BIKES FOR BIKEPACKING - how I set up my bike after 75,000 kilometres

[Music] hey guys how's it going in this video I'm  going to go through my bike setup for bike packing   and bike touring I'm going to talk about why I  chose this particular bike and why I chose all   the components to make it up this video is not  going to be exactly a review of this particular   bike but more of a general Roundup on what I think  is important in choosing a bike for bike packing   and bike touring which I think will be more  useful to most of you if you are looking for   a review of this particular bike I have written  one on my website and you can find the link in the   description this is actually the third bike that  I've had for bike packing and by far my favorite   when I first started cycling around the world 8  years ago I rode a surly Long haul trucker which   is a very conventional touring bike that bike I  rode for about 25,000 km from New Zealand back to   England and then all throughout northern Europe  for about 2 years my second bike was a surly ECR   29+ which I rode from northern Europe all the  way down to the Middle East and then the entire   length of Africa throughout South America and  then all around Europe over the course of the   pandemic and finally I switched over to this bike  which I've had now for about 2 years this bike is   seen action in Europe Africa and North America  and most recently I cycled it from Alaska down   to Canada the last thing I will say before I get  started is that this is a very expensive bike and   there are a lot of expensive components on it for  me it's totally worth spending the money because   this is what I do for a living this is my life  now so it's worth my while to spend a bit more   money for extra Comfort but it's very important I  think to say that you absolutely don't need a bike   this good to go bike packing if you would like  to try bike packing and bike touring you'd want   to go out on a bike Adventure but you're limited  by funds you've got a limited budget and so you   don't want to go spending thousands of dollars on  a really high level bike that is absolutely fine   you by no means need something like this the great  thing about bike travel is that you can get by on   virtually anything even a very cheap secondhand  mountain bike that you bought off some guy at   the pub is going to work out just fine it's not  going to be as comfortable you're probably going   to have more mechanical issues but you absolutely  can get around the world on it if you just want   to try bike packing my best suggestion would  be just use what whatever you've got most of   you probably have an old bike lying around in  your garage somewhere give it a service get it   running and that will probably do you just fine  at least to start off with and then if you decide   it's something you want to commit to further  then getting something like this is definitely   worth thinking about it is going to make life  a lot more comfortable for you okay with that   said let's dive straight into the bike the first  thing I'm going to talk about with the bike is   going to be the big elephant in the room which  is why a mountain bike the question that I get   asked most often by people looking at choosing a  bike for bike packing or bike touring is what kind   of bike to go for and why I have chosen something  like this which is a mountain bike frame a lot of   people ask if they can go bike packing on gravel  bikes gravel bikes are super popular these days   and a lot of people already have gravel bikes  so they want to know whether they can go out   bike touring on them the answer is absolutely  yes you can go bike touring on just about any   bike really it all depends on what kind of riding  you want to do and one is not necessarily better   than the other universally it just depends on what  you're doing with it basically there's not going   to always be a best solution generally you're  looking at compromise especially on longer tours   where you're going to do a lot of different types  of riding you're going to have to find something   that works best for you the majority of the time  you're not going to have a bike that works best   for you all the time that's just not how it goes  so the main types of bikes that you could go for   there's a million different labels for these cuz  bike companies love to make up new labels for   their bikes cuz it helps sell them but generally  speaking you've got road bikes you've got gravel   bikes you've got touring bikes you've got mountain  bikes like this and then you've got things like   fat bikes there's obviously a lot more than that  but those are the main I would say five categories   that most people are going to usually fall under  when they're looking at bikes so starting with a   road bike I would personally never Tour on a road  bike just because I like to ride Offroad and road   bikes aren't very good Offroad so that's pretty  straightforward obviously if you are looking at   riding only on road and you want to go fast and  far then a road bike could be a good option for   you not going to talk too much about that today  because that's not really what I do a Touring bike   is a great option as well the limitation there is  that they tend to be a little bit less capable for   the off-road stuff they tend to be a little bit  heavier a little bit overbuilt but they are very   comfortable able so General a Touring bike can be  a good option too a gravel bike is a really good   option if you want to ride light off-road and you  want to go fairly fast especially if you're pretty   comfortable and married to the road bike sort of  geometry and setup with drop bars the limitation I   find with gravel bikes is generally that they are  a little bit less capable for riding the rowdiest   stuff than a mountain bike especially if you want  to ride single track you'll pretty quickly hit the   limitations with gravel bikes you can still do the  same stuff probably it's just going to be pretty   rough and at a certain point it's just not really  fun anymore because you're getting really beaten   up you're taking a lot of vibration and so it's  not really as fun then you have something like   this a mountain bike which is obviously designed  for single track so if you're going to be riding   more single track rougher roads rougher Terrain  in general I would say a mountain bike is the way   to go the other option you could go with which  is sort of the far extreme end of the Comfort   roughness spectrum is going to be something like  a fat bike or even a mid-fat bike like my cly UCR   that I was running which runs 3 in or so tires  as opposed to a fat bike which would be close to   four or even five personally having ridden a 3-in  tire for a really long time and having looked into   fat bikes extensively I don't think it's worth it  for long-term touring for most people the number   of times when you really need the extra plush of  the Fat Tire is fairly minimal generally speaking   a thin at tire is going to do just fine unless  you're riding a lot of sand loose gravel snow that   kind of thing then obviously you want a wider tire  but that kind of stuff tends to be fairly rare on   a longer Tour on a longer tour you're probably  going to find that you spend most of your time   riding on either pavement or hard pack generally  better gravel and and dirt roads so I find for   most of the time that a fat bike is overkill for  most people's needs obviously if you're going on   a specific trip where that's necessary that's a  different story and that might well be the best   bike for you under those circumstances so again  why the mountain bike for me the mountain bike   is the best compromise with the exception of very  deep sand or snow something you're probably not   going to hit very often if at all on a longer  tour I find that a mountain bike like this is   more than capable for any kind of terrain that I  encounter it's going to be comfortable on really   rough ground really rough trails and it's also  plenty fast enough when I need to cover ground   on pavement or smoother gravel a lot of people  assume that mountain bikes can't go fast but   if you set your bike up with fast Rolling Tires  and a fairly aerodynamic riding position you can   absolutely Cruise along at not much less than  you would on a gravel bike on a mountain bike   on flat ground without wind being a problem on  relatively smooth roads I can comt average about   25 km an hour and I can sustain that basically all  day in those circumstances which isn't really that   much slower than what I would be doing on a gravel  bike the difference is that where a mountain bike   is ever so slightly slower than gravel bikes on  smooth nice gravel surfaces which are the kind of   thing that a gravel bike excels on when it comes  to the really rough stuff a gravel bike is going   to be nowhere near as comfortable nowhere near  as capable as something like this so for me I'm   happy to sacrifice that tiny bit of speed for the  smoother stuff because it gives me a vast amount   more capability when it comes to the rougher  stuff in terms of this specific bike this is   a two terrain Outback explore running 29x 2.25in  tires this is a steel frame a lot of people ask   about frame material personally I don't think  it actually matters that much steel is nice   because it's super durable and you have the added  benefit of knowing that if you do break or crack   your frame you can get it welded you can get it  repaired in the field just about anywhere in the   world which is nice the other frame materials you  might be looking at are likely going to be carbon   aluminium or titanium they're all perfectly  feasible a lot of people don't like the ride   quality for aluminium bikes but I haven't ridden  any high-end aluminium bikes so I can't really   comment on that titanium is really nice in that  it's very strong and it's lighter than steel but   it also does tend to have a higher fail rate  so although in theory titanium is stronger in   practice titanium bikes seem to crack slightly  more often than steel equivalent and carbon is   obviously the lightest of the lot which is great  if you're going light but as a downside carbon is   also much more likely to break you have to be a  lot more careful with it you do have to baby it   a little bit so on a very long tour I would be a  little bit skeptical riding carbon just because   I know that I tend to throw my bike around quite  a lot it's likely to end up on the roof of a bus   somewhere in South America and it could easily get  damaged so for me steel is probably my material of   choice for frames terms of the geometry of the  bike you want to find