I have an old Airborne Ti hardtail. It's eleven years old and the frame will probably last forever.

This doesn't having anything to do with the OPs situation, hopefully now resolved, but I just had to reply to your mention of an Airborne frame. I have a Flyte Arsenal road frame.. which is basically an Airborne Zeppelin. Flyte was a very short lived attempt to keep Airborne alive with a new company name in the wake of their legal battles with Huffy Corp. I guess there is now an Airborne Bicycles Company again, but separate (legally) from the original corporation. They were gone just long enough to be able to deny me any warranty claims.

I managed to crack that Arsenal frame in the drive side chainstay after about 3 years and 30,000 miles of riding. I kept that frame and let it sit around gathering dust for a couple years before I finally found a friend with connections and got it welded. I kept it as a backup road bike to my carbon Roubaix and will start using it more often for bikepacking since it has a better geometry for frame bags than the Roubaix does.

I lived in the Dayton area where Airborne/Flyte was located, and have many friends who had or still have Airborne frames. Many of them have also broken the frames, and one friend managed to go through three of them: 1 Zeppelin and 2 Torches. Granted is a strong, muscular sprinter type guy who can put a ton of torque on a bike frame.

Anyway... I love my Arsenal and hope that it does indeed last forever (with an occasional weld or two). Hope yours does as well!

The fleece is about the size of a 1 liter soda bottle.

So... I got my fleece sleeping bag delivered today, along with the Sol Bivvy and my sleeping pad. I was quite dismayed when I saw the size of the sleeping bag. As it comes, it's not the size of a 1 liter soda bottle. It's not even the size of a 2 liter soda bottle. It's quite a bit bigger than that. I was on the way out the door when UPS arrived and didn't have time to experiment, but I'm sure it will compress down smaller than it came packaged. Even so, I don't see how it will compress small enough to fit with other gear.

Hopefully I can manage the following:
1 - wrap the fleece and Prolite pad together in a dry bag and fit on front of my road bike bars.
2 - stuff the Sol Bivvy and tent (I ordered a NEMO Moto) into a Revelate Viscacha and still have room for other gear and clothing.

Won't be able to find out until the Moto gets delivered.

Edit 8/1/12: Now I'm not sure I got the same thing. The description on the Amazon item I ordered is identical to the one on Dicks website, but I see from the description by connolm that his only weighs 511 grams. The one I received weighs in at 932 grams, or 2.05 pounds. Nearly double. That would explain the difference in size, but I don't understand how I ended up with something so different. Unless they redesigned the product? I'm gonna head over to Dick's and REI and see what I can find that is comparable.

Edit #2 8/1/12: Went to the local Dick's and found a box with 2 of these fleece sleepin' bags in it. It did indeed look smaller and felt lighter, so I bought one. Got it home and it's 588 grams and does roll up about 1/2 the size of the other one, or maybe 2/3. Either way, it's much more packable. One additional thing I may do for warmer weather trips is cut the first one in half and use it as a blanket instead of a bag.

I decided to go with a NEMO. I debated back and forth between the GoGo and the Moto (12oz heavier and slightly bulkier). I ended up going with the Moto, based on the $239 sale price I found at http://www.basegear.com/nemo-moto-1p-tent.html. Couldn't find anything remotely close for the Gogo LE.

I may decide somewhere down the road (trail) to go even lighter/smaller but for now I think this is a good balance of comfort features and packability. Thanks for all the advice!

Edit: just followed the link back to the basegear site. Looks like I got the last one! (hopefully their stock count is accurate)

Air supported = fascinating concept. I'll look around for some reviews, and will definitely consider it. The price is getting a bit steep... was hoping to keep in the $200-$250 range but willing to pay more if it's the best solution for my needs.

Went to REI today and looked at a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1. I took my road bike in with me and while I was there I held up a Thermarest Prolite (Reg) pad which I had already ordered from Amazon and will get on Tuesday. An employee cautioned me that the pad won't roll up near as tight as they come from the factory (machine compressed). He wasn't confident I'd be able to put both pad and a tent (sans poles) on the front. I'm trying to picture the GoGo LE wrapped around the Prolite on the handlebars and stuffed in a drysack... pretty sure it would be too bulky even though the width is fine. I may need to find a tent that packs tight enough to stuff in my Viscacha with poles secured to frame. Then just the pad on front with whatever else fits with it in a drysack.

This is fun stuff... and I haven't even gotten around to riding yet. Kinda like putting a puzzle together.

