What is the difference between bike touring and bikepacking? There are many different opinions on this subject and there is really no one right answer. On one end of the spectrum is touring on paved roads using a skinny-tire road bike loaded with panniers, and at the other end is multi-day singletrack excursions through the wilderness on a mountain bike with fat tires and frame bags, and then there is everything in-between.

It’s really all bike touring in one form or another. Bikepacking might be thought of as a specialized category of bike touring that requires skills for riding over unique terrain and may involve some amount of pushing or carrying your bike through unrideable sections like dense forests or river crossings. One way to think of it is:

• Bike Touring tends to be more about traveling and living life on the road.

• Bikepacking is more about exploring out-of-the-way destinations where the riding and equipment choices are more integral to the experience.

Given that, bikepacking typically requires tailoring and optimizing the bike ‘rig’ to deliver the best possible ride under conditions often far more challenging than those encountered on a regular bicycle tour. This is what we focus on; customizing the experience for a variety of terrain whether it be pavement, dirt, gravel, singletrack, doubletrack, or snow.

For some examples of different bike setups checkout this article on Bikepacking Bikes.