something that strikes a   balance between Comfort over long distances and  capability when it comes to technical riding this   for me hits The Sweet Spot it's incredibly capable  on the more technical off-road single track that I   like to ride but it's also incredibly comfortable  for just grinding out miles day after day so I   absolutely love the geometry on this bike again  this is not really a review of this particular   bike but for what it's worth two terrain  absolutely nailed it with this Frame okay let's   talk about the drivet Trin because I think this  is probably the most important thing you can think   about when choosing your bike so on this bike I  run a pinion gearbox which is a gearbox built into   the bottom bracket here a lot of people do ask if  it's electronic it's not it's fully mechanical all   of the gears are sealed in oil here in the bottom  bracket this is the pinion c1.12 gear box which   gives me 12 gears a gear range of 600% which is  more than you get on a Shram Eagle a ram 1x2 Eagle   Drive train has only 500% gear range whereas this  is 600 so it's really nice to have that huge range   the other benefit of running a pinion is that you  can get away with using a Gates carbon belt drive   like this one instead of a chain the benefit of  that is you don't have to worry about cleaning it   you don't have to worry about oiling it and it  should also last a lot longer on a long tour I   think it's worth carrying a spare belt somewhere  they only weigh about 80 g and they F down pretty   small so it's worth carrying out tape to your  frame somewhere my first belt lasted nearly 2   years before finally snapping on me while I was  mountain biking fully loaded in Canada and it   was a 10-minute job by the trail side to just get  out the new belt and attach it change it over and   this one's running fine so this should hopefully  be good for another couple of years the benefit   of using something like this is that there's no  maintenance to do with the gearbox you have to   change the oil once a year which is a 10-minute  job and other than that it works flawlessly all   the time every time doesn't wear out you can  use it for years on end and the shifting is   incredibly smooth as well the downside to using  something like this is that it is going to be a   little bit heavier than an equivalent system it  probably adds just under a kilo compared to the   absolute lightest possible 1x12 drivetrain for  me that's well worth it for the no maintenance   no fuss aspect and also because it gives me a  much higher gear range than I would have on a   1x2 I will just say that I think this thing is  absolutely incredible so if you are considering   purchasing a bike with a pinion gearbox I would  massively recommend it I would really struggle I   think at this point to go back to a non- gearbox  bicycle just for the fact that everything works   perfectly all the time there's no maintenance  the gear range is incredible the shifting is   incredible and it just takes a lot of the stress  out of the whole travel by bike thing regardless   of whether you run a gearbox like this or a  conventional drivetrain I think the important   thing for bike packing and bike touring is to make  sure that you get your gear range range correct   it's very easy to work out what gear range you're  going to have with a given setup you just have to   plug the numbers into a calculator again I'm going  to post a link in the description to a gear range   calculator if you put into the calculator what  wheel size you're running what tire size you're   running and what specific cogs you're running in  terms of the number of teeth that's something you   can easily work out just by counting the number of  teeth on the cogs that you've got on your bicycle   so that's easy to work out if you plug those  numbers into a gear ratio calculator it will give   you num in terms of your maximum and minimum gears  the number that I find most useful personally is   to go with gear inches it doesn't matter if you're  on the metric or imperial system it's just a unit   of measurement that you can use as a guide on how  low or high your gear is going to be personally   I think the more important number is the bottom  number because I think it's really important to   have a super low granny gear really low bottom  gear for getting up the really steep hills and   especially if you're someone like me that spends  a lot of time in the mountains it's really really   key that you have a very low gear that you can  just click down into and just sit there in that   low gear spin up the hill and make sure that  you get there without knackering your legs too   much personally I think it's really important to  have a bottom gear that has a range of something   like 18 gear Ines or less 20 gear Ines is doable  but you're going to find that on the very steep   hills it's probably not quite enough this bike  has a bottom Gear with a range of 15 gear Ines   which is super super low basically on this bike  I can pedal up almost anything as long as I'm   not losing traction or tipping over backwards  so having something with as low 15 gear inches   for your bottom gear is incredibly beneficial and  it makes life so much easier so if you can go as   low as that then that's fantastic if not I would  say aim for at least 18 if not 20 if you can't   manage 18 