2018 North America Bikepacking Kit
Posted on 14 October, 2018
Our kit
Before we left we thought long and hard about what we’d need, temperatures we’d face, and invested in a fair bit of newer, lighter and more compressible kit. Although we have lots of camping kit, most of it is a decade or so old and flat out wouldn’t fit into bikepacking bags. Alongside the actual bags themselves we invested in new sleeping bags, sleeping mats and a cooking system. I don’t think we longed for anything more but couldn’t have left anything out either. We contemplated posting home our down jackets when we were in Oregon and didn’t see temps less than 30°c for weeks on end, but by the time we got to the Chilcotins and back to Vancouver we were really glad we’d kept hold of them!
Below is an extensive list of all our kit we took with us. Hopefully you find it useful. Eventually I’ll post our final route, but we roughly went from Reno NV to Vancouver BC via Vancouver island and as far North as the South Chilcotins Provincial Park. We left in mid May and finished in early September.
Andy’s bike...
Mondraker Prime R+ standard except...
31mm Chrommag stem
WTB Bridger front 3.0
Maxis Rekon rear 2.8 (was the original front tire)
2° works components angleset
Shimano Zee brakes
2x with stealth granny
Added bottle mounts on underside of downtube. (Zefal Gizmo universal battle mounts)
Brand X 125mm dropper
Ergon SMC4 saddle
ESI Chunky grips
Togs
DMR vaults
Garmin GPS 62s
Lezyne zecto max 250 rear light
Sahmurai bar end tire plugs
Other
iPhone SE in pocket
Mons Royale Redwood t-shirt
Icebreaker anatomica boxers
Intrepid Apparel Campaign Shorts
Endura Baabaa merino socks
5:10 Impacts which were replaced after a month with 5:10 Freeriders
POC Sports Tectal helmet
One industries gloves
Bags
Revelate Harness
Revelate salty roll
Revelate Egress pocket
Revelate ranger frame bag (M)
Topeak gas tank
Norco Jerry can
Bedrock bags black dragon
Bedrock bags tapeats
Revelate designs feedbag
Fabric bottle (filled with denatured alcohol for the stove)
Bear Spray
Osprey talon 25l
Salty Roll
Rab Silk Sleeping bag liner
Enlightened equipment enigma 30° quilt
Ursack allmitey bear bag
Thermarest Neoair
Thermarest stuffsack/pillow
Long johns -
Spare boxers - icebreaker Anatomica
Spare socks - endura Baabaa merino
Buff
Spare T-shirt - Oakley poly/cotton blend
Spare shorts - fox ranger
Mountain hardware ghost whisperer down jacket
Tent footprint
Egress
Garmin InReach
GoPro
Mini tripod
Straps for holding extra water
Passport
Drivers license
Chain lube
Rag
Thermarest repair kit
Exposure axis mk1 550lu
(Sometimes snacks)
Gas tank
Cables
Camera (Panasonic lx15)
Spoon
Hay fever pills
(Sometimes snacks too)
Frame bag
Spare tube
Trangia stove
Clickstand stove frame
Evernew 1.3l titanium pot
2x sea to summit collapseable mugs
2x titanium spork
2x lighter
Cloth and sponge
Homemade scraper/spatula
Tent poles
Empty 2l platypus (strapped to bars if full)
0.7l platypus for additional fuel
Tecnu poison ivy remover
Food
Tent repair kit
Iodine pills
2x Anker 10000 battery packs
Toothbrush & paste
Feedbag
Bear hang kit
Tent pegs
Chamois cream
Deet
Spare batteries for gps
Tapeats
Snack/cereal bars
Black dragon
Tent fly
Rab Waterproof jacket
Endura Waterproof shorts
Osprey Waterproof bag cover
Jerrycan
Chain tool
Tire lever
Patches
Bag of bolts
Brake pads x2 for both bikes
Cable ties
Mech hangers for both bikes
Mini slider
Leatherman squirt
Mini roll duct tape
Valve core remover
Small pot grease
Trail pouch of Peatys tire sealant
1x gear cable
Sugru
Backpack
Patagonia Windproof
Exposure bracket
GoPro battery
Camera battery
Extra SD cards
Anker solar charger
Flip-flops
Multi tool (Topeak ratchet rocket Lite)
Compass
3.0l camelbak
Opinel no. 9
Food
Pen
Mini towel
Toilet roll
Mini Optimus Prime
Sunglasses
Things that worked...
- Bedrock Tapeats; really simple but really useful handlebar bag. It attaches more solidly than the revelate bag due to the 2 bar attachment points that are wide apart rather than the one thick one found on the Feedbag. This also means that it can hold itself away from the headtube which is a must if you’re running a short stem, this avoids the bag interfering with the steering and crushing all your valuable goodies every time you get to a switchback...
- Mons Royale T-shirt; not much to say other than its really comfortable and being merino doesn’t stink up anywhere nearly as much as my other T-shirt did which is impressive as I only wore this for riding and the Oakley for camp/hanging out... It has started to show signs of wear, discolouring on the exposed shoulder areas that were not covered by my backpack and wearing very thin where my hip strap rubbed on the belt loops of my shorts.
- Intrepid Apparel shorts; super comfy, good pockets, solid zips, decent vents - look as good now as they did when I left on the trip (shorts are now ~3 years old). After having a look online it unfortunately seems like Intrepid Apparel are no longer trading. 😔
Things that didn’t work so well...
