Bikepacking Equipment Reviews

We've had a few bike options over the years! But I think we've found our best compromise that suits us and our bums! I could go on and argue the difference between Carbon, Aluminium, and Steel, but I'll leave that for another day. We believe we've hit our sweet spot with our choices in bikes, especially for our bikepacking adventures.

I'm a true believer in doing it as best you can the first time around! Not only does it save on the pocket but also your mental health 🤔. So we're all riding Surly bikes (www.surly.com), a niche kind of bike company that's been making robust bikes for riding around the world for ages. They’re heavy, bomb-proof, and have epic names 😉.

In age order:

Harry: Surly Ogre 👹

Kim: Surly ECR

Estella: Surly Bridge Club

Ruben: Surly Bridge Club

So there are a couple of reasons for all having the same bike!

1. They’re a really cool brand.

2. They’re made of steel.

3. A million mounting points for bikepacking bags.

4. Every and any wheel gear configuration possible.

5. Surly's are bomb-proof.

6. The color apparently!

Let’s talk about steel... if you're in the middle of nowhere and have a little mishap where anything happens to break, like the frame or dropout getting bent, just find a welder or a hammer, and you can fix a Surly. There are only a few bikes you could say that about. The next great feature is that they'll take any wheel size, from 26 inches up to 29ers. If you bust up your rear derailleur, no worries! You can convert it into a single speed in minutes. *The Bridge Club can't do this as easily, but we can transfer components from the Ogre or ECR to get back on the road again.* Plus, wheel and tire sizing are all interchangeable among the four bikes. We're also all running 11-speed Shimano; again, the Ogre and ECR have 2 x 11, while the Bridge Clubs have 1 x 11, keeping us safe if any mechanicals happen.

In the past, we've had three different tire and tube sizes, various gear ranges, and dropouts, but it feels a lot better to finally have us all on interchangeable bikes. So no matter what catastrophe occurs, we'll always make it home with our bikepacking gear.

So let's talk bikepacking bags! Putting your littlies' teddy bears in a safe, dry place is probably the most important thing in the world! Losing teddy 🧸 isn't an option! Let's start with the back and work our way forward! We'll cover seat bags or pannier racks, frame bags, front bags, top tube bags, feed bags, and then the fork bags. Once again, we've had a billion different setups, but this is our final one for a while with our bikepacking gear! Believe me, the investment in quality Surly bikes and accessories is worth it!

When choosing seat bags for your bike, it largely depends on the size of your bike and whether you can fit one in the available space. A good rule of thumb is to ensure there is 21.0 centimeters from the saddle rails to the top of your tire. If you find you don't have that space, consider exploring other options, such as bikepacking bags or panniers with bikepacking gear that are a bit smaller and more narrow, especially for Surly bikes, which often have unique frame designs.

Again, bikepacking bags come in different sizes, so measure your bike and see what fits. Kim and I are currently using Revelate frame bags for our Surly bikes as part of our bikepacking gear.

So we've all got the Revelate sweetroll bikepacking bags on the front end of our Surly bikes. This is due to the ease of taking them on and off and the fact they fit our sleeping bags in perfectly, making them an essential part of our bikepacking gear.

These bikepacking bags are definitely a winner with the littlies. With toys tucked away in the top tube bag and the feed bag holding the golden gift of bikepacking gear, it’s truly the lolly bag that makes the adventure memorable.