on the top end it really depends on how  fast you spin your legs I have quite a high pedal   Cadence so I generally don't need quite as high of  a gear as maybe someone else might this bike has   a Top Gear of something like 96 gear in I believe  which is enough for me to Pedal up to about 45 km   an hour without spinning out and that's more than  enough for me I'm very rarely paddling faster than   that the only time I'm going to be doing that  really is downhill and then I can happily just   sit there and enjoy the free distance okay let's  talk a little bit about wheel sizes this is a 29er   bicycle these are 29x 2.25 in tires the question  of what wheel size to go with has been around for   a long time and ultimately I don't really think  there's necessarily a right answer for everybody   the three wheel sizes that are generally available  are going to be 26 in 27.5 in and 29 in like this   one my suggestion would be to avoid 26 in at  this point it used to be conventional wisdom   that 26 in was the best wheel size to go around  the world with just because it was likely to be   the most widely available in my experience that's  definitely not the case anymore it's very hard   to find parts for 26 in especially in the modern  world even in more remote parts of the world like   Africa you're going to find it's actually quite  difficult to find parts of 26 in especially good   quality parts so I would say for most of you 27.5  or 29 is going to be the way to go between 27 .5   and 29 I think a lot of it is going to come down  to your height if you're a shorter Rider then it   makes much more sense to go with 27.5 because you  going to have less issues with clearance between   the handlebars and the wheel and also between the  saddle and the back wheel when you're carrying   luggage on the bike if you're a total Rider you're  going to have the choice of going with either the   29 or the 27.5 I'm about 6t so I could go with  either but I do prefer the 29 I just find it   has slightly better rollover and it's a little bit  faster on smoother surfaces the 7.5 does have the   advantage of having more different tire options  available it's a little bit easier to pack up if   you need to put your bike onto a bus or in a box  cuz it's a little smaller and you also have the   advantage of it turning faster and being a little  bit lighter as well in general I don't think it's   a big deal I think you'd be happy with either so  just go with whatever works for you in terms of   the tire width I've gone with 2.25 in wide tires  for me that's a good sweet spot I've ridden both   narrower tires and wider tires and I find that  this for me is a good compromise between Comfort   TR fraction and speed personally I don't think I  would go below a 2-in tie for the kind of riding   that I do just cuz I know I'm likely to end up  on some rougher off-road and I don't think that   anything less than 2 in is quite enough really  for the kind of stuff I like to do as for going   wider as I say I've ridden 3-in tires for quite  a long time and I do really like the extra float   that it provides but for the most part I find  it's Overkill and it does add a lot of weight   and rolling resistance if you have wider tires on  there so for me something like 2.25 2.35 something   like that is a good compromise gives you plenty of  float for the rougher stuff but it's also pretty   fast once you Pump It Up On Pavement and smooth  the gravel while I'm talking about the tires I   think it's also worth pointing out that I run my  tires tubeless I've been running tubless tires   for at least the last 5 years and I honestly would  never go back to running tubes in my tires for me   it just makes a lot more sense to run tubeless  once you set it up they're incredibly reliable   it makes life far easier you just never have to  worry about punctures the reliability is so good   with these days that honestly I have no worries  whatsoever for a long tour I would still carry an   inner tube and there's nothing stopping you from  putting an inner tube in a tubless tire if needed   but in practice that's only happened to me I think  twice over the last 5 years I've had to run a tube   so I say the reliability is really that good these  days that I don't think there's any reason not to   be running tubless there's a bit of a learning  curve with the setup but it's nowhere near as   complicated as you think so if you can run tubless  on your tires I would say that's one of the single   biggest upgrades you can make to your bike it  really does make a huge difference and I think   there's no reason not to run chupis if you can I  would say though that the only reason I'm running   2.25-in tires is that I do have a front suspension  on this bike I find that without front suspension   if I'm running a rigid Fork without any kind of  front suspension I find 2.25 is probably a little   bit too thin I don't have quite enough cushion  on it for riding rigid so I would say if you're   running a suspension Fork like this you can get  away with something like 2.25 or in that range   if you're running rigid though I would probably  want a slightly wider tire for most things if I   were running this bike in rigid I would probably  be running something like 2.6 or 2.8 in just so   that I still have the extra Comfort I need for the  rougher roads that I like to ride and