Long Distance Bikepacking Gear Setup

It's been 9 months since I finished travelling by bike and returned to the UK. after spending COVID times working and getting set up in my new home in Yorkshire, I've decided its time to hit the road again.
One of the things I disliked about travelling by bike was the traffic. This is why bikepacking appeals. To get away from the roads and adventure to places less travelled. To be with nature and to challenge me in a different way of travelling.
Here's my bikepacking setup that will be used to cycle from my home in Yorkshire to the top of Scotland during August 2020. I'm aiming to travel using a mixture of the GB divide, The Great North Trail and the Highland 550.
Subscribe to follow my journey by bicycle: bit.ly/2CZcRgI

[@zer0kelvin212]

"The bike that you take, will define the journey that you make." -Sun Tzu, The Art of War 5th BC.

[@briandineen7857]

Have a most excellent trip Adam

[@texasgirl9405]

Hi Adam. Discovered you from watching Girl In the Woods/Brooke when you ran into her while biking through Alaska. I love your adventures. You have re-sparked my interest in biking, so I thank you for that! Love your line, "The bike you take, is the journey you'll make." Then your laughter. That was so great and had me laughing. Well, you have a new fan from Texas. Bike on, my friend...

[@nihilistarchitect]

Yes, I would go nuts with your set up.

[@kevinhancock9475]

Brilliant to watch Adam and very entertaining. Keep posting as I’m sure to watch. 👌

[@jonfrance7201]

Love the detail of your set up, thanks 🙏🏻

[@linshanlinshan4317]

Happy to see you again

[@rohra5220]

Greetings from India! Glad to see this detailed and thorough videos of Bike packing stuff, one needs to go riding! Especially the solar charger. Very helpful for newbies into bikepacking and long-distance touring. Regards and ride safe.

[@nicksrunningandadventureschann]

Good to see a new video, happy Yorkshire day

[@AndyMorfett]

Great to see your breakdown of what and where it all goes. TFS. ATB Andy

[@moisemayhew]

Great video man! you explained everything very well, and it helped me for my own bike packing adventure.

[@davidthompson1622]

Looking forward to your Bonnie Scotland videos Adam 🤩

[@andrewnorris5415]

Thourally honest explanation of kit choices from a seasoned traveller. I love how you make sensible compromises for budget and time constraints, not having the best fitting, most suitable kit. Makes me feel good - not having to spend a fortune on kit or going tubeless yet. Did however just splash out on a pair of the planet-x large fork bags when their freepost offer was just on. Will catch up on your travels soon! That setup looks good to handle any kid of terrain with those tyres and the fork! It's not all about speed though is it, just being able to go where you want and keep riding through it is good too.

[@thewholehealthlab]

using what you have, love it 😊

[@AndreaGiacomelliPhotography]

Nice video! Thanks for all the tips!🚴‍♂️

[@RollingExistence]

Awesome to see you still at it despite the crazy state of the world!

[@spencergiles72]

You can pick up a "coupler" for the sawyer filters that makes it way easy to backflush with another bottle instead of carrying the syringe.

[@NavvD19MTB]

Definitely going to implement some of the things for my next bikepacking adventure

[@johnashcroft-jones6091]

Great I'm following your adventure into bikepacking.

[@robwoolass1677]

Good setup mate, happy Yorkshire day, just also been getting my setup sorted for when I can get out due to covid.

[@TravelingThru222]

Cool video, nice setup. Im going to look into those fork bags. Thanks for the help.

[@josenetobike]

The best vídeo show the bikepacking equipaments

[@madiantin]

15:50 That is invaluable information! Thank you! Love this video.

[@mtballard4044]

Great advice man thank you

[@steveretiredandcycling]

Hey Adam, nice video. Next month I'm bikepacking the entire east coast of Florida. Great tips!!

[@goldbrick2751]

Awesome video. Looking into putting my bike something like this.

[@edwinchirec.9862]

Good information, very entertaining. Cheers from Perú 🇵🇪

[@SkycladWanderer]

Good natured Adam. From the heart of so-cal. Greetings! Miss your streams bud. Your hairs fkn Wiley bro.

[@johnross8273]

Good honest vid, great work 👍🏻

[@tamask2172]

The bum bag is a genius idea for a secondary handlebar bag! And it can also be worn as a bum bag when off the bike.

[@neiloliva1222]

Happy to see you Adam..... Great video.. Got an idea from you..

[@jimbojet8728]

It’s good to see you on a bit of a high in this vid, preparing to be embarking on an adventure that you know you’re going to enjoy is always going to be uplifting. I wish I was going with you. Take good care of yourself, please , please no falls, I hate to see your camera view upside down whilst listening to you in pain. I’m sure you do too ha ha! Bon voyage ! Or, As we say here, Pob Hwyl!

