Bikepacking: How to Set Up Your Bike (Tyres, Gearing, & Essentials)

[@philipcaldwell3187]

Most excellent top level guidance, well done! Another term from the engineering world for shakedown ride is “testing it in the rain.” Marketing types hate that one.

[@klunkébikes]

Great video! Regarding your comment about needing a chain whip and bulky chain cassette removal tool to replace some spokes, check out the "Mini Cassette Lockring Driver" by J. A. Stein for a more compact option. I recently received one as a gift, after having a bike tour where it would have come in handy, in order to properly diagnose what turned out to be a cracked quick release axle. That experience made me think that in my ideal setup, I would carry a spare rear axle, some spare bearings and a couple of spare spokes and maybe a few washers the proper size to distribute the pressure around a spoke nipple anywhere that a rim may get a small break. And then to go a step further both wheels would ideally be old school bolt ons instead of quick release so that way the one spare axle could be used for the rear or the front (with a bit of extra metal sticking out).

[@locomotionbike]

Very well said! Great content 👏🏽👍🏽

[@dannyk3718]

Dishing out the gold yet again Josh 😉

[@chrisjwoodall]

Good stuff. Moving weight forward on the bike was a revelation for me, seemed counterintuitive but it was almost better than riding completely unloaded!

[@camperp195]

I carry 5 spare chain links,and a 10x10 cm piece of plastic from an ice cream tub lid,wrapped in insulation tape,two uses,the tape to tie things up,and the plastic is a great tyre boot, in case of a bad split park tool tyre boots dont stick to tubeless when you put a tube in,so the plastic keeps it all together until you can sort it properly,i cut the plastic to size with my leatherman micra I mountain bike in the welsh and Scottish mountains,and that old ice cream tub lid has saved my bacon three times!

[@reeseprince8]

Recommend microshift for beginners really bomb proof and done me well

[@SimonSheehan01]

For spokes and rear cassette options, have a look at a Stein cassette tool, and fibre fix emergency spoke. Both live in my bikepacking tool kit

[@dalj4362]

I've learnt from the best...KSA haha I'm a tube & glue guy tho. I don't mind changing a tube. Tried tubeless and hated it. Sticking a spike into my 55 quid tyre is a no from me 😂

[@julianhawker7672]

I'm a tube guy too. Have a look at Tannus armour foam inserts, you use them with tubes inside. Excellent puncture resistance BUT more flexible in everyway than tubeless and you don't get covered in goo on the rare occastion you need to make a trailside repair. HTH

[@dalj4362]

@julianhawker7672 Are they heavy? I use extra light butyl tubes.

[@julianhawker7672]

@@dalj4362 Not really, think of dense foam pipe lagging in a circle..... I am happy to pay a small weight penalty and not have the hassle. One thing to consider you have to use a tube size down from normal (Width)

[@dalj4362]

@@julianhawker7672 Thanks

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

That the great thing about tubeless though, it's the best of both worlds

[@whoarewe7515]

3.15 is that the hill from the ad? 6.50 🤣

[@morekeepsmilingadventures]

The old Hovis hill. And finally someone noticed 🤣

[@whoarewe7515]

@morekeepsmilingadventures 🤣

[@twowheelsintokyo7039]

It might sound silly, but a good way to understand your bikepacking bike is to build it yourself. Start by buying a frame and fork, then the wheels, brakes, and driveline parts. Building a bike is not rocket science, and doesn’t require much in the way of tools or mechanical ability, which is why bike mechanics don’t earn much more than minimum wage (this I know from experience). $100 worth of bike tools from Amazon and instructional videos here on KZbin are all you need to competently build your own bike. On the positive side, you end up with the bike you want, and it feels good to ride a bike you’ve built up yourself. On the negative side, a ready-built bike will be significantly cheaper. But when something goes wrong when you are out in the middle of nowhere (which is where things always go wrong), you’ll be more likely able to find the problem and either fix it, or come up with a work-around.

[@michaelbautista8621]

Why do bike packers always go for rigid fork?

[@Parkour_People]

Less to go wrong, lighter, simpler, less maintenance. With big tyres you can get away with it. Other issue is with weight on the front of the bike you have to adjust the sus to suit if you are riding loaded or unloaded etc.