My bikepacking setup to cycle from Victoria to Patagonia

in this video we'll first see the actual bike and I'll explain you why I chose a mountain bike I get a lot of questions about this then we're gonna go through the actual equipment on the bike and then we'll dig in to those bags [Music] what's up gang my name is Dominic I usually produce content in French I would like first to apologize to my regular audience I just feel like this video could reach out to more people before my trip I've watched a lot of those bike check tours videos so I just feel like it's a way for me to give back to the community so my name is Dominic I am actually pedaling from Victoria British Columbia in Canada to hopefully one day usually in Argentina I'm almost at 10 000 kilometers so I'm pretty dialed in with the bike setup I have so that's why it took me a little while before doing this video but I feel like I'm ready to show you exactly what I have on the bike it hopefully this can help you out for your future bike packing or bike touring trip so we're going to start by talking about the actual bike full disclosure I write for DaVinci so I had to choose from their lineup kind of consider the gravel bike at first or a touring bite but I'm a mountain biker my Ruth or mountain biking and I kind of want it on the way to be open for anything and I did some of the Baja divide and on the way I also did some mountain biking so basically a mountain bike platform is what I needed and I don't regret my choice it's obviously a little bit more heavy a bit slower on the road but here I am in El Salvador already almost 10 000 kilometers so pretty happy with this setup so I went with the da Vinci Cobain it's a aluminum frame it's actually made in Quebec in Canada and the bike is actually a 29er mountain bike we're kind of like a really like open Android geometry the bike is actually 107 pounds 107 pounds that is really heavy but everything is solid and this includes like a three liter of water which is usually the average of water I carry and a bit of food for one day as well so we're gonna go through the actual equipment on the bike to be comfortable I actually went with bar ends here so basically most of the time I'm here if I'm going to relax I've got those animal bars here you can also go in the middle so it gives me a bit more options to be more comfortable in the bike I also went for a quad lock a cyclope you know just to handle my phone usually it goes here and got my mirror here the mirror is probably the cheapest thing I bought but the thing I like and use the most I usually never had a mirror before and basically on those roads especially in Guatemala with a chicken bus we're like so close to me I had a few close calls having the mirror made like a huge difference because I could anticipate what was going on in the back this is great I really really suggest you guys put a mirror on your bike no matter what bike you have then if we keep going with the cockpit I got a Garmin here although I use a map out on my iPhone for the actual Roots like the mapping this actually is just like for my actual like stats basically I got a tool here from one up components right here so really easy plugs are ready to go I have had probably 10 or 12 Flats on this on this trip already but this little guy is awesome it's also like a melty tool it's got a chain link I got two water bottles here this one has electrolyte all the time this one is for water it gets super hot like especially in Central America right now super humid so I do drink a lot extra water bottles here so this is 48 ounce so that's like 1. almost 1.5 liters of water I've got two here so usually I start today with those full three liters plus those it's like almost like poorly there's in a half of water on the Baja device sometimes I had to go for a one day two days even like maybe three days the max I carry was like 10 liters of water if I went for 10 liters I would actually use this Frame pack here I don't have it right now but it's a hydro pack you can buy you can add for like three liters and have the straw right here has them growing I can actually drink I haven't been using since I got to Mexico Mexico is so easy to get water and food like there's tiendas everywhere so yeah allows me to carry less less food less water so a little lighter on the bike since I opened up the frying bag we'll see what I have in here this is my ring cover for like the front here because I have all my electronics in the front so if it rains a lot I put the ring cover got my gloves for a little while like on the trip I was not wearing gloves but the sun is so bad that I started using gloves in Mexico I have this Abus lock right here border light really actually really light it's like I think it's a pound 1.1 pounds so super um solid Lock super secure but really really light and I've got my little equipment my pants here just for cooking while I'm camping and I got a raincoat here like the windproof jacket ready to go so this is what I have in the frame if we keep going um here on the top tube I'll show you what I have inside so I have my airpods here I like to listen patias and music when there's not much traffic when I'm not risking my life with cars and buses I actually have like a USB so I can actually recharge my Garmin here because this thing is connected to the hub this is a sun Dynamo Hub so when I'm actually riding this provides energy so for my light here in the front and for USB so I want to say like I don't recharge my phone with it it's not enough it's not sufficient but you can actually easily recharge a cycle computer or recharge a battery pack