without the   suspension Fork it's just not quite enough plush  2.6 for me is probably the minimum I would want   to go with if I were riding a rigid bike with  the suspension though it's plenty comfortable   with 2.25 I guess that brings me pretty neatly to  the fork I'm running a fox fact three step cast 34   Fork this is running 100 mm of travel which for  me is plenty for bike packing it's mainly there   just to provide added Comfort on the rougher stuff  and it does make things a lot more fun when I get   onto the single track for me the big decision in  terms of Tire widths and forks is deciding between   something like this 100 mm of travel and 29x 2.25  in Tire or going with a rigid fork and a wider   plus Tire if I wasn't running this I'd be running  a rigid fork and something like a 2.28 in tire for   now I am still using the suspension Fork because I  do really like having the extra capability when it   comes to single track the suspension Fork is not  really needed most of the time and to be honest   when I'm riding it does spend a lot of it time  in lockout so I would say if you're looking at   suspension fork for bike packing getting something  that has the option to have lockout is definitely   worthwhile but when it does come to more technical  single track that is when I noticed the biggest   difference the capability of a bike with a good  suspension for compared to a rigid fork and a   plus tire for me this is far more capable and  more importantly it's just a lot more fun I can   push this bike a lot harder on the single track  than I could if I were riding a rigid plus bike so   for me it's actually worth having suspension just  for the fun Factor alone that said unless you're   riding a lot of single track it may not be worth  it I think I'd be quite happy on either there may   come a time in the next year or two when I switch  from running a suspension fork and 29x 2.25 to   running a rigid fork and 27.5 by 2.8 in tires at  27.5 plus the reason to switch would probably be   just if I knew I was going to be riding some  routes that had looser surfaces there are some   in South America where a plus Tire can be handy so  it may be that I do switch over at some point in   the next few years for now though I've been really  happy with this setup in terms of suspension forks   for long-term bike packing not a lot of people  have actually tested this in terms of how much   maintenance needs to be done to a suspension Fork  every year especially when riding it as much as   you do when you're bike touring I actually have  haven't had any problems with this I've basically   just serviced my Fork once a year which would  probably horrify a lot of bike mechanics but   I've not actually had any problems I've taken  good care to keep it mostly clean except right   now because I've just come up a fairly muddy  ride but in general I haven't had any problems   it's still working pretty well after nearly a year  without any kind of service and I will be getting   it serviced in the next couple of months before  I get back on tour in terms of the brakes I run   mura mt5 hydraulic disc brakes I switched over  from mechanical to hydraulic disc brakes about 2   years ago when I got this bike and I haven't had  a single problem hydraulic for me is definitely   a lot better especially on longer descents mainly  because I don't find the same hand fatigue that I   do with mechanical disc brakes having gone now to  hydraulic disc brakes I don't think I could ever   go back to Mechanical it just works a lot better  it's a lot more comfortable the main difference   between hydraulic and mechanical disc brakes  in my experience is not actually the stopping   power I always found mechanical disc brakes had  more than enough stopping power the difference   is mainly hand fatigue on very long rough descents  with the mechanical disc brakes I'd find I'd often   come away from me with a lot of pain and fatigue  in my hands so I'd have to stop sometimes to   actually just give my hands a bit of a rest that  never really happens with hydraulic disc brakes   so I'd say it's definitely worth switching over  if you know you're going to be riding a lot of   rough stuff in terms of the reliability as I say  I've got these brakes blared about once a gear   and that's all I've done to them I've not really  worried about it beyond that and I've never had   a single problem hydraulic disc brakes are very  reliable these days so I wouldn't have too many   concerns about taking hydraulic disc brakes out  on a world tour handlebars next obviously this is   something that comes down to personal preference  so I've tried a lot of different handlebar types   my first bike had drop bars on it personally I'm  not such a huge fan of drop bars cuz I don't find   them very good for technical riding and I find  that they put a lot of your weight forward onto   your wrists when you're going down steep rough  down Hills so I find a wide flat bar to be the   way to go I would definitely suggest getting a bar  with a bit of sweep in terms of the curvature of   the bar that it sweeps back towards you I find it  much more comfortable for long distances I rode   for more than a year with the Jones Loop H bar  which has a 45° site for me that was just a little   bit too much I didn't find it too comfortable I  tried various bars at various different angles   