[@chuckthibault2649]

Awesome setup! "The road provides bungees..."

[@davidfarquhar3917]

Good video, saw your very long charging cable and battery charger for camera - reminded me a while back I got a little USB powered charger for my camera batteries from Amazon. Charger is the same size, and you can plug it into your big Anker battery and not have to carry the plug & cable

[@Pasdechevredreamer]

Interesting to watch somebody with real world experience, although I think i would have felt weighed down with all of the electronics. Thanks for your efforts. Refreshing.

[@MariusTheDude]

Great setup, I may sugest alternatives: for the multitool, spoke key and chain cutter you can get one multitool that includes them all like btwin multitool 900 . Also for the router part you can get an OTG cable plus an usb hub and you can transfer videos from the phone directly to the drive or sdcards (with a proper adapter like LOGILINK CR0039 ). I also use the GoPro connected directly to the powerbank (with GPS off) and I could film for as long as I have disk space.Also make sure you have a pump that can inflate your fork also (I happily used in emergency situations btwin 920 hand pump) + spare rear derailleur hanger (saw your upload after posting) + spare shifting cable + chain oil + tick removal tool. Also give merino wool a test. Happy pedaling and remember if you are not enjoying your trip you are doing something wrong :).

[@bernardgilaga2667]

nice setup

[@cliveparrott94]

Hi Adam, great video, inspirational, I note your cycling Scotland, we may cross paths, although most of my tour is based on NC500, I start from Inverness on the 02/09/20, hopefully get to ether start of Bealach na Ba, or if time / legs permit I may get to Applecross. I'll look out for you, Clive

[@BluecollarBackcountry]

I like the idea of an SD card back up. There's nothing more frustrating than losing footage (Especially when it's some of the best footage ) when your videoing your trip. I hate when that happens. Lol Nice kit Adam. I'm looking forward to seeing your adventure. Cheers from Texas, Tony

[@theejoeylee]

For a portable, compact computing solution get a Rasperry pi 4. really cheap, small , and runs off usb power from a power bank. You can use a 7" LCD panel for the display for very cheap too. For storage I would use a SSD with SATA to usb adapter. SSDs weigh nothing BTW. They even make windows 10 for them, If you dont like linux.

[@richardtodd5418]

Rocking the 80’s spandau ballet mullet...

[@rykie5]

Love your video’s Adam! Thanks for making them! Quick tip: your 10 speed missing link for your chain won’t work (very well) with the Sram 12 speed. Better get a new one ;-)

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Thanks for the tip. Yep, plan is to get a new chain also.

[@hilloldas3348]

Excellent dear

[@flatliner8524]

Thanks for the update....thought maybe you wiped out somewhere.....i guess i should just "DEAL WITH IT"...good line....still working for the ARMY?....i thought i heard you say a Swedish company?? maybe i missed something in one of the videos......glad your back in the saddle...look forward to watching....maybe see "LOCHNESS"?...cheers

[@junecadaraotv3643]

nice bike

[@TomGurion]

Excellent video as always Adam 😊 was wandering about your solution for the water filter bottle. Did you find a bottle that fits? My sewyer squeeze bag just failed on me and looking for an alternative. Saw recommendations about evernew but a generally available bottle sounds like a better solution to me. Thanks!

[@markolson5857]

Please explain your front fork gear bags and how you attach them. Thanks.

[@stickyprickle]

Wow, so glad you discovered that Uk smart water bottle treads don’t fit, if anyone knows a bottle that does fit in the Uk please let me know

[@SuheybBecerek]

Going to Turkey? I think you should make a video about the most important things for bike touring. I want to start going on weekends with my student budget ever since I started following you but I am afraid couldn't achieve that yet

[@spencervanderstarren1221]

Hey Adam, you can backwash the Sawyer filter using the Smart Water bottle cap instead of that big plastic syringe! Should be a nice friction fit - at least on the American version!

[@spencervanderstarren1221]

Also, I'd recommend leaving your tripod baseplate screwed in to your camera at all times. That way your quick deployment is even quicker, since you don't have to fumble with that screw!

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Great idea!

[@bccal5982]

I don't know Truman from Parktool has a brother who loves bikepacking XDDD. Good info. Definitely learned something :)

[@anneliesevoelker2502]

How is the balance with this type of set up? I have considered going lighter. When there is high traffic and wind the touring set up seems to be well balanced.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Nice camera.

[@WanderABit]

Many thanks for STS kitchen sink, somehow it flew under my radar until now. How much do your flipflops weight? Mine 250g and I simply cannot convince myself to bring them, despite I would like to use them. Not at this weight. So I wonder how about yours.

