First bikepacking bicycle

[poeli]

Hi all,

I'm new on this forum and new into bikepacking. I do almost al the transport i have to do with my folinding bicycle (on bus or train or ride). Recently i did some larger tours (+-70km) with it, but want to get more into bikepacking and plan some longer multiple day tours (I own a Tern verge p9 right now).
Now I still can use my Tern for now, but started thinking about a 'big' bike to start the serious bikepacking. But now i'm flooded with information. Right now i'm riding mainly paved roads (let's say 95%). I'm a longtime Alpkit fan and started looking into their Sonder Camino frame. I was wondering, would it be 'bad' to put a casette and pedals with a big ratio on it? My folding bike currently has a 55T (which is massive), and gives me so much speed (just love when I pass regular cyclists with it).
Which brands offer good starting bicycles? I found Surly too on the internet, which are some nice looking bikes (though a bit on the heavy side and i don't know how the gear ratio is). Are there bicycles out which are build with the large gear ratio i'm talking about?

Maybe it's because i'm used to what i have on my folding bike, but the speed is really something i want to keep. Who can point me to a good starting bicycle or frame (I have no expierence myself with building a bicycle yet) to get me a nice winter project? I'm definatly going to try out some Surly cycles and see how i like them. Any input and thoughts are always welcome.

Thanks
pieter

[RonK]

Your Tern has 20" wheels and a 11x55 high gear yielding 95 gear inches. This is not particularly high for a road bike.

When you say big bike, I presume you mean one with 29" or 700c wheels, or perhaps 27.5" wheels.

A 55x11 high gear with 29" wheels would yield 142 gear inches - way too high for just about any purpose except pro time trial bikes.

Even with 27.5" wheels, 55x11 would yield 130 gear inches - still way too high.

A 55t chainring would be a bad choice.

My bike packing bike is a Salsa Fargo with 29" wheels. In standard specification it has a 38x11 high gear which yields 98 gear inches - very close to what you have on the Tern.

I suggest you leave it to the bike manufacturer to choose the most appropriate gearing.

[poeli]

Thanks for the quick reply. I dont have much expierence with bicycles or building ones, but my tern is the first one where i have the feeling it all goes 'smoothly' compared to other city bikes i had. Any people expierence with the Alpkit Camino or Surly trekking bikes? Any good beginner bicycles? Will look into Salsa!

[bakerjw]

I have a Surly Karate Monkey. I'd had a carbon frame fail on me and needed a frame ASAP and my LBS could get one for me in a couple of days. It is a bit heavy, but it is a very smooth riding bike. Salsa and Surly are both owned by the same parent company QBP and they have fantastic customer focus.

Also... Welcome to the world of bikepacking! That Camino frame is nice looking. Lots of frame space for a frame bag.

On my bikepacking bikes, I typically run a 2x10 Shimano XTR drive train. Up front I have 24/40 sprockets. In the back I have a 11-36 (10 speed) cassette. It is the absolute limit that I can go with the current long cage XTR rear derailleur. By limit, I refer to 40 - 24 = 16 teeth difference in sprockets. But the 24/40 up front separates the ratios quite nicely meaning that the ranges don't overlap too much.

A lot of people are going to 1x drivetrains, but for bikepacking, I believe that the 2x works best as it gives close sprocket ratios. When I am loaded up and grinding up a grade, I can shift up or down 1 position to make it easier or harder and having 24 up front and 36 in the back means that I can spin very easily. After 10 hours in the saddle, I've found that a certain cadence feels good and I try to maintain it. When I get on pavement and I shift to 40 up front and 11 in the rear, I can do 27mph at a 90 cadence.

Just remember. Although bikepacking is technically mountain biking, the bikes are loaded up and saddle time is usually a lot longer.