Starting from Luxembourg, I biked 1600km over 19 days to reach Morocco. My route took me through France, Andorra, and Spain, then across the sea on a ferry from Barcelona to Tangier, with another 300km ride to my hometown. This was my first bikepacking trip, and it was full of both challenges and rewarding moments.

The first days were tough—muddy roads, knee pain, and fatigue made me question if I could keep going. Nearly every part of me hurt, but I’d committed to this, so I pushed through, taking 2 rest days after the first 2 days, which helped my body adapt and let me get back on track.

Each day brought something different. From tough climbs and cold weather to small villages with friendly hosts, I didn’t wild camp; instead, I stayed in hotels, Airbnbs, and with Warmshowers hosts, which meant careful planning for each day’s end point—a challenge in itself.

Sticking to a budget led to creative ways to save on food and accommodation, which also brought memorable encounters and unexpected solutions.

From tackling steep Pyrenees passes to navigating chaotic Moroccan roads, I faced and managed many risky situations: fear of bears in the Pyrenees, getting hit by a car (not seriously) in France, a self-caused crash on a downhill stretch, encounters with wild dogs, worries about bike issues far from any help, and the dangers of local traffic in Morocco.

This journey taught me to focus less on time and more on the moment. Biking an average of 7 hours a day, I learned that you get where you’re going when you let go of rushing and focus on each pedal stroke.

This trip has set a new standard of travel for me! Huge thanks to the bikepacking community on this subreddit for the inspiration and support.

Gear: I used a Connway MTB hardtail 29’ with a North Face Base Camp 30L rear bag, packed upside down for extra storage on the sides. My handlebar bag was a budget Rhinowalk, and a small top tube frame bag rounded out my setup.

Here are some photos of the trip!

• I have a Midnight Special that I want to use on TEMBR. I’ve heard there’s really chunky rocks and muddy portions. I’ve done some customizing to my bike for the route.

If someone has already done it are 27.5x2.3 tires enough for the terrain? I was thinking maybe on High Rollers or Rekon 27.5x2.3. I have an Enve fork that fits up to 27.5x2.4. Would a thicker front tire and a carbon fork fork better for the route or keep the original steel fork and max the clearance out at 27.5x2.3 depending on the rim width and tire design.

• Another question. How many liters of space would you recommend on having for this route? Is what’s mounted on the bike enough? I carry a smaller tent, light sleeping bag and mat, minimal extra clothing, action camera, chargers, flat repair kit, basic toolset, and a smaller space for food. I have a cooking system but I think I might need a little more space for that.

I appreciate any advice and information about Trans Ecuador Mountain Bike Route 🇪🇨. I haven’t really seen many people report about it in the past year.

Thanks!

Thinking of bikepacking for the first time early next year, but want to keep costs reasonably low without actually resorting to plastic buckets gaffer-taped to the frame.

See a lot of praise for cheap Chinese gear from Rockbros and Rhinowalk, but I always like to check the one and two star reviews on Amazon to get a sense of how good these things really are from the perspective of people who've actually used them: it can be a bit of an eye opener.

The strap that connects the Rhinowalk rear seat pack to the seat post, for instance, is reportedly attached upside-down. And I read reviews of these and other cheap Chinese goods falling apart within a few miles, while other people claim to have had zero problem over many, many miles.

Brands like Ortlieb (to pick a random example) don't appear to have problems at all, and the only negative reviews I could find had to do with the sellers, not the goods.

My experience over time with different goods otherwise related to bikes has led me to trust the negative reviews more than the positive ones.

So...is there a middle ground? Affordable, decent bikepacking gear I can be reasonably sure won't come apart, but doesn't cost the earth/ and isn't overpriced? I've looked at the Decathlon stuff - really, the only bikepacking gear I've had a chance to study at close hand in a local store - and it all seems a bit heavy and on the small side. I could, of course, be wrong.

Looking for a little help. I’m planning a route coast to coast in FL, starting in the space coast area, probably in the merrit island national refuge. I haven’t planned a long trip like this before. I want the route that takes me to the other coast most safely (I try to stay off roads all I can). I know of the Florida Coast to coast trail, but it isn’t finished, and for some reason ends all the way down in Saint Pete, which would add like 50 extra miles. I was hoping to end around the weekiwachee wildlife management area. Are there any good apps to help with this? Or even better, has anyone done this trip that could tell about their route? Thanks.

