Newer than New: Looking for Guidance

[stefprez]

Hello! I was steered here by someone over on HammockForums.net (Any day above ground is a good day!  ) in hopes to learn a little more about this thing called Bikepacking... At this point, I don't even have a bike, but I just did a 87 mile round trip ride this past weekend (there and back over two days) with some friends, and I had quite a good time. I started thinking, "Hmmm... I could see myself doing this more." So here I am!

A bit of background about me and my interests: Rock climbing for several years, new to hiking and backpacking, but enjoy them both, a photo student, and that's about it. What I enjoyed about my weekend trip was going a far distance on a bike. That is cool to me. I could see myself down the line biking down the coast of the US or something (either one!) and just making a big trip out of it.

I know there is touring biking, but I was wondering if Bikepacking is solely just "mountain biking overnight," or if touring along the roads counts as well. Right now I'm a bit more interested in the latter, but even reasonable offroad trails don't seem too bad to me! If I'm not in the right spot, would you mind pointing me in the correct direction? Like I said, total newbie here, so any help is greatly appreciated!

If I am in the right spot, where do I start!? Probably get a bike, but I don't know what to start looking for. I don't want to break the bank right away, so if you have any suggestions on what to look for in terms of used bikes, that'd be awesome as well! Also, info on saddle bags or any of that is also cool! I've got all the camping gear (I'm an Ultralighter which I'm sure will come in handy) but I don't have anything specific to the biking.

Any other help you can think of, whether it be advice, guidance, good links, etc., is all very appreciated!

Thanks again!

[AZTtripper]

Welcome to the wonderful world of bikepacking or bikecamping or biketouring what ever you want to make out of it. I used to do a lot of rock climbing myself.

First off most any bike will work for starters a lot of bikepackers are riding 29 inch bikes these days. That's basically a mountain bike with larger rims and tires. Your average original mtb's were 26 inch wheels. I would say look for something used in the $500 range, I know that may sound pricey but it's easy to spend $2-3000 or more for a good quality light weight bike. It's good that you are into ultralight. For the most fun bikepacking on trails it really helps to go light. The current setups are typically rackless systems. Large seatpost bags, custom fitted frame bags, and any way that you can strap stuff on with out adding weight.

For the most part this site is about riding mtb's on trails using roads to connect different trails pavement when needed but mostly dirt, tho sometimes snow, and some even add boats to the mix. Check out the personal setups section to see how people are carrying gear. Also in the Ultra Race section you'll get an idea of what people are capable of.

For me bikepacking is all about the Arizona Trail http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,611.0.html

Hope that helps
Tim

[stefprez]

Hi Tim! Thanks for the response. A few follow up questions that probably should be embarrassing to ask, but I'm too much of a greenhorn to even know that! When you say "29 inch bikes" you are referring to the wheel diameter, correct? Frame size is dependent on the person's weight, height, and body type if I have gathered info correctly. Also, what exactly should I be looking for in regards to buying a used bike that is different/better than a Walmart mountain bike you could pick up? (I'm sure they are horribly obvious to someone with any experience, but I want to make sure I am getting myself off to a decent start.) Thanks again!
Stefano

[paxton coyote]

yes "29" is a reference to the wheel size. as far as a bike, possibly start out with a steel or aluminum frame, hardtail (meaning no rear suspension) front suspension or not, depending on the type of riding you plan on doing, maybe look for brands such as Specialized, Giant, Cannondale, Trek/Gary Fisher, Fuji, I think all of these make 29'er's now & you can maybe find a used one reasonably priced but the main thing you want is a decent fit which you may have better luck getting from a local bike shop & just buying an introductory type mt bike to start out with, I listed the brands above just off the top of my head, not cause I'm partial to them at all, just cause they're ones to look for, I own Surly & Salsa myself.

 if you have all the lightweight gear then your set there except for a carrying system, for that look at bags from Jandd if your on a budget or Revelate Designs if you want the best, again, just my opinion, there are others out there that will work, most importantly, check out personal set-ups here & stick around, you'll learn plenty in a short time, welcome aboard.

[stefprez]

Great! Thanks for the tips on bikes. I think I'm gonna make a stop to my local bike shop tomorrow to at least get some input in person. I hope all this works out nicely! Thanks for the warm welcomes, as well.