while you're riding I don't always have the lights on sometimes I do but it's about six Watts so it's not too bad but it still like takes energy so I usually turn the lights off during the day but what I need it sometimes like in tunnels or when there's a lot of traffic or when it's like rain end of the day I turn the lights on that little pouch here so in this little pouch here I carry bars just uh easy to eat as I'm going so I can actually I don't have to stop I can just open up the zip but I also have my Leatherman nice knife like super super handy I think I use this guy like every day fortunately I've lost two of them on a trip already this is my third one super Andy though expensive but worth it the model I have is like the weight plus I got uh sealant here then liquid sealant on the other side I've got Sun cream I also have zinc been surfing a bit here so glad I have it but I also been using it for my nose because sometimes like the sun is really hard really powerful this is pretty much it for the front if I go back we got my bags here the frame bag is done oh yeah this this is actually for must licks so I eat cereals every day in the morning with yogurt or hot water this is a gas bottle for my stove I'm using the MSR whisper light super cool stove because it needs gas so basically I've started with white gas in the us but as I go to Mexico it's hard to find but you cannot stop at any pemex station or gas station everywhere just put gas in it and it'll burn it burns everything so really easy got a tube here an extra tube with a CO2 cartridge never never used it like I said like tubeless been awesome so it's still there it's nice to have a spare but I hope I'm not going to use it well this third and last part of the video we're actually gonna go in the bag so I'll start with this one here I have a cooler code here so basically green is uh for food I thought veggies fruits green it is just easier because sometimes you take the bags up when you camp or you go to a hotel so like which bag is wet when they're closed so I've got like yellow in the back for camping white for clothes and the other one is red for my stove those bags are waterproof they're made by archel they're in Basin Quebec and it's 35 liter the pear so pretty much 17 liters per bag what do we have in here so I got the peanut butter peanut butter is great I love it and you can have it in the morning dinner snacks at night whatever this is some extra that I just bought here because I'm almost out here I got my electrolytes like I said super important you want to mix water with electrolytes this is just small powder because it gets really hot so you need to stay hydrated especially here in South America and this little bag what do we have here this is Guru also a sponsored thanks guys I had like a guru in every country so far this one is uh for my fruits I I use those dry egg bags by the way it allows me not to use like plastic bags I always leave with an avocado in the morning Banana for either like the snack or you know breakfast and I have like a reusable plastic foldable container here it's actually rubber it's not plastic but there's probably a bit of plastic in there and have this little guy here to cut some stuff super light and what do we have here oh this is actually really cool it's uh just like a small bag but easy to fold put it in my pockets and when I get to like groceries I can actually just use this instead of plastic bags got more electrolytes and a little cloth from GSI just to wash my dishes and that is what I have in this bag first bag done we're going to go through the other one oh by the way since we actually see the setup here this is all man Mountain racks The Divide heavy but so solid so solid and it fits on the axle I think it's one of the best probably the best rack you can have for a mountain bike been using towel finer here as well adapters to actually set up a cage here cargo cage they call it so I can actually attach this bottle that is really cool to have this extra storage for water we're gonna open up the other one this one is red the reason why I went for red is this because the stove isn't there so Stove fire red what do we have oh this pouch I have a spoon it's like a rubber silicone spoon so it's really easy to actually make a clean job when you actually eat because once you're when you're camping you don't want to use a lot of water so this is actually really cool because it's almost as clean as if you wash it but yeah I really suggest one of those this is uh from uh who does that GSI as well yeah so I I think it's called a Java Java Coffee mocha something so it's basically for coffee you just put the coffee here with hot water and you got coffee in the morning but before coffee I have my Ginger curcuma mix with hot water as well just to stay hydrated it's a anti-inflammatory I got four exposed oh man this is it I a lot of people laugh about this but I love the thing it's USB it's a for milk for frothing the milk I actually sent a bag this full back home closing at the need I I brought a bit more stuff on the way but the stuff you're gonna see here is what I need and wouldn't have less it wouldn't have more so this is for me the perfect setup so far coffee more coffee some extra bags brioles rice and this is uh TVP so I add those in my tacos and this is the actual soap that I was talking about got it here so if I'm not mistaking is the MSR whisper light I like this model because it is actually you can actually tune the gas so it's not always like full on or full of fruit pack an extra cutting board as well but been using this guy most of the time this is it for the