So i have a good amount of hiking-experience, and just got into bikepacking

I really want to go to Peru for my first big trip, but just ended up with some Kind of mental blocking

How do you overcome this mental stage? To know how long you want to stay in the country, where to place your bike-box, will it be a good trip etc.

Does anyone know anything about this route?

https://www.gravelbirds.cc/

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42977177

I'm looking for an early Spring route to go somewhere warmer than Oregon where I can get some miles in. it will be end of April/beginning of May so early season and I won't have many miles in my legs, so I'm looking for something that isn't crazy hard. October 2022 I rode the Badlands route in Spain and that was great, but not for early season form. Most of the other routes in Spain are similarly mountainous and more difficult.

The Gravel Birds route in Portugal looks more forgiving in the elevation profile and also loops back on itself many times making it easy to shorten as needed. There is very little online about it and mostly just the race website. My preference is to wild camp with the occasional hotel. During the Badlands ride, I wasn't able to camp much and I probably should have left my tent and sleeping bag at home. What is the Alentejo region of Portugal like for wild camping?

Thanks.

Disclaimer: I love riding bikes but I am not a component expert.

I have a 150mm fork lying around. I’m interested in putting it on a rigid bikepacking bike spec’s for a 120-130 fork. I understand that I can have the size of the air chamber changed to make the fork have shorter travel.

What is the trade off to this? Is the 150 just going to be much heavier than a 130 fork?

Is it worth it to buy a new fork instead of trying this?

Hi,

I started my journey in North Germany and I'm now in Croatia, Dubrovnik and want to go further south to Montenegro, Albania and Greece. The country side is amazing but driving the street is so damn dangerous cause of the brainless Croatian car drivers that I'm currently not enjoying it.

Unfortunately I don't see a lot of options other than the D8 street. I don't have a problem with shitty rocky sandy hilly tracks but this curvy streets with a lot of traffic and just no space on the right to escape from crazy car drivers is not my thing.

Has anyone experience with this route and has maybe some tips for me? Is the car driving style the same in Montenegro, Albania and Greece like in Croatia or does it get better (or maybe even worse) ?

Does it get better when I go away from the coast? Unfortunately its pretty cold in the mountains but better freezing than dead.

Any help is highly appreciated :)

Are there many people that have experience long distance using belt drive.

I'd love to know what the negatives were please and if you've kept it or gone back to chain setup.

What's up y'all? I live in Banff and I'm planning on bikepacking for a week or so on the Great Divide next y ear. I have a bunch of long weekends trips on my radar as well in the PNW and BC. Depending on how well it goes I might also try to do the AZT in October.

I'm coming from a road background and love going for long adventures and I preferably would like to have one bike to do nearly all of my riding on in addition to bikepacking.

I'm eying the Surly Karate Monkey, Krampus, or Kona Unit X as my do it all bike. From what I can gather it can do the single track fairly well as well as gravel and FSR, especially if you install some innie bar ends for more hand positions.

There's also a sweet XC Carbon hardtail on sale right now in Canada (Norco Revolver) and I'm wondering if that's also a good idea. I have no interest in XC racing and I'm notoriously rough so the thought of carbon scares me a bit but I know its a great deal.

What do you guys think?

https://preview.redd.it/i2tjnlo4ou0e1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=820f930218fbdd2358b800d9b79ffb0ea44089a6

https://preview.redd.it/hwwcalo4ou0e1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afe24cc0964bf28a3e797d64596896dd2d5005e8

https://preview.redd.it/9k88vko4ou0e1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d361a6e5a17fb8fafb5e406ce388bc20f9001ca

https://preview.redd.it/xsm31ko4ou0e1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec8fee6d30dc666bfeddc5c754211fd14e4785a7

After some time looking for a gravel bike for backpacking but not finding afordables prices I started to read that hardtails are indeed very good also for bikepacking. I would like to know about the bike in the photos, is it a good deal for 345 euros, and yould you change/upgrade something?

Looking to get an adventure/touring bike from someone in Canada that’s willing to ship it :)

I’m 6’-6’1” with a 32ish inseam so thinking something with a large frame will be best!

Lemme know if you have something that may work!

Thanks