[@Luke_explores]

I have a few questions. what precautions and safety measures do you take when you have to leave your bike and gear while say shopping in a supermarket abroad ? also doesn't the seat get very uncomfortable on long overland trips? what do you do to combat this? cheers Ragnor

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

I think I need to make a video that answers your first question. The seat was very comfortable. The leather saddle changes shape to fit your backside. Padded shorts can also help.

[@markboden7208]

You went to a lot of effort there Adam, always great to see others set up. You still got that military mentality of lugging a lot of weight about. Am really surprised you don't have some of those bomb proof Army bungees, I made sure I left with a handful and also strap my flip flops to my seat pack too. I'm really pleased you decided to do the Great North Trail, it was my choice when you had a vote. Don't think I'll get it done this year, looking at a trip up through Wales in September. Where did you download the route from? Good luck, it'll be a fantastic trip.

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Wales in September can be fantastic. Good luck with that. I do struggle with keeping the weight of my kit down. A lot of that is due to not wanting to spend a lot of money upgrading things (I’m taking a heavy gortex jacket which wasn’t in this video). I downloaded the video from bikepacking.com. Go to the “ridewithhgps” route at the bottom of the page. Select “send to device”. From here you get the option of downloading the route in multiple different formats. I take the KML and GPX file for my Maps.me and Map Out apps. Hope that makes sense.

[@markboden7208]

@@PathfinderBikepacking I got the route off Komoot, just wondered where you found it, always interested where routes come from. I'm a big fan of Komoot, I love the community element it offers and use it 99% of the time. Make the most of your night in that dry warm castle, weather looking pretty awful for you heading north.

[@brianbassett4379]

This is one way to do it if you are into short duration riding.

[@weiwei1808]

Good

[@eisvogel8099]

Very informative, I wonder what kind of headtorch you're using. I saw a lot but they were quite expensive.

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Good question. I’m using a petzl one that I got from work (so didn’t pay for it) but you’re right, they can be expensive. I’d look for one that is able to charge with usb in the future. I’d have to do some research to see if that exists (it surely does).

[@NikkoBalbedina]

Hi Adam. I’m a cycling rookie and was a few months in before covid got me. Anyway, I loved this video and I am subscribing to your channel solely on this one. This because I agree with most of your decisions when it comes to practicality and style. Cheers!

[@pertzian.sounds]

pls make a bikepacking video list

[@barrybogart5436]

Where were you riding in the North of Vancouver Island? I have done the backroads on the Southern Island and will do Central in the Spring, and the North next Summer, then on the the mainland and North. I have cycled from Port Renfrew to Port Hardy but now want to do the interior backroads.

[@parsaerfani7973]

Hello, do you think a 35c tire would work for bike packing ?

[@stormyboy129]

Very helpful video, I'm especially happy you've showed me the Ravpower filehub. Such an amazing device! I'll cycle from Belgium to Sweden and back through Finland next summer and plan on filming the whole ordeal so I'll very much need it. But I'm still not sure about how many GB's of SD cards I should take and how I can backup such massive amounts of data on my trip. Any insight would be helpful!

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Not an easy one to answer and to be honest, it’s one I’ve never cracked myself. I suppose it depends on the file size and format of the video you film plus how much footage are you planning to shoot? If you film in 4k you’re going to need much more than some 1080 format. I normally film in 1080 and take close to 1TB of space on SD cards (12x64gb). That would last me a few weeks, maybe even months. Backing up without a laptop is still something I haven’t sorted and I normally take the risk and don’t do it. Not wise though.

[@stormyboy129]

@@PathfinderBikepacking Seems like the only option to having a back up is to bring two SSDs and transfer your files from the SD card to both of them using the RAVpower file hub. It doesn't seem like a crazy idea since SSDs are very lightweight. They're just crazy expensive, but using this method you don't need as many SD cards -- and they're crazy expensive as well. Maybe take an extra battery pack for the RAVpower file hub. Do you think this method will work or am I missing something (I tend to overlook critical details, lol)

[@kevinpaul4788]

Adam i'm from West side of Glasgow (West Dunbartonshire) and if you stuck in the middle of nowhere give me shout and i can give you lift. Not many train stations off the 550 after Inverness. I might be doing the NC 500 in two weeks weather depending.

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

That’s really kind. Thank you for your offer.

[@VadimKudim]

How heavy is your kit in total?

[@tonydejesus2134]

When did you switch from your Surly? Was something wrong with it?