second bag we're gonna go in the batch one thing I like about those bags they're really easy to pull out so yellow for camping I don't know for the sun camping what do we have here there's a lot of stuff those bags are really heavy so what I found out through the trip is like I want to put the most heavy things in the back kind of notice when there's heavy stuff in the front it's like more unstable this is just uh one of those like travel belts cloth just to you know wash stuff toilet paper we're camping really helpful there's a lux for hotels this is where I uh store my GoPro I got the chest strap as well this is a small a day pack a little backpack that I can unfold pillow little Adventure Medical Kit this is all my cables like for my computer for my drone my cell phones so I've got two pairs of 35 liters and some people ask me sometimes if I would go for 45 because rkl mix the Orca model in 45 liters and I say no because the more room you have the more volume the more stuff you'll bring so this is my sleeping mat it's a Four Season the R value is 6.9 I believe it's a thermarest Neo air X therm if I'm not mistaking this is a sleeping bag I'm not too sure what the model is I'll write it down I can't remember you can sleep till comfortably to minus six and this is a liner a silk liner so you put it inside your sleeping bag just so you don't have to because sometimes you're a little dirty so it is more comfortable as well and since it got hot in Central America I been using only the liners I don't I haven't been using the sleeping bag in a while water filters I think those are the beefy water filters oh yeah this is you know when you're camping you need to hide your number twos so this guy titanium really really light leave no Trace people if you're camping please and this is a bag like full of straps you know like you never know what you're gonna need but yeah just full of little like velcro straps and things that might come handy eventually and oh yeah the computer I got a Macbook Pro I believe 13 inch so I put it in in here sometimes I I put it in here so it always depends I like to have all my value stuff here usually so sometimes I put this guy in and once I walk into a supermarket or Tienda I can bring all the luxuries with me including my passport and money and everything I think I've got like an actual overview of my stuff that I filmed in Mazatlan Mexico so you're gonna have a better view but this gives you an idea the fourth bag and the last one okay this is clothing so I got my sandals this is just like elastic I got the laundry soap this is from mosquitoes this is just to wash my face I'm gonna use it right now because I was sweating it's so hot in here um t-shirts basically two riding shirts and this one that I keep clean all the time so three t-shirts that's it got those shorts that I have here two shorts that's it no bathing suit so that's why people like sees me with my underwear around the pool or at beach so that's why I had a bathing suit I said send it back home this is a dry towel I actually cut it in two uh so it's it's basically long enough right now so I can put it over my waist but just thought I would save a bit on space this is one pair of fence that's the only pair of pants I have I got my toiletry and this is a dry bag with a tank top pair of socks I got three pair of socks in total three pairs of underwear in total I don't write any shiny the bibs that I have at the beginning of the trip I gave it away just because it was so hard to dry them and I had like rashes and everything so I just decided to try with underwear only and it worked so the last stuff you have the better it is this is an extra pair of socks I have for when it gets like a little colder I've used it in Guatemala recently on a volcano Fuego it was really cold it was like -2 at the at the top so and I have like this is a paraconia puffy when it gets really cold this is a Gore-Tex arteryx waterproof jacket this is a long sleeve just like a warmer uh long sleeve and this is it we have a pouch here I'll go with you this is actually winter stuff I I call it so you got an extra Merino long shirt we got knee warmer this is actually a mosquito head net I haven't used that guy hopefully I'm not gonna use it too this is a long leg warmer Merino as well rain pants cover boots cold gloves no extra two that I can actually put underneath my helmet if you can put like around your neck or your ears or whatever and latex glove there's one guy lit or actually two guys left I have a solar rechargeable light here pretty cool but it's worn out right now it's got holes and everything but still works too still works this is something I bought like on the way really cool because usually I wash my stuff in the sink or something and I leave in the morning with my underwear here and pair of socks that I had like usually the day before and it dries so pretty handy to have one of the those the bag is a iro I believe it's a 13 liter dry bag that fits on the rack and what do we have in the bag the front light rear light this is actually for my helmet so I can put the light on my helmet I got an electric tape those are screw a bunch of screws and spacers and mix brake pads I went through already I think five pair of brake pads because the bike is so heavy and I've been through sand and you know tough conditions in Baja as well so oh I'm so proud about this I hate to wake up in the night to go pee especially when it's cold and you're comfortable in your sleeping bag so this is like a Hydra pack water bottle but now it's a pea bottle um a vest orange vest I suggested because sometimes on the road having