Packing w/ road bike

[Cwby45]

How many bikepack with road bike? I realize your limited in the experience, but not ready to put money down on a new bike.

[black_labb]

Not sure exactly what you are mean by going bikepacking as it is a pretty vague term. Also road bike is pretty vague with some being more suited to different things than others.

Bikepacking and bike touring are really the same thing. In some circles bike touring seems to imply riding on the road or with rack and panniers or riding at a more relaxed pace and bikepacking is sometimes seen to be offroad / singletrack race or near race paces with bikepacking bags. Bikepacking bags refers to a frame bag, seat pack mounting to the seat rails and seat post and a handlebar sling/harness. Ultimately they are both used to describe a self supported bicycle trip. If you can't find much info on bikepacking on a road bike look up bike touring if you haven't already.

So by asking if people bikepack on road bikes are you asking if people:

1. Ride an offroad self supported bike trip with a road bike Answer: Probably not a good idea for the typical modern road bike as the tyres are too narrow, the wheels wont hold up well and it won't be comfortable even on a typical gravel road or firetrail. A cyclocross bike or a hybrid bike with capacity for reasonably wide tyres would be ok on dirt roads and some firetrails
or 
2. Ride an on road self supported bike trip with a road bike Answer: People will often ride a self supported trip on a road bike. Some road bikes may be limited in terms of how much gear they can be loaded with limiting you to bikepacking bags.
or
3. Ride a self supported bike trip on a road bike using bikepacking bags Answer: Quite a few people do with no issues. The handlebar harness is limited in width due to the drop bars but otherwise it is becoming pretty popular for light and fast self supported bike rides.

[THE LONG RANGER]

Usually works out well! I would get a sturdy pair of wheels, for the added weight you'll be hauling. I would get something hand built, and no-frills. 32 hole (or maybe more, but that's not too important unless you're carrying a TON), REGULAR spokes, decent hubs. A good wheel builder would be able to point you in the right direction.

Saddle bags for MTB bikepacking should work well, but double-check they're not too tall to work with the amount of seatpost you've got showing,

There's off the shelf and custom frame bags that should work well with a road frame, check out the half bags so you can still use waterbottle holders.

Road style bars do pose a problem. Putting a handlebar harness for a stuff sack would mean you're running a fairly narrow stuff sack, which may not be ideal. You could do a few things: Run a front rack, if your fork supports that, use a pack, or swap out your bars for something else that's wider and/or flared. You may lose some hand positions whatever you do for bullhorn-type bars, though. Drops will probably work, unless you're squeezing a bag in there. On the hoods will work OK, but you're probably SOL on the tops. Your cable setup may need some work to deal with a stuff sack in the way. Totally doable. You could also swap the bullhorns for something else, but then you may have to swap your brifters for something else, and all of a sudden, it's a lot of work!

Anyways, it's totally doable. Check out the Trans Am instgram for inspiration,

https://www.instagram.com/transambikerace/

[Meadowbolic]

yeah I'm definitely in the camp of bikepack with whatever bike you already have. Just choose your routes selection based on what your bike can handle, even if thats cruising on pavement. Like the Ranger outlines, any bike can be fitted with a solid bikepacking set up.

Happy riding!