various different degrees of sweep and after  a lot of trial and error this is what I found   works for me this is the SQ lab 30X bar which has  a 16° sweep 780 mm wide which is a pretty Wide Bar   that doesn't mean it's necessarily going to work  for you this works for my body my proportions But   ultimately I think it's a case of trial and error  for figuring out what you find most comfortable   I run ergon grips which I find to be absolutely  brilliant the key for me with this bike with hand   positions and making this handlebar comfortable  is the additional grips which I've added onto the   bike these are little additional clip-on inner  bar ends that are incredibly comfortable they   essentially mimic the position of being on the  hoods if you're riding drop bars and I find them   to be by far the most comfortable hand position  I've ever encountered I absolutely love these   and I'd highly recommend them from this position I  can also still access the brakes and the shifters   which means that I can sit that position still  have full control and be in extreme comfort you   can put these onto virtually any flat bar and  they'll work just fine once you start getting   to very sweat back bars anything over about 30° I  don't think these will work as well just because   the position is going to be a little bit wrong  for your hands but if you are running a flat   bar I would totally recommend giving these a go I  do have a discount code for the spear grips so if   you'd like to try them check the description and  you'll find the discount code there the default   shifter that comes with the pinion gearbox is a  grip shifter I actually thought I'd really hate   the grip shifter because I've always run trigger  shifters before on my mountain bikes but in fact I   found I absolutely love it it's super convenient  and it gives me the ability to dump all of my   gears at once with the gearbox you can actually  shift gears without pedaling which means that if   I come to a stationary I can shift from bottom  gear to Top Gear in the space of a couple of   seconds I've also got a lot of questions about  how I wrap my bars because I have somewhat of   an unusual position the reason I've set my bike up  this way with the handlebar tape is that with the   pinion grip shifter there's a bit of a drop off  that comes from the edge of the shifter down to   the handle bar which isn't really comfortable with  the spear grips so I wrapped it with bar tape to   make it more comfortable and then did the same on  the opposite end just to mirror the same position   I've also extended the bar tape slightly into  the center so that I have another hand position   on the inside of the bars there one last thing to  note about my handlebar setup is that I have used   Arrow bars in the past and I do really like them  for certain situations I don't have Arrow bars on   my bike at the moment because I won't be taking  them for my next few trips although I do really   like Arab bars and I find them very comfortable I  find that most of the time they aren't necessary   and they do add quite a substantial amount of  weight to the bike generally the only time I'm   going to bring Arrow bars or if I know I'm going  to be covering vast distances on relatively flat   open terrain where I'm going to just have to  cover lots of big miles on the bike the next   major trip I'm going to be doing from Canada down  through the US and into Mexico I've decided not to   bring the aerob bars we'll see whether I end up  missing them but anyway I won't be bringing them   on the next trip which is why they're not on the  bike at the moment okay so almost done if we talk   about the saddle the saddle that I'm running is a  Brooks B17 narrow carved leather saddle I tried so   many Saddles over the last few years and I still  haven't found anything that's more comfortable   than this in a way I'd prefer not to be running  a leather saddle but having tried probably 10   different Saddles over the last few years to try  and find a non-leather saddle that worked for me I   just haven't been able to find anything that's  even close to as comfortable as this so even   though I don't love that it's leather I still use  the saddle just because it's so damn comfortable   Saddles are notoriously personal so what works  for me might well not work for you leather saddles   have an advantage in that once you've broken  them in they do mold themselves to your Anatomy   so they're more likely to be comfortable than  something which is fixed if you are looking for a   saddle then I'd say this is worth a go for me one  thing that is really important is that I have a   cutout in the saddle because I find without that  I do tend to get a certain numbness downstairs   which isn't much fun so cutout is really important  unfortunately Saddles are generally just a case   of trial and error you have to try out a lot of  saddles you find something that works for you I   don't wear padded shorts either so it's really  important that I have a saddle that works and   that's comfortable for days on end even without  the ptra padding and Brooks for me has been the   one so far some people do ask about how I look  after a leather saddle when it rains in theory   you're supposed to protect it from the rain  because rain can damage it but actually in my   experience that hasn't happened I've