- MSR trailshot; it worked really well for a few weeks, then slowed drastically. No matter how many times we cleaned the filter it just wouldn’t pump much water with each squeeze, or worse still, the bulb wouldn’t fill at all. We checked the integrity multiple times and checked for leaks but found nothing. The trailshot also leaked water while performing the ‘shake’ to clean the filter. I contacted MSR numerous times through various channels and have just been passed around or not responded to at all. We ended up sending it back home and buying a Sawyer Mini Squeeze filter instead which has been solid!
- Peatys tire sealant - thankfully we didn’t need to use it because when we got home and emptied all the kit out, the pouch had solidified into one squidgy lump...
- My saddlebags... I started the trip with a Porcelain Rocket Albert. I really liked this as the bag is a good size and the rack holds the bag horizontally rather than on a 45° giving you more room to move back off the saddle. However, the rail section failed about 3 weeks into the trip. I emailed Scott at PR and he sent out a new one, which was great... until about 3 weeks later when it failed again. This time when it failed the bag dropped onto the tire which shredded the material around the frame and damaged the dry bag. I emailed him again and got a snotty reply so I ditched the bag (which was held together with zip ties) and swapped to the Bedrock bags Black Dragon. While the Black Dragon worked really well and was a solid bit of kit, it’s sold as being waterproof. I discovered after a heavy downpour just outside of Mission that it isn’t waterproof, in the slightest, at all...
Jen’s Bike
Specialized Fuse Pro 6fattie standard except...
Front tire Schwalbe Nobby Nic
Shimano SLX brakes
Togs
DMR vaults
28t blackspire chainring
ESI ‘racers edge’ grips
Mini Unicorn 🦄
Other
Polyester Royal Racing jersey 3/4 sleeve
POC sports shorts
Endura Baabaa socks
Icebreaker merino sports bra
Icebreaker women’s ‘Boy Shorts’
Troy Lee A2 helmet
Yeti logo gloves - replaced by a pair of POC Sports gloves
Specialized 2fo shoes
Bags
Revelate Harness
Revelate salty roll
Revelate Yakataga pocket
Revelate Ranger framebag (S)
Revelate mag-tank
Revelate jerry can
Bedrock bags black dragon
Bedrock bags tapeats
Revelate designs feedbag
Osprey talon 25l
Salty roll
Sleeping bag liner
Sleeping bag (enlightened equipment conundrum 20°F)
Thermarest X-therm
Icebreaker longjohns
2x icebreaker thermal l/s tops
Polyester Troy Lee jersey s/s
Raceface shorts
Icebreaker sports bra
Helly Hanson boxers
Sock guy socks
MEC loose boxers for sleeping in
Rab waterproof jacket
Endura waterproof 3/4 shorts
Tent inner (MSR Hubba Hubba HP)
Thermarest stuff sack/pillow
Yakataga pocket
2x Sawyer Mini filter and bag
Passport
Cards
Exposure Axis mk1 550lu
Straps
Sometimes food
Magtank
Snacks
Hand gel
Framebag
Platypus 2l (empty - strapped to bars if full)
Topeak Mini Morph pump
Topeak microshock shock pump
Deuce Ti spade
TP
Knee pads
First Aid Kit
Spare tube
Contact lenses
Feminine hygiene
Food
Multi-vitamins
Feedbag
Suntan lotion
Deet
iPhone SE
Snacks
Tapeats
Bear spray
Beanie
2x Buff
Black dragon
Food
Rubbish
Jerrycan
Bike locks
Electrical tape
Batteries
Pain-killers (thankfully we didn’t need these!)
Backpack
Leyzene zecto max 250 rear light
Sam splint
Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer
Flip flops
Ursack allmitey bear bag
3.0l Camelback
Endura windproof
2x GSI outdoors thermal cups
Food
Glasses
Sun glasses
Wet wipes
Toothbrush
Waterproof bag cover
Stuff that worked well
- EE sleeping bag, custom made including the colours! Super comfy, warm and snuggly! Having the option to secure it to the mat as a quilt was great too.
- MSR HubbaHubba HP tent, we slept the majority of the time in just the inner. It was a perfect size for two and kept out mosquitos and packs of angry dogs...
- Suncream, I would have turned into a little pile of ash fairly early on in the trip if I didn’t have suncream!
Stuff that didn’t work so well...
- MSR Trailshot, just had many issues with him - not his fault but he struggled at times!
- Menstrual cup, it just wasn’t the best option for me in this situation...
- Knee pads, I probably didn’t need to take them as I usually rode a section of trail and it wasn’t until I was stood at the bottom that I thought ‘it would have been good to have put my knee pads on for that...’
Wear and tear...
We had to do a few running repairs to the bikes as the trip progressed, here’s a wee list of repairs...
1x SLX rear mech
2x gear cable and outer
2x dropper post cable and outer
2x bb’s
2x rear tires
1x grips
2x spokes
1x saddlebag
4x brake pads
1x chain
And that’s about it! A massive thanks again to Andy at Backcountry Bikes (www.backcountry.scot) who guided us through our bikepacking kit selection, if you’re in the Cairngorms, pop by his shop in Aviemore for gear, advice or just a chat! If you want to know any other kit details or have questions about anything please find us over on Facebook as www.facebook.com/mtbhighlands
Thank you!
-Andy & Jen
Return to News
