can use dried everything and just throw it in and bring it to the boil. With a few fresh ingredients you can make a really delicious meal. 

Another really easy one is cous cous with dried fruit and nuts. Add water (1 part water per part cous cous) and dried fruit. Add a touch of vegetable stock (optional) and  spices if you like (sumac works well with the fruit and nuts) bring it to the boil. Once boiling add the cous cous and stir in, leave covered for a minute or so. stir/fluff up and add nuts. Makes a hot meal very quickly. Good for a hot lunch.

In terms of the geometry of the bike going to 27.5+ will keep the diameter approximately the same as a 29" front wheel so you should be equivalent there assuming the forks have the same crown to axle length.

It will give the front wheel extra suspension through the flex of the tyre. I don't know your setup so I can't comment specifically but if you make the front end too plush you may find the rear end can't keep up with the front end. You don't want to add expense, add the extra weight to the front end and not get much back for it. What exactly are you trying to solve with the upgrade?

Can you fit 29+ up front instead?

That will change the geometry to be slacker on the front end. Not necessarily a problem but 27.5+ will keep the geometry closer to what it is currently.

Personally I think that bikes should have kept the 559mm (26") rim size and just made larger tyres/ wider rims to suit. I bet a ~559-60 tyre rides much the same as a 622-53 tyre. What you lose in in diameter you make up with the extra tyre deformation over obstacles. Really there is only an 11% difference between a 26"/559 rim and a 29"/622 rim. The actual diameters don't mean all that much for rolling over obstacles but the 26" wheel is easier to design a frame around, especially if you want a short rear end. Why there needed to be a middle standard size is beyond me. Of course there are great bikes of all sizes. I ride a 29" and think there are 27.5+ bikes that look like a lot of fun that would suit me well.     

Hi Everyone

I'm an experienced bike tourer and I've done quite a bit of remote touring off the roads. I haven't toured using bike packing gear as my remote tours usually involve carrying 1-3 weeks worth of food which is hard to do without panniers. I have documented some of my trips on CGOAB. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/black_labb
The most relevant journals for offroad travel would be "The great Siberian offroad adventure" or "Exploring Anticosti"

I'm getting more into singletrack riding now that I have a half decent hardtail. I am starting to look at setting it up for some bikepacking trips in the future so I can ride a bit more playfully on rougher firetrails or singletrack. I've recently become interested in the Colorado and Arizona trails and will probably try to get over to that side of the world in the next few years. Having such extensive good riding in stunning remote areas with opportunities to restock food every few days is hard to find here in Australia.

I'll wake this thread up with a bit of strong coffee.

A thermos can make very nice and strong coffee. Add ground coffee and boiling water and let it settle (say 30 minutes or more) before pouring/decanting the coffee off the grains. The thermos has a number of other uses, including "simmering" food that takes a while to cook or simply as a hot/cold water bottle.