Bikepacking / Bike Touring

[NickGM]

5 hours ago, Jaco Greeff said:

Hi All

I want to start bikepacking / touring on my MTB.

ANY advice ??

- Gear
- Where to buy in SA
- Routes for starters
- Tents
- etc.

Basically you wont battle to find gear in RSA, I think the biggest stumbling block for people is how to stitch together a nice route that has good scenery and ensures a safe place to sleep. 

There are a number of routes suggested in the stories here:

https://bicyclesouth.co.za/category/adventure/

eg: cederberg circuit, etc. It is quite Western Cape-centric and I'm not sure where you live. 

[Thug]

I'm actually leaving next week to Kyrgyzstan to do the Silk Road Mountain Race which is a self-supported bikepacking race.

Starts 22:00 on 13 August and one has to be finished by approx the same time on 28 August. It covers 1 800km with over 30 000m of ascent.

 

 

[RustyHWR]

3 minutes ago, Thug said:

I'm actually leaving next week to Kyrgyzstan to do the Silk Road Mountain Race which is a self-supported bikepacking race.

Starts 22:00 on 13 August and one has to be finished by approx the same time on 28 August. It covers 1 800km with over 30 000m of ascent.

 

 

Wow. Good luck. Nice setup you got. What size chainring you using? That GX crank is a B**ch to get off.

[Thug]

27 minutes ago, NickGM said:

Cycletouring.co.za has been a great resource for me too. But I wouldn't say an overseas import is needed for sleeping bags and camping stuff. I've purchased a great lightweight down sleeping bag from these guys and they have nice tents too:

https://www.outdoorescape.co.za/

 

I actually imported my whole sleeping system, except pillow. I couldn't find anything light enough and well proven enough to last the rigours of a 15 day trip in Central Asia.

Tent, incl poles and ground sheet & drybag - 1039gr 

Sleeping Pad (4.4r rating) - 529gr

Quilt & drybag - -8degC rating - 772gr

[Thug]

2 minutes ago, RustyHWR said:

Wow. Good luck. Nice setup you got. What size chainring you using? That GX crank is a B**ch to get off.

Thanks. Wolftooth 28t Oval.

I don't normally run a 28t but in this instance I'll be either going up or going down

[Mountain Bru]

2 hours ago, Slowbee said:

What sleeping bags and mats do you guys use ?

 

Haven't got into bike packing yet, but I've done loads of hiking trips, and that has a lot of the same constraints in terms of size and weight. Got quite into the lightweight side of things (Managed to do a 9 day hike in the Drakensburg with a 21kg bag including all food and 2l of water and half a tent)

So I have one of these:
https://klymit.com/products/static-v2-sleeping-pad

Literally the best mattress I've ever used. They used to sell them at Cape Union, but I don't see them on the site anymore. If you ever see one though, it's a no-brainer to buy it in my opinion. 

In terms of sleeping bags, I was overseas a few years ago and got a Sea to Summit bag. Very very nice. If I had to buy locally, I'd probably get a First Ascent Ice Nino/breaker for cold stuff, and an Amplify Down one for the not so cold stuff. 

As these things go though, there's 3 factors - Cheap, Small, Light. Pick 2. If it's small and light, it won't be cheap etc etc. 

[RustyHWR]

3 minutes ago, Thug said:

I actually imported my whole sleeping system, except pillow. I couldn't find anything light enough and well proven enough to last the rigours of a 15 day trip in Central Asia.

Tent, incl poles and ground sheet & drybag - 1039gr 

Sleeping Pad (4.4r rating) - 529gr - That is so important - 

Quilt & drybag - -8degC rating - 772gr

 

[NickGM]

6 minutes ago, Mountain Bru said:

In terms of sleeping bags, I was overseas a few years ago and got a Sea to Summit bag. Very very nice. If I had to buy locally, I'd probably get a First Ascent Ice Nino/breaker for cold stuff, and an Amplify Down one for the not so cold stuff. 
 

That's what I went with. Haven't used it much but was OK at -5 in sutherland. 

[6AL4V]

15 minutes ago, Thug said:

I'm actually leaving next week to Kyrgyzstan to do the Silk Road Mountain Race which is a self-supported bikepacking race.

Starts 22:00 on 13 August and one has to be finished by approx the same time on 28 August. It covers 1 800km with over 30 000m of ascent.

 

 

Nice rig!

How do you find that Sardinha and in particular the CrMo fork on corrugations?

What size tyres are you running?

[Sepia]

2 hours ago, dirtypot said:

I've got the First Ascent light down bag (with an extra liner) with a Thermarest matress and sleep inside a Naturehike VIK 1 man tent.  
I chose all of these because they weren't stupidly expensive, are all light weight, take up almost no space and most importantly - super comfortable.  

Exactly what I use.  Never looked back.  If you get cold, put on all your clothes.

[Jewbacca]

Nice one Thug. I remember Grant Clark took this on and bailed pretty early in the race. 

It looks like something I would LOVE to do, but deciding to become a breeder has changed things for a while. 

I shall be following your progress and checking in on your dot a few times a day!

[Thug]

1 minute ago, CraigT48 said:

Nice rig!

How do you find that Sardinha and in particular the CrMo fork on corrugations?

What size tyres are you running?

I'm loving the Sardinha with its relaxed geometry and all the mounting points. I'm running a Redshift shockstop stem for the corrugations and it hasn't been too bad after multiple trips on the Mini-Munga routes. Normally, I run a suspension fork.

Tyres are generally 2.4's but in this instance I have a 2.35 on the front as I was too lazy to swop out the normal front 2.4.

[Mountain Bru]

16 minutes ago, RustyHWR said:

 

Definitely. 

Although you can get by with a lower rating and putting an emergency blanket under it if you want a lighter setup for when it's not that cold.

Also.... As was said before.. A liner is a must in any conditions. I never want to clean my down sleeping bag. 
 

[Mountain Bru]

10 minutes ago, Sepia said:

Naturehike VIK 1

Added to shopping list.....

What do you guys do with your bike at night? Do you lock it up? With what kind of lock? Obviously it's not going in the tent, so do you do anything to keep it from getting wet? I've seen chains rust in 1 night when left outside at the coast. Can this be prevented? Any solutions for if there's no suitable tree/pole to chain it to?

[Jewbacca]

If I want to go 'light' I take my bivvy bag, thermal lining and make sure I'm always dry and in dry clothes before getting in. Insulation from the ground is crazy important as it sucks all your body warmth. 

I sleep pretty rough at times on races, but on a tour of if I bunk down for more than 2 hours, I will make sure I can get warm and stay warm. I think an inflatable matt is great. I put it inside the bivvy bag and it just stops me waking up shivering in 45 minutes as well as stops the 'itchy hip' which everyone knows about if you've slept rough.

Good thermals, sleeping only socks and a fleece top and beanie with that setup is super light, takes up less than a 3L dy bag and is good enough for snow covered Drakensberg. 

[RustyHWR]

Just now, Mountain Bru said:

Added to shopping list.....

What do you guys do with your bike at night? Do you lock it up? With what kind of lock? Obviously it's not going in the tent, so do you do anything to keep it from getting wet? I've seen chains rust in 1 night when left outside at the coast. Can this be prevented? Any solutions for if there's no suitable tree/pole to chain it to?

Bike sleep in the tent and you outside.