Thanks Toby I just checked your blog out and gleaned some good info.  Thanks again.
I'm leaning towards a Revelate Viscacha seat bag with a bar bag and a small frame bag at this point.

After weighing the options, that's the combination I recently chose for my setup... pretty much all Revelate: Visacha w/ Spocket, Small Tangle, Sling & Pocket on the front. I also got a Gas Tank, although it doesn't work with the Velcro position of the Small Tangle. In that case I got a smaller Bontrager box, about the size of a Bento.

For me, the #1 consideration was flexibility. Going this route, I can use any combination of these bags on any one of five different bikes:

• Roubaix carbon road - shorter/faster/lighter trips
• Flyte Arsenal titanium road - longer/casual trips
• Tricross aluminum - mixed road/gravel
• Rockhopper Hardtail - mixed gravel/trail
• Epic Carbon FS - all or rough trail. (Everything but the Tangle fits the FS)

I can quite literally go anywhere that some kind of bike can be pedaled (or pushed!) and I don't have to get racks for all these different combinations. If I do decide to go on a longer trip and need more gear than frame bags can handle, I have front/rear racks for my Tricross and can borrow panniers from a friend.

The moment will likely not fit, unless you pull the struts out of the sleeves.

That would be OK, I don't mind removing the struts.. setup time isn't all that high of a priority for me. But I will look for a similar tent with the same type of layout before making a decision. Thanks for the input!

Excellent. Thanks for the replies about stowing poles separately. I figured that was the case, which opens up a lot more possibilities. Now I just gotta decide which model to go with.

Not foolish at all. I used to do the week long GOBA (Great Ohio Bike Adventure) which was six days of roughly 50 miles per day. 2000-3000 people do this ride every year and a significant number of them fall into your training description. Some don't train at all. They just hop on a bike because some friend/relative talked them into it. And most have a blast. (Note: on GOBA, riders throw their gear on to trucks each day, so it's not actually bikepacking.)

I've ridden with and talked to a lot of GOBA and other weeklong tour riders and the #1 issue for first timers is developing a sore butt. They simply didn't get conditioned to the saddle time. It's usually a minor issue and most everyone has fun despite a little bit of discomfort in the final days. While it's true that you will be in no hurry and have all day to go 50 miles, the longer you spend on the saddle the more it becomes a factor. If you have limited training time, try to at least make one ride a week as long as possible: 30-40 miles or a full 50. Make sure you have a good pair of padded shorts. I'm conditioned to doing multi-day tours of 100+ miles each day, and don't use chamois creams, but one thing I never leave home without: a travel size Gold Bond Medicated Powder. Feels great to put on after a full day in the saddle.

Also... don't forget to enjoy your surroundings! When riding for hours, sometimes it's easy put your head down and completely miss the world around you.

Best of luck and enjoy!

Hey all, new forum member here, and new to bikepacking. I've got just about everything figured out except tent. I'm looking for a lightweight, 1 man tent that can be used on my road/touring bikes with drop bars. On two bikes I've got a comfortable 15", but on my best road bike I've got 14" max clearance, and 13" is preferable. I haven't looked at very many brands yet. So far I've seen recommendations for:

Six Moon Designs Solo and Trekker are both spec'd at 15" packed length.
At 14", Tarp Tent Contrail will fit... barely, but I would prefer the Moment, which is spec'd as 20"

I guess I have 3 questions:
1 - are the packed dimensions reliable... I'd hate to buy something listed as 14" and find out it's actually 14 3/4"
2 - any other tent suggestions in this price range that pack at 14" or less, or...
3 - is it the poles that dictate the packing dimensions? If I can secure the poles elsewhere or pack inside a small Revelate Tangle (15"+), can I roll the tents up a bit smaller in a drybag?

Any other solutions? I've seen a lot of references to just using tarps, but I would prefer an enclosed tent. Thanks in advance!

I can second the use of Sol Bivvies...
I also have a fleece blanket I got at Dick's Sporting Goods...
The bivvy is about the size of a pop can. The fleece is about the size of a 1 liter soda bottle.

Thanks so much for this post! I've been researching bikepacking gear and was about to plunk down big bucks for an ultralight down filled sleeping bag. I'm new to bikepacking and won't be doing much at first except for warm weather trips. This sounds like a perfect combination to start out with for a LOT less money. I can experiment for a while and invest in something higher end/warmer down the road (trail).