[AZTtripper]

I would agree that fit is very important. The thing you would notice right away at Walmart is that their bikes weigh about twice what a real bike should, also they have a little label on them not for off road use. They look like real bikes at first but if you look closely you will see that they are very cheaply made. Your local bike shop guy will be able quickly show you the various levels of components. Basically there's stuff that's good enough, good and tough, and tough and light. A good enough bike will likely start at close to $1000 new with Sram X 5 or Shimano SLX gear, better but a little more $ X 7-9 or XT is the tough stuff X0 and XTR level has you paying twice as much to shave a few grams and is not really worth it unless you are really racing hard.   

The only company Paxton listed that I don't like is the "Big Red S" Specialized as they saw fit to hassle Eric from Revelate when he used to be Epic. They thought that they owned the word Epic total BS IMO as that is a word that outdoorsy people were using long before they named a bike that. Eric is a supper chill guy who has had many epic adventures. He started a little company in his garage in AK making products for a small but slowly growing sub group of riders. I thought it was pretty lame to sick their fat cat lawyers on a cottage industry that was in no way competing with them. 

If you are a DIY kinda guy there are several threads out there about how to make everything to carry gear without racks. If not there are two main guys Eric from AK and Jeff Carousel Design Works out of CA. They are both very small and have a fairly long lead time but make great products. Jandd also makes bomber gear their stuff will last a lifetime but the selection is pretty limited and they don't really specialize in bikepacking.

[paxton coyote]

Tim, I do agree with you 100 o/o on the big "S" thing & what they did, I do unfortunately have 2 of those "S" bikes hanging in my garage that belong to my senior in high school twins, they were the bikes that got them into biking seriously, my son has moved on to a Giant cross bike & a Surly KM SS, it was total crap what they did to Eric & for that reason alone I'll never own one of their bikes myself, regardless of how cool it is!

[stefprez]

Me=Sponge. You Guys=Source of Informational Liquid that I soak up! Hahahaha. Great. Here's another quick question that, with any real activity/sport/hobby/recreation/whatever, there is no "real" answer, but I'll explain. I read somewhere that if you have to "go cheap" on a bike (which I will be in the beginning, to make sure this is something I like), that it's better to get a decent, lightweight frame bike with cheaper components, because you can always upgrade the components later, but if you have a bad frame, you'll probably end up just getting a new bike. With that being said, is there a Hybrid bike out there that fits that criteria (cheap overall, decent frame, cheaper parts)? I'm not saying I'm gonna jump on it and buy it (I know fit is one of the most important parts of a bike), but since I don't totally know what I'm looking for yet, it'd be nice to have a starting reference point! (Thanks again for all the help. I'm sure I'm like that little annoying toddler that won't stop asking questions right now. :-P )

[jhl99]

Nothing wrong with starting out on 26" wheels and racks.  They are readily available, economical and versatile.

To me, a hybrid bike is for  'recreational' rail trail riders and not suited off road riding or heavy use like touring.

You might look at the 29" offerings from Redline http://www.redlinebicycles.com/bikes/mtb/2011-d-440

The D440 might show some promise at a budget price point.

Rochester, NY?  If I was you, I would be planing some trips in the Adirondaks: http://www.bikepacking.net/tripreports/usa-ny-adirondaks/

[AZTtripper]

I will agree with jhl99 on the 26" platform nothing wrong with 26 most of us have logged lots of miles on them. I would still stay away from racks if you have lightweight gear already you can always go low budget and just start strapping stuff on.

Redline makes good entry level bikes, Surly does as well but I have heard the Karate Monkey can be hard to convert to gears. I have a Kona steel frame 26" that has been a great bike can be run SS or easily converted to gears.

So good frame with cheap parts or a cheep bike altogether. Both make sense for the entry level just testing the waters bike. Yes if you get a good frame it will be worth keeping and make upgrades, but you can just as easily buy a whole new bike. One thing to know is that buying a complete bike is a much better deal then buying parts. You could easily spend as much on parts for the upgrade as you would for those same parts on a complete bike. To be honest you could go to Walmart and spend $199 for their 29er and get by just fine for a while just don't get too far into the woods to the point where you don't want to carry it out when it breaks.

Paxton nothing wrong with owning an old Sworks the original rockhopper and hardrocker where some of the first Mtb's out there. Now if somebody named there company hardhopper or rockrocker then they might have had good cause. Somebody should start a bike company called specialist designs they can't own every variation on a theme, well maybe they can. I tried to get the race promoter at Epic Rides to call them out on it but they are the cheapest producer of water bottles and he wouldn't rock that boat. Maybe Big Red should be donating all of the profits from the Epic to IMBA as they were using the term Epic Rides prior to them coming out with their bike.