this like gives you a bit more peace the tent I'm using a MSR uba uba two-person tent like you can actually put all your bikes inside and a foldable chair this one is a Linux it's probably the best and lighter and the most expensive one on the market but I love it I couldn't understand why at first like I watched one of those bike tour videos a lady said that she was carrying one I was like do I really need this yes you do once you start doing wild camping especially in Baja like you're sitting on the ground you've been riding all day six seven eight hours it's night to treat treat yourself with a little chair you know or crack the beer and like enjoy the sunset so I really suggest it do we have something else yes those are tools so I have like extra tools like Loctite Allen Keys more tape valves extra valves bulk Ranch all fits in ear and this is oh I haven't used this in in a while oh this is actually a cord so it can always come useful especially on the in the states like with animals like bears like this is actually something you can actually attach on a tree to put your food away from animals the most I had to deal with were raccoons they were a pain but yeah and this is a candle a lantern actually put a candle in it and it will actually dry like the humidity inside your tent we got one bag left and then we're gonna go for a beer close to the beach front of the cockpit here as you can see super easy to take out it's actually click fix so you'll find a lot of bags with this adapter so this is a Garmin inreach mini it's a satellite if you uh register online you can actually send your position to people so if I don't have cell phone services I'll text a few of my friends I should tell them hey this is where I'm camping tonight and there's this SOS button so if things go sideways send an SOS and whoever isn't charging the era will come and pick you up whether it's Park Rangers or police or whatever or the Army um this is my so usually I have my actual wallet in my pocket when I ride and I've got an extra wallet here so this is a bait so there's a bit of money so if somebody wants to rob me I'll give this there's like fake cards like all credit cards so spoon super handy in the bag tripod been using this guy a lot I got a long tripod which is right here but it's kind of like it takes a long a lot of time to set up so I've been using this with this there's always like a sign like a rock a tree a fence or whatever so I just put it on the side of the road it's easy access that's why it's in the front of the bag I don't even have to like get out of the bike and just put it there Circle back feel my CFL so this is really handy drone right here so once I'm on the bike it's super easy to take the Drone out and take some shots so I think like the Drone deserve to be somewhere really quick I got a bear spray bear spray here never used it I hope I'm not gonna use it but it's nice to have if it's not for Animals maybe for bad people uh Kindle I love to read and carrying books on a backpacking bike touring trick doesn't make sense it's just so heavy so this one's got like 100 books I got my battery pack paper through right Kleenex and those are like baby whatever wipes and this one's got my passport extra money by the way I've got money in my shoe money here money my wallet money in the back like money a bit of everywhere so just in case something happens at least I'm not stuck with no money I think we're done I think we're done yes we are the only thing I didn't show is uh in this water pouch here I got my GSI outdoor stainless cup really handy I don't know how many times I stopped to get some juice and stuff like that and they always give me plastic uh crop you know a coffee shop whatever so I like to have this one really handy easy to take out if it's in the bag usually you won't you won't go for it so nice to have this one handy I think we have covered everything most of it if I forgot something I'd say 99 I've been covered yeah hope you enjoyed usually like I said usually I put English content but I've been like documenting my trip so I put every for every state I go every country is like one or two episodes so I invite you to check out the videos I've done already some of them have English subtitles if I can end this video with with some tips is like you know there's a lot of preparation to do prior of the trip but depending where you start you know there's always probably like I I started in the U.S so there's a few places where I could easily send back stuff so try to obviously take the least possible because the more items you have it's not only the weight but also you're gonna have to take those items out and in of the bag so the more items that you have the more you're spreaded especially when you're camping it's a learning curve there's a lot of stuff that had at first that I sent back home but this is for me everything I need for a one year trip between Victoria and Patagonia so anywhere between 1440 degrees Celsius to minus six um so I think it's a pretty good example of the equipment you need for this kind of trip hope this helped you out if you have any questions you can write me on Instagram or in this comment in YouTube on the YouTube video like subscribe put a comment just to uh to help me out to support me thanks again to all my sponsors and happy writing cheers foreign [Music]

Channel: Dominick Menard

Views: 43,256

Keywords: velo, bike, biketouring, cyclotourisme, quebecois, cycliste, victoria patagonie a velo, dominick menard, bikecheck, bikesetup

Id: wZlIp8I_ll0

Length: 22min 56sec (1376 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 16 2023