[@timshanemelton]

Safe Travels

[@jatsajatsa]

Refreshing and down to earth. It’s the adventure that counts, not the money spent on gear. Talking of gear... Rain jacket? Or did I miss something?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

I missed it off but I would definitely be wearing one.

[@MaNi-cn7to]

Thx for the vid! can you write down name of that router pls :)

[@jimbojet8728]

2 x bags Huw. One clean and one dirty?

[@jondonnelly4831]

In gradually increasing my distance, soon I will have to order a second battery. Then provided a can recharge them overnight a multi day bike pack is possible. 60-70 miles per day. Some camp sites have power? Actually I don't know. Maybe that is glamping. fuk knows. My life my rules.

[@funofflying15]

Working for SAAB eh, my Wife and I both worked for Scania GB for decades prior to retirement, which used to be a sister company to SAAB! Good video, very interesting, looking forward to seeing further vlogs of your forthcoming trip up north :-) Good Luck and Enjoy!

[@markl2815]

I watched the early “got a mountain bike” day ridges and enjoying the land of god ... But you just can’t resist moving can ya mate Celebrate it, it’s in the blood for some Nice to see you doing anything and as I’ve said, if you’ve a moment, no diseases and a will, come and visit us in SW France ... great rides, stay with us, I can cook, decent wine ... erm ... yeah, more wine etc

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Thank mate. That’s super kind.

[@AdrilenzoCassoma]

"The road provides for bungees" a wise man once said.

[@JokkazArt]

*0:33** Very Ricki Gervais* 😂😂😂

[@pavithren]

I hope to bikepack once the COVID-19 pandemic is over. I've got a gravel bike Merida Silex 400 (2019) but it doesn't have a suspension with support for mounts and additional bottle cage. Do you think a suspension is required? Btw cool magic trick at 20:06!

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Not at all. The bike you have is better than spending money on something that isn’t essential.

[@pavithren]

@@PathfinderBikepacking THanks for the advice @adam! All the best for your next trip and stay safe! Looking forward to more videos:)

[@markpayne4274]

Wet tent in the same pack as your sleeping bag?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Sleeping bag is in a separate waterproof bag.

[@nitrous390]

Keep up the good stuff 👍, and yeah what happened to your fat bike ?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Cheers 👍 sold the fat bike to fund the new MTB

[@gavinwilliams3403]

17:11 the charger box

[@lulun3724]

Hi Adam Been following you for a while ....., I thought you were in Kenya for a year ?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Nope, just for a few months.

[@SittingBullOwl]

How far can you ride your 29 MTB on a relative flat surface per day?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Good question. Probably 50 miles or so.

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

Flippy floppys!

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

I'm on a boat!

[@michaelmatthews4096]

Hi Adam long time no see how are you doing?

[@tinku4859]

Hi Adam miss u Loads . How r u ?

[@ascot1049]

Yorksihire.

[@ianquigley116]

Go to the army in Leeds

[@travelerchennai3684]

what is the name of sd card cum power bank..where did u bought..?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

It's a Rav power file hub: www.ravpower.com/collections/filehub you can probably get it from Amazon.

[@babatako8748]

If you came malaysia you tell me

[@tomas7403]

Interesting video but, those tires for bikepacking? Really?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

I’ve had no issues. What’s your problem with the tyres?

[@wlsweat1]

Adam, Have you decided to take those things because of your past trips? You have everything possible and it looks much lighter and may keep your trip up the hills much easier. I sometimes watch your previous vids and wondered if you ever got sore or have your hands ever went numb or sore too?

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

I still think I’m packing too much at the moment but I’ll get to a point where I’m happy with what I’ve got. No sore hands. If the bike is the correct size, you should be fine as far as numbness goes.

[@corvus400]

Why people not using fenders? It's so nice to not get lots of dirt all over you and your bicycle?

[@kirkcooper8184]

Hope your stuff stayed dry whilst travelling about didn't look like you had much in way of weather protection for your gear on bike

[@mandoleg]

General Kenobi

[@sfinnera1]

What happened to the Fatty?

[@WetaMantis]

12:23 bike pump wrapped in duct tape.

I can't quite understand bikepacking, bags, bags and more bags. The weight of the packaging represents more than the content.

[@alen8470]

obi wan

[@jeremybrunger17]

Hi Adam Check out "Water to Go" bottles. Single use bottle, triple purification system. And I'm not sponsored. 👍😀

[@max_mittler]

imagine making this video and not even having affiliate links in the description. Great video, but wow you could be making hundreds or more with affiliate links for all these products.

[@PathfinderBikepacking]

Affiliate links make very small margins, almost to the point where I’m not that bothered about those extra pennies. I’ve included them on previous videos in the past and feel that it’s not worth it. Each to their own though.