Bikepacking involves a fair amount of kit and how it performs can have a dramatic effect on your experience. So, what did we take and how did our equipment do during this year's European bikepacking adventure?
The packing list for this year was very similar to the one used for the 2022 trip. But this year there were two of us, M1 and M2 and so some new equipment was needed. A few lessons were learned from 2022 as well. You can see some of the new equipment mentioned on the pre-trip blog post.
Most of the kit worked as expected, quietly and with no drama, so from that point of view there's little to say. But, some worked particularly well and a few things partially or completely failed. Here's the summary.
What Worked Well?
The Bikes
Both bikes were completely wonderful and trouble-free. M1's "The Mule" was its usual stoic self and just kept going. M2's "TBWNN" was on its first ever bikepacking trip and it too was trouble-free. Yes, we lost a screw from the pannier rack but I don't count that as a bike problem per se.
The Mule needed a limit screw tweaked half a turn at one point to improve front gear changes, but that's just maintenance. On which point, both bikes were cleaned, and their chains de-greased and re-lubricated around once a week. Cleaning the bikes is also an opportunity to do some basic checks as well. It's time well spent.
M1 rides a Specialized Rockhopper Expert 29 and M2 rides a Specialized Ariel Comp.
Tyres and Inner Tubes
We had no punctures. That's pretty fantastic! Punctures aren't a disaster when they happen but they are a pain in the ****. And over the course of 1500 miles of varied terrain and road surface, it would be fair to assume that you'd get at least one, I think. But two things probably helped us avoid punctures.
The first is that we actively try to avoid getting punctures by avoiding the things that cause punctures. That means keeping a close eye on the road surface and alerting each other if we see a hazard like broken glass.
The second concerns our choice of tyre and inner tunes. For tyres, we each had Continental Contact Plus on our bikes. No tyre is infallible but these tyres do seem to be as tough as you could hope. I have total confidence in them and will be using them again, unless of course Continental bring out something even better!
It's hard to know if they made any actual difference, but to be extra safe, we also used Continental Tour Hermetic Plus inner tubes. These are butyl tubes and a little heavier than average. But they're promoted as being more puncture resistant and designed for touring and commuting. So, we gave them a try. Credit for the Zero Puncture performance has to go to our tyres though.
The MSR Mutha Hubba Tent
This three person tent was bought new for this trip to provide space for the two humans and all their stuff. It was a good but safe buy, given the experience M1 had had with a MSR Hubba Hubba two person tent on the 2022 trip.
The Mutha Hubba worked well. It was light enough for M1 to not end up complaining about carrying it and spacious enough for us to be comfortable. Putting it up in the rain, flysheet first is apparently possible and it was one of the few regrets on this trip that we didn't learn how to do this before we set off! We didn't have to put the tent up when it was actually raining very often, but it did happen. One for next time.
The Sea to Summit Flame Sleeping Bag
M2 seemed pretty happy with her new, Sea to Summit Flame sleeping bag and was never cold at night. It did cost double what M1's Alpkit sleeping bag cost, so it should have been good! And happily, it was :-)
What Didn't Work or Disappointed?
The Aikove 30000mAh Power Bank pack
Something weird happened with M1's power bank on Day 2. On retrieving it from a pannier as we were setting up camp, it was a shock to see that it had kind of swollen and the case started to separate along a join! There had been no impact to it and it had just sat safely in the pannier, cushioned by soft items whilst we'd cycled that day. It wasn't a hot day. It wasn't even particularly warm.
It's likely that one of the cells in the bank had degraded, causing the battery to swell. This in turn had forced the case to start to split.
Your power bank is an essential piece of equipment, allowing you to keep your phone, GPS device and other essentials running for days. This one did continue to work, but its capacity had apparently reduced. It got us through the trip but it will now be safely disposed of and replaced.
The Endura FS260 Pro Adrenaline Race Cape
M1's lightweight jacket by Endura is described by Endura with the words "Light-weight, compact, waterproof and breathable ExoShell20ST™ fabric offers a breathability of 20,000 gm/m2/24hrs". Sad to say, it was a huge disappointment both in terms of being waterproof, which it simply is not and breathable. Which it simply is not.
As an extra barrier to the chill of the wind, it was great. But within 30 minutes of wearing it, M1 would be wet from his own sweat. And in the rain, it was next to useless.
Worse (perhaps), it fell apart as well. It was not brand new at the start of this trip but it hadn't been worn very often, so it was as good as. But the sleeves started to fray and then split. And it's a relatively large size so getting hands in and out of the sleeve does not put them under undue stress. It's all a bit flimsy, unfortunately. Sorry, Endura but my next cycling jacket will be made by someone else.
Frame Bag
M1 carries his smartphone in a plastic frame bag which has a smartphone compartment with a transparent cover. This lets you see the screen for navigation purposes but keeps the phone dry. Usually.
The main issue experienced was that the zip broke. This led to M1 swapping with M2, whose identical bag was just about still OK. But it was also very difficult to use the phone in the bag when it rained. Quite possibly all bags of this design suffer in the same way in the wet.
Water splashing onto the plastic cover would confuse the phone under it, leaving it convinced a human had used a finger to touch the screen. Whatever app was running at the time would, of course, react. All very entertaining. Or do I mean frustrating?! Yes, the latter. You try navigating in the pouring rain when your mapping app keeps changing the zoom level at random!
Water also, definitely got inside the bag and onto the phone. Luckily the phone itself is waterproof (to a degree) and wasn't damaged. The bag is of course advertised as waterproof. It really isn't.
Despite the problems in the wet, M1 will be replacing his failed bag with something that has a similar design. Mostly, it works really well. Maybe something a bit better protected from water ingress is out there, waiting to be bought.
That's it!
