# Looking for Someone Interested in Bike Packing from San Antonio Texas



## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

New to bike packing. Just built up my bike packing rig and ready to do a maiden trip around the state. Will plan to ride Big Bend SP in February and then off to Durango/Silverton in June to do a portion of the Colorado Trail.

Looking for someone who has a similar interest to do weekend biking packing trips. Private message me please.


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## bakerjw (Oct 8, 2014)

Make sure to do some local shake down rides. And I do mean "SHAKE" down rides. Nothing will tell you how your loadout will ride until it gets pounded around for several hours. It will also show you where weight distribution becomes problematic.


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## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

Excellent advice! I've encorporated my training rides with this setup and still tweaking the load to the panniers and the suspension. Still have a long way to go. I plan to do several desert type riding this year...so this setup may use a Bob trailer to carry water and food and the bulk of the weight. This set up is for the Colorado trail.

Flat rock ranch in Comfort Texas has camping and their trails are devoted to mountain biking so I plan to do a lot of shake down rides there. Hoping to get it right for this bike. I wanted a Surly ECR or Ogre but theres rumors Surly is not going to be around. Anyway keep the advice coming!


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## bikeny (Feb 26, 2004)

JoeVolcano said:


> Excellent advice! I've incorporated my training rides with this setup and still tweaking the load to the panniers and the suspension. Still have a long way to go. I plan to do several desert type riding this year...so this setup may use a Bob trailer to carry water and food and the bulk of the weight. This set up is for the Colorado trail.
> 
> Flat rock ranch in Comfort Texas has camping and their trails are devoted to mountain biking so I plan to do a lot of shake down rides there. Hoping to get it right for this bike. I wanted a Surly ECR or Ogre but theres rumors Surly is not going to be around. Anyway keep the advice coming!


Rumors that Surly is not going to be around??? Really? Totally false.

I would think an ECR, Ogre, or Krampus would have been a better option than what you have there, mainly from a cargo carrying perspective.

I hope I'm not coming across as a jerk, but I have some suggestions for your setup. First, ditch the seatpost mounted rack. It will break, it's just a matter of time. If you feel like you need a rack, get a quality normal rear rack. Even if your frame doesn't have rack mounts there are ways to make it work, and it will be 100x better than a seatpost mounted rack. Also, the bag on the rack will not last long. Those are not designed for offroad touring, and are nor very robust. The best option if are running a rack is just getting a quality drybag and strapping it to the top of the rack using Voile straps. Next, your handlebar pack looks really bulky. I can't tell for sure, but it probably needs some streamlining. Why the frame bag above the front triangle and a single water bottle inside the frame? A much better approach would be a framebag inside the triangle, and put your heaviest stuff in there. You can put water in one of the various feedbag type bags or under the downtube.

I don't mean to discourage you at all, quite the opposite. I just don't want you to take that setup on the CT and have a shitty time. Have a look through the first thread in this forum, titled 'Post your bikepacking rig'. There's lots of great info there on what works for people, and it doesn't have to be super expensive bikepacking bags. But it does need to be robust and well thought out! Good luck!


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## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

bikeny said:


> Rumors that Surly is not going to be around??? Really? Totally false.
> 
> I would think an ECR, Ogre, or Krampus would have been a better option than what you have there, mainly from a cargo carrying perspective.
> 
> ...


No... your not coming off as a jerk. The options I took was mostly whats available at performance bike. The Obea was the bike I settled on. Its not so bad in terms of handling and weight. The delivery date for the Surly was 2 months and not guaranteed if that date was going to move. The Obea had the head tube angle and the component group thats above average for the price. I didn't want to pay over 2K for a bike. The seat post mount is heavy and I haven't settle on it for my summer trip. Have you had experience with it breaking? I just haven't really had comments on this product failing. My only gripe was the weight. The frame bag is really a frame bag but it didn't fit in the triangle as designed. So I put it above the front triangle. I took it out on the trails a couple of times and it seems to hang on pretty well and did not obstruct my peddling.
The front bag is holding my tent, poles, down blanket, and Thermarest pad. its a setup for winter. the bag is water proof sea to summit bag.

I'm considering a seat bag and a custom Revelate frame bag for this bike...but haven't settle on going forward until I have money save up for it. I would probably save lots of weight and better weight distribution.

I'll keep on reading peoples post here and get some more ideas. Maybe share some when I find something that meets the durability, affordability, weight, and cost criteria.

Thanks keep it coming.


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## H0WL (Jan 17, 2007)

Are you going to the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest at Big Bend Ranch State Park, Feb 16-19? If so, you should be able to find someone (of the 500 people who will be there) interested in doing an over nighter.

Good place to solicit fellow Texans for bike packing rides, if you're not familiar with these already: 
Bike Mojo Austin VooDoo
Bike Mojo San Antonio

Flat Rock Ranch in Comfort would be an awesome place to test ride a bike packing rig.


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## Zoran (Jul 4, 2015)

June Bug said:


> Are you going to the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest at Big Bend Ranch State Park, Feb 16-19?


 :thumbsup:

This shouldn't be missed! Looks so much fun! Thanks for the link. We here in British Columbia don't have event like this. :-(

We are getting few races(tours), so something like this will happen!


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## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

June Bug said:


> Are you going to the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest at Big Bend Ranch State Park, Feb 16-19? If so, you should be able to find someone (of the 500 people who will be there) interested in doing an over nighter.
> 
> Good place to solicit fellow Texans for bike packing rides, if you're not familiar with these already:
> Bike Mojo Austin VooDoo
> ...


I plan to do the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest. I just wish they included a bikepacking organize ride. Thanks for the links.


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## H0WL (Jan 17, 2007)

JoeVolcano said:


> I plan to do the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest. I just wish they included a bikepacking organized ride. Thanks for the links.


When you are there, talk to the Desert Sports people about including this as an option next year.


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## H0WL (Jan 17, 2007)

This article has an excellent photo gallery to give a good sense of the riding and bikepacking opportunities at Big Bend Ranch State Park. You might read "State Park" and think, Meh, state park. But this place is truly immense, with incredible crazy tumbled topography that is the specialty of the Big Bend area. 
BIKEPACKING BIG BEND: THE OTHER SIDE OF NOWHERE


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## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

June Bug said:


> This article has an excellent photo gallery to give a good sense of the riding and bikepacking opportunities at Big Bend Ranch State Park. You might read "State Park" and think, Meh, state park. But this place is truly immense, with incredible crazy tumbled topography that is the specialty of the Big Bend area.
> BIKEPACKING BIG BEND: THE OTHER SIDE OF NOWHERE


That article was very thorough. I actually uploaded the route they did. I may do that ride the end of this month. As for the Chihuhuan Desert Bike Fest - although the registration was still open last week the stay got booked up by the time I got a hold of the camping property. The hotel side did have a room, but they jacked the price to $220/night and I was planning to come up on Wednesday and stay to Sunday. It was way too expensive and not the trip i wanted to do. Lesson learn is to book the stay at least a month before the event. Next year ride.

I'm going solo to big bend the following weekend so I'll blog the trip here when I get back.
Take care, -h


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## skoofer (May 5, 2007)

JoