Bikepacking Gear List V2.0

A downloadable list of all my bikepacking gear can be found in this post, first some background information.

Clothes and personal items

If you’re riding as I did, taking your time, enjoying exploring the remote sierras, towns and pueblos and staying a few days, you will want more clothes than if you’re on a mission to finish a route as fast as you can. You don’t have to be dirty and smelly all the time! After having a shower, it was so good to be able to put clean clothes on. I washed my dirty gear in the hostal bathrooms and dried them where I could.

I had packed for warm to hot weather in the day, with chilly mornings and evenings (above freezing temperatures) I would swap out some items if I was riding in colder weather. My clothes were packed in a vacuum bag, to keep the volume down.

Sleep System and camping

My preference was to have a completely free-standing tent. I really can’t be doing with staking out the guy ropes every time I put it up. I was generally happy with my choice of tent, although in strong winds it felt quite unstable. It’s tall and thin and must be pitched with the thinner end facing the direction the wind is coming from, which isn’t always easy to establish. It survived, was roomy enough for me and all my gear, except my bike, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in it. It's very good at keeping the bugs out!

Bike

Standard, out of the showroom Specialized Camber FSR 2017 except for tubeless tyres

Upgrade. Standard tyres - Ground Control and Purgatory.

My only criticism of it would be that a full suspension bike is obviously heavier than a gravel bike, but not to a point where I wanted to throw it down a mountain, unless I was on it of course!

I’d love to get some quick release pedals for it, but that’s for when I’m rich! **Update I now have some QR pedals, see the blog**

Bike Luggage

I chose the Arkel Rollpacker luggage as they looked the most suitable for a full suspension bike. At 25 litres they are some of the largest bags around. When I fell off my bike riding down from the Puerta de la Ragua, the luggage took a hard hit. On my final day of the ride, the front Rollpacker bracket snapped, I managed to fudge a repair to continue. I can only think I may have cracked it in the aforementioned shunt. I also think I put excessive stress on it by strapping my tent to it, now I don’t do that. After contacting Arkel, they promptly sent me a new front bracket free of charge, I did have to pay the postage though.

My fork luggage bags are Gorilla Cages, I bought new ones after I had my accident, which was caused by one of the bags falling into the front wheel. I also bought the correct bags for them this time, which is a great improvement!

Rucksack

I carry a lot more things than a bikepacker on a mission would. All the extra gear doesn’t fit into the bike bags, so I carry some in my rucksack. The rucksack is quite heavy, and when I’m tired it feels extra heavy! I carry my laptop, electronics, some of my food, some of my water, paperwork, and a fleece in it. I would like to not have to ride with it but can’t see how I can keep my 'luxuries' if I didn’t use it.

Cooking equipment

I’m happy with my cooking stuff in general although my cookpot is causing a problem, as it gives a metallic taste to boiled water, currently ongoing.

At some point I’ll need to buy a new stove, the one I have is around ten years old and it sometimes falls apart! But I will stick with the screw on gas canister type I think. I found it difficult to find screw on canisters in the small pueblos in Spain, luckily I’d bought an adaptor that fits into my existing canister, so I can refill it with a butane aerosol type bottle, which are easily found in ferreterias in Spain.

Adaptor https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/292685121323

Electronics

My YouTube films are very basic, I only use a GoPro, without gimbal and don’t use a drone. My notebook laptop and camera are very basic too. I’d like to attract more subscribers to my channel, but think I need better equipment and content to do this, so I may review my whole media production equipment setup. If I continue with the current standard of my films, I’ll keep my current setup.

As far as navigation goes, I had taken three mobile phones with me, all with SIMs with data. It was lucky I had taken three, as I broke my newest one on the second day of the ride. I smashed another completely in my tour-ending accident, so was left with one properly working. At least one spare phone is a must for me.

I’m navigating with Google Maps, Google My Maps and Ridewithgps. And I carry a Garmin Inreach Explorer which can always be used as a navigation device also.

I'd love to add a bike stand to my gear, but really I'm not sure I can afford the extra weight, I'm pretty heavy already. I will weigh my bike and gear at some point! But I'm guessing 40 - 45 kgs in total including my rucksack.

