How To Pack For A Gravel Bike Adventure

A gravel bike bikepacking adventure is an excellent way to combine off-road riding, with some incredible scenery and the fun of camping. With the extra equipment that needs to be carried, a bit more planning needs to go into this kind of ride over a standard Sunday morning ride, to ensure things go smoothly. Here's our guide on how to successfully pack for a gravel bike adventure.

Understanding Gravel Bikes

Before planning what to pack, let's ask what is a gravel bike? Although they look very similar to a road bike, there are a few differences that set them apart, so we'll look at gravel bike vs road bike.

There are two main differences, the first is that a gravel bike will have wider tyre clearance to allow a bigger volume tyre in the frame and forks, and the second is that the geometry will be a lot more relaxed and higher at the front end. Both of these features lead to a more comfortable ride over long distances, making them ideal for bikepacking, multi-day rides, or even longer day rides. These features also make the bikes more capable over technical off-road terrain, with the large volume tyres soaking up bumps in the trail and the higher handlebars offering more control.

Gravel bikes tend to be more versatile than road bikes, and often have features like multiple mounting points for panniers and bikepacking bags, and large on-bike storage compartments.

Essential Bikepacking Bags

One of the most important considerations when bikepacking is how to transport your equipment. Dedicated bikepacking bags are usually the best way of doing this, with a combination of panniers, a handlebar bag, a bike frame bag and a bike saddle bag being ideal for fitting everything you need. These specialist bikepacking bags are not only fully waterproof, ensuring your belongings are kept clean and dry, but differ from standard options by having much larger capacity. For example, a standard bike saddle bag might have 0.5L - 1L capacity, but a bikepacking saddle bag can have a capacity in the range of 17L. A bag from a quality manufacturer such as Ortlieb or Apidura will also be made from durable materials that have less chance of tearing, and often even offer repair plans in the event of your bag being damaged.

Packing Strategy

Packing your equipment on to your bike correctly is important as an unbalanced load can cause the bike to handle poorly when riding. As a general rule of thumb, light, bulky items such as a sleeping bag should go up front in your handlebar bag, with clothing and other moderately weighted items going in your bikepacking saddle bag. Heavy items, such as tools, should go in a bike frame bag, so as to centralise the load, and should be packed tightly if possible, to stop them moving about.

Final Tips

Before heading off on your adventure, it is worth fully packing your gravel bike, to make sure everything fits and to test how it rides once it is fully loaded. Just a quick ride outside your house is likely to identify any major issues with weight distribution, and could save a disaster when out on your trip.

Following this bikepacking guide will hopefully mean that you have a successful bikepacking trip on your gravel bike, and avoid any packing disasters!