never really  worried about protecting my saddle I've just kind   of left it out in the rain when needed and it's  always been absolutely fine they know we near as   delicate as people think so so I just personally  don't worry about it it's been absolutely fine   this saddle is still going strong after a couple  of years and I've never really worried about it   it's still doing great so yeah no stress the seat  post that I have on here is a suspension seat post   this is the red shift shock stop suspension seat  post seat posts are one of those components that   I didn't think was really that important until I  tried some better ones and I would say it's worth   looking at if you're looking for a decent upgrade  supension seat posts are pretty expensive so it   may not be worth the money to you it just depends  on your budget obviously if can afford it I would   say this is the one to go with I did try using a  Cane Creek e silk suspension seat post for a while   and I found that one made a small difference  but not enormous this one though I find does   make a really big difference to comfort so I'd  say this one is actually worth it the Cane Creek   I didn't find to me quite significant enough to  be worth the extra cost but this does definitely   make a significant difference to comfort the big  difference I find is that it just takes all the   stress out of my lower back when I'm cycling so  it is definitely worth it if you can afford it on   another note I do get asked every now and again  about mud guards or fenders if you're in North   America I don't usually run mud guards when I'm  on Torch because I find that although they help   protect you from water spray they can actually  cause more problems than they solve because   mud can very easily get stuck in there you can  have clearance issues so usually I don't tend   to bother with them generally speaking I tend to  prefer to tore in relatively dry places so I don't   usually need to bother with mud guards too much  lastly we've got pedals one of the less glamorous   components on a bike I prefer running flat pedals  for bike packing just because I don't like taking   a second pair of shoes and I like doing a lot  of hiking off the bike so I don't want to bring   clip in shoes cuz I know I'll need a second pair  whereas I can get away with just one pair if I go   with Flats my first year of bike touring I didn't  really give much importance to pedals so I just   generally went with whatever cheap pedals I could  find as a consequence I think I went through four   or five different sets of pedals over the year  that it took me to cycle from New Zealand back to   England including one pair that snapped on Me In  in the middle of a snowstorm in his bistan causing   me to have to cycle about 15 km on one pedal to  make it back into civilization which is hilarious   in hindsight but wasn't quite as funny at the time  so I would actually say pedals are something worth   taking at least a little bit seriously and not  necessarily going for the absolute cheapest option   you can find these are raceface Atlas pedals  which are incredibly good incredibly grippy   with a good pair of mountain bike shoes and pedals  like these I don't find I miss clipping pedals at   all actually I find I have more than enough grip  even when it's very wet the downside to these   pedals is that they're absolutely lethal on your  shins when it comes to hi a bike I've got more   than a few scars from pedals like this because  the pins really just love to dig into your skin   especially when you have to do hike a bike so you  do definitely need to be a little bit careful if   you're running pedals as grippy as this if you're  looking for a cheaper alternative a good pair of   flat pedals that work I would say the Race Face  Chester flats are a good choice I was running   those for about a year they're pretty affordable  and they work really well so I'd say definitely   worth looking at those if you're looking for a  cheaper option than this I'm not sponsored by Race   Face I just reckon they make good pedals okay so  I think that is just about it it is freezing cold   here in England so I am looking forward to getting  inside and warming up my hands if you did find   this video useful I'd really appreciate it if you  could give this video a like and let me know in   the comments also please subscribe and share this  video with your friends it helps me out a lot with   the YouTube algorithm there are going to be a lot  more videos coming out this year and subscribing   is free so why not okay I'm going to go inside  and get warm so I hope you enjoyed the video   I hope you have a great rest of the day and if  you have any questions be sure to let me [Music] know

Channel: Tristan Ridley

Views: 86,504

Keywords: Bikes for bikepacking, bikepacking bikes for beginners, gravel bikes for bikepacking, best gravel bikes for bikepacking, bikepacking, bicycle, bicycles, bikes, mountain bike, bicycle touring, bike touring, touring bicycle, offroad bike, Bike travel, bike travel, bicycle travel, bikepacking tips, cycle touring tips, bikepacking help, bikepacking advice, bikepacking gear, what bike for bikepacking, tout terrain, choosing a bike, bikepacking bikes, bikepacking comfort, cycling

Id: dUeFKPt2FTI

Length: 29min 57sec (1797 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 11 2024