Bikepacking Bikes
A bikepacking bike can be pretty much any bike that has been setup for the terrain you’ll be riding on; a gravel bike, hybrid, mountain bike, fat bike,… they can all be used for bikepacking.
Frames can be made from steel, aluminum, titanium, or carbon, and rims can be aluminum or carbon. Most of my bikepacking bikes are steel-framed with aluminum rims.
I am a big fan of Surly bikes and currently own 5 of them. Surly bikes have very practical designs, are built with quality steel, are very durable and also very adaptable, which are all attributes that I appreciate in a bikepacking bike. Sadly, many of the bike models that I own have been discontinued so I take care of them very well.
I also use rear racks on all of my bikepacking bikes. This provides a solid platform for attaching gear and also serves as a grab-handle when having to hike-a-bike through unrideable terrain. I use racks from Old Man Mountain, Surly, Tubus, and Blackburn.
The route and terrain really determine the tires used with 700x40c on the narrow end for hard-packed gravel routes all the way up to 26x6.0 on the wide end for riding in snow. My bikepacking bikes range from 700x40c - 27.5x3.0.
Along with the tire size, the other factor that determines what terrain a bike is capable of riding over is something called Gear Inches, which quantifies the range of gearing on the bike. The lower the number the lower the gearing.
Gear Inch = Wheel Diameter * Chainring/Cog
Wheel Diameter = diameter (inches) at the contact point of the tire with the ground
Chainring = # of teeth on the chainring
Cog = # of teeth on the cassette cog
Low gear = small chainring and large cog
High gear = large chainring and small cog
The chart below shows typical gear inch ranges for various bikes:
I often change out cassettes and chainrings to get different gear inches depending on the route I’m riding.
Surly ECR
27.5 x 3.0
1x12 drivetrain, 30T chainring, 11-50 cassette
Gear Inches = 17.4-79.1
Primary use for this bike is off-road with technical singletrack. The ECR has been discontinued by Surly.
Surly Ogre
700 x 50c, 29 x 2.5
2x10 drivetrain, 26/36 chainrings, 11-42 cassette
Gear Inches = 18.5-97.9
The Ogre is very adaptable to different terrain and I mainly use it for longer multi-day tours over varied surfaces (pavement, gravel, dirt).
Trek 520
700 x 50c, 29 x 2.2
2x10 drivetrain, 28/38 chainrings, 11-42 cassette
Gear Inches = 19.2-99.4
The 520 was Trek’s original road touring bike and evolved to have disc brakes and clearance for 56c (2.2”) tires for gravel use, but unfortunately they discontinued this model a few years ago. Mine is setup as sort of a monster gravel adventure bike.
Surly Cross Check
700x45c
2x10 drivetrain, 30/46 chainrings, 11-42 cassette
Gear Inches = 19.5-114.1
The Cross-Check was probably the original “gravel” bike and uses old-school geometry. Mine is used mostly for pavement on days when I just want to cruise and bring along some extra layers and food with me. The Cross-Check has also been discontinued.
xxx