Bikepacking VS Touring
While most road touring veterans have their tried and true set-ups, there is a little known history of bikepacking. In fact, bikepacking was the original touring method. In a time when there was little to no pavement and horses weren’t the commodity that they used to be, the military turned to bicycles. A bicycling regiment was formed and the rest is history.
While long distance bicycle riders were highly regarded and was given a little fame for their efforts, the advent of cheap automobiles took over and the bicycle took a backseat. While the bicycle went the way of being a novelty children’s toy, it would make a comeback in the 70’s. Bicycle touring would become popular and the mountain bike would be conceived.
While the normal road touring set-up is what is immediately thought of when gearing up for a long ride, the resurgence of bikepacking has made a real come-back. Instead of the rack and panniers, a bike is often loaded with frame bags, handlebar rolls, fork cages, and saddle bags.
The bikes often used for bikepacking are different as well. Most have aluminum frames, are geared to mountain bike ranges for loaded bikes, and the geometry of the bike has a MTB configuration with a longer chainstay, if they’re well built. Let’s not kid ourselves, the bikepacking bike can go many more places that a road touring bike cannot go. While the MTB bike may be slower on the road, still cannot figure out why a fully loaded bike needs to be doing 30, it can still perform on the hard surfaces.
I can see many new styles and categories of bikes coming down the line, but if you want to have a bike that does it all, then think past the usual lines of touring frames and think about a multi-purpose workhorse.
If most of your touring is going to be on the road, then a common road touring bike is your answer, but if you want a bike that will get you farther out into nowhere, then look at a bikepackng bike.
There is a new-comer on the block, and that is the fat bike, but that is another story altogether.