Below is an XLSX sheet of my gear that you can download, in case you want to adapt it for yourself. It shows what I carry, product details and where I store it, I hope it's useful to you!

Gear List V2.xlsx

Download XLSX • 30KB

Full Gear List Item

1.5 litre Water Bottles x 2

Quilt

Tea, Coffee And Sugar

Rain Poncho

Gas Canister

Bag of Vitamins

Windshield For Stove

Cooking Pot

Washing Stuff

Mozzie Headnet

Bowl

Cup

Stove

Makeup

Trowel

Shit Tickets

Cable Bike Lock

Beanie Hat

Sun Hat

Tissues

Sweets

Hand Sanitizer

Insect Repellent

1 litre Water Bottle

Pillow

Towel

Vacuum Pack Bag For Clothes comprising

1x Pair Of Leggings

1x Pair Of Short Shorts

1x Pair Of Knee Length Shorts

1x Pair Of Padded Cycling Pants

2x Pairs Of Knickers

1x Sports Bra

1x Long Sleeve Tops

1x Tidy T Shirt

1x Vest Top

1x Fleece

2x Pair Of Socks (Short/Ankle/Long)

1x Pair Of Long Johns

Solar Charger

Umbrella

Spoon

Swiss Army Kife

Front Bike Light

Rear Bike Light

Head Torch

Puño

Wet Wipes

Fisiocrem

Sun Screen

Small Bottle of Fruit Cordial

1x Pair Of Riding Gloves

Buff

Headband

Neck Cooler

Flannel

Lighter

Tyre Tube

First Aid Kit

Snake Bandage

Emergency Blanket

Chain Oil

Tyre Sealant

2xBungys

Spare Sawyer Bottle

Rain Jacket

Spare Plastic Bags

Suspension Pump

Wrist Straps

Eye Cover

Allen Keys

Sawyer Filter

Empty Holdall

Emergency Repair Kit comprising

1 x 3 Metres Paracord

3 x Safety Pins

1 x Sewing Kit

1 x Large Darning Needle

1 x Chain Splitter

1 x Derailuer Hanger

1 x Darning Thread

1 x Waterproof Matches

1 x Plugs For Holed Tyre

1 x Toothbrush To Clean Chain

1 x Silicon Gloves

1 x Sawyer Washer

1 x Double Sided Spongy Tape

1 x Super Glue

1 x Tube Of Adhesive

1 x Small Reel of Tank Tape

1 x Pen

2 x Brake Caliper Piston Spacer Blocks

1 x Repair Patch for Airbed

1 x Repair Patches for Tent

3 x Tyre Levers

10 x Cable Ties

1 x Small Reel Of Wire

2 x Spare Strap Clip

1 x Fire Lighter Rod

1 x Co2 Canister And Adaptor

1 x Spare Chain Link

Puncture Patches

2xAdaptor to Fill Gas Canister

Spanish Fan

Incense Sticks

Spare Batteries

Notepad

Pencil

Tissues

Face Mask

Compass

Airhorn

750ml Water Bottle

Tyre Pump

2xRollpackers

2xGorilla Cages

Wedge Top Tube Bag

Top Tube Saddle Bag

Knife

Handlebar Telephone Mount

Telephone For Navigation

Tent Bag

Tent Body

Tent Rainfly

Ground Sheet

Tent Poles

Sleeping Mat

Sleeping Bag Liner

Bike Mounted Bottle Holder

Securing Straps-Large

Securing Straps-Sall

Prescription Sun Glasses

Backpack

Bike Helmet

Gopro Chest Mount

Gopro Camera

Trail Runners

1x Pair Of Knee Length Shorts

1x Pair Of Padded Cycling Pants

1x Pairs Of Knickers

1x Sports Bra

1x Long Sleeve Tops

1x Pair Of Socks (Short/Ankle/Long)

Money, Credit Card, ID

Water Bottle

Insulated Food Bag

Dry Bag For Electronics

Spare Prescription Glasses

Gopro Fittings

Electronic Cables And Sd Cards

Whistle

Food

Garmin Inreach

Spare GoPro

Selfie Stick Tripod

Wall Charger

Flip-Flops

2xPower Banks 8800mAh

Laptop

Ear Buds

Ear Plugs

Spare Telephone

Lip Salve

Digital Camera

Power Bank 10400 mAh