Going into my first bicycle tour, I did a lot of research into the ideal gear to use and bring. For anyone considering a self-supported bicycle tour, I thought I’d put together a list of the gear I used, and for some of it, let you know why I brought the gear I did.
Bike
I had been looking to get a bike for my trip ever since my hybrid commuting bike was stolen in November 2016. Originally, I’d been looking at the touring bike that seems to be most recommended, the Surly Long-Haul Trucker. I had a chance to take one for a test-drive, and didn’t like the bar-end shifters, and weak rim brakes, or the price of that bike.
Looking for another touring bicycle, my qualifications were:
- Steel frame, since it would absorb bumps better than aluminum
- Drop handlebars, to give me multiple hand positions to reduce fatigue
- Disc brakes, to stop all the weight of a fully-equipped touring bicycle
- Road-style trigger shifters, so I can use the brakes and shift the gears without having to reposition my hands in traffic
This led me to the bike I ended up using, the 2017 Specialized AWOL. Some of the accessories I added to the bike:
- Front Tubus rack
- Rear Bike Planet rack
- Front and rear fenders
- 3x water bottle cages
- 3x 750mL water bottles
- CatEye urban bike computer
I had been hoping to get one of the snazzy bottle cages that could carry a 1.5L water bottle, but none of them that I tried would fit on my small-sized AWOL without interfering with things. The bike computer was mostly just to track daily distances, and interesting things like max speeds.
Panniers
Panniers (prononunced pan-yays) are the bags that clip onto racks on the bike. Without much research, I went with the same panniers that Darren Alff, the Bicycle Touring Pro uses. The Ortlieb BikePacker Plus are the larger rears and the SportPacker Plus are the smaller fronts. Both in my favorite color, red! I also went with an Ortlieb handlebar bag, their Ultimate 6.
Camping
I intended to stay in hotels every few days, for better rest and a shower, but there were stretches where no hotels were available, or camping was a better option. So I brought the gear to camp:
- Tent: MSR Hubba NX 1-man
- Sleeping pad: MEC Kelvin
- Sleeping bag: Red River 80
- Sleeping bag liner: MEC Synthetic Standard
- Pillow: MEC Base Camp
I decided to go with the combo of a really lightweight sleeping bag and a liner since it’s much easier to fit two smaller pieces in the panniers than a single, large sleeping bag. Everything but the sleeping pad fit in a single rear pannier.
Camp Kitchen
I tried packing as light as possible here:
- Stove: MSR Pocket Rocket
- Pot/Pan: MEC Base Camp small pot
- Plate/Bowl: GSI Plastic Plate/Bowl
- Hot Cup: GSI Cafe Press insulated cup
- Cutlery: Primus Titanium
- Water Purifier: MSR Miniworks EX
I decided to take the pump filter for the stretch of the tour between Pinnacles National Park and Paso Robles, as I wasn’t going to be passing through a town in the whole day of riding, and wanted an option to top off my water. This meant I had to sacrifice bringing anything for making coffee… All of this fit in the second rear pannier with the sleeping pad from the camping section above.
Clothes
- 2x Mountain biking shorts w/ chamois liners
- 2x long-sleeved bike jerseys
- 1x short-sleeved bike jerseys
- 1x long-sleeved wool base layer
- 1x heavier sweater
- 1x Stanfield’s long underwear
- 3x Merino wool socks
- 1x Marmot shorts
- 1x Polo shirt
- 1x Sugoi cycling jacket
I feel like I brought too many clothes, but I wore everything I brought, except for the short-sleeved jersey on the trip. I don’t know what I would have left behind.
Food
I started with a few apples and some snack bars, then added some oatmeal for camping breakfasts. After a day on the road, I added tortillas, peanut butter, honey, juice, soup, tuna and salsa. Everything kept well without being refrigerated, packed well, and for the most part didn’t need heating to eat.
Electronics
I had been planning originally to capture video on my trip with a GoPro, which I prepared a lot of electronics to make possible. For a number of reasons, not least of which was not having the energy to stage the camera, ride past it and then go back to collect it again. But having packed to do it, this is probably where I packed the most extra gear:
- GoPro Hero 4 Silver
- Canon Elph 80
- 2x Anker 20100mAh USB batteries
- Anker 21W 3-panel solar charger
- Western Digital Passport 2TB WiFi hard drive
I ended up only using my phone and taking still pictures, so no GoPro battery charging meant I never used the solar panel, second battery or the WiFi hard drive.
Overall
Altogether, all my gear, with filled water bottles, I had just over 22kg (50lbs) of gear. All-in, the whole loaded bike came in weighing just under 40kg (85lbs).