Newbie, overwhelmed with options

[butts0989]

I am new to bike touring and really need some help and to be given some direction.  I am an avid backpacker, my general base weight is around 9lbs in the summer and 12 in the shoulder seasons.  I love to mountain bike and I'm trying to figure out the most logical option for a new bike.  I live in crested butte so the terrain I would be riding is predominantly single track with some rocky technical uphill.  What kinds of bikes should I be looking at? Single speeds, fully rigid, hardtail, 1X1, 1X9?? 

[Racingguy04]

Honestly, you can ride whatever you want to, I like a hard tail for bike packing with a big front triangle so I can have a big frame bag. Alot of FS rigs can accommodate a decent sized frame bag too, so FS isn't out of the question. I generally think that when pedaling a loaded bike uphill for long periods of time, more gears is better. I used to ride a 3 x 9, now I ride a 2 x 10. Sometimes I'm tempted by a bigger granny gear but for now I just walk.

Ultralight backpacking and bike packing have alot in common so you're ahead of the curve there and you'll likely already have most of the camping gear/clothes that you need.

the biggest thing is just to get out there! my first bikepacking trip was on a 10 year raleigh with 26 inch wheels. Now I ride a Carbon fiber frame with 29 inch wheels, it's just as fun.

[AZTtripper]

Yep any bike will do but you can't really go wrong with full suspension and full range of gears. If you start doing longer days your body will thank you for FS and as has been pointed out gears will help with the loaded climbing.

Sounds like you have a good light system from your backpacking.

[NT]

I live on the other side of the Elks from you and find a full suspension 29er 2x10 to serve my needs well. I'd use whatever bike you already use to ride in CB unless you were looking to get a new bike anyway. I think the comfort of full suspension and very low gearing (my low is 20x36), along with light weight are key for enjoying bikepacking the rocky trails at altitude here. That said I have friends who are happy on their carbon hardtails, so it really depends on you. The low gearing may seem excessive but it lets me ride a lot more than my friends who are pushing. I chose a Giant Anthem as the huge triangle space gives me nearly a full sized frame bag, but I used to use a Santa Cruz Superlight with a very small custom frame bag and that worked well too (I just had more on the bars and backpack then). Your backpacking background will be immensely helpful; you'll just need to get used to segmenting your gear into different places rather than all in the pack.

[butts0989]

Awesome thanks so much for that info. I ended up just purchasing a Kona Kula gold from 2011, it is a 26'' but it rides great.  It currently has a set of standard kona bars, x7 shifters, x9 rear derailleur, and is a 3X10.  Here are some of my ideas to build it up a little.  xtr rear derailleur, bash guard for biggest ring on crank, xtr shifter (I HATE double thumb shifters).  Would this make for a more reliable and smoother setup?

[NT]

Those upgrades sound more like personal preference stuff than reliability upgrades. The existing sram stuff should be fine and how much will you really use the big ring? If not often, then maybe some dinged/worn teeth won't be a big deal. Maybe spend the money on bike bags?

[AZTtripper]

Yep no need for XTR the r for race level is more for day races where grams matter to some people. XT standard is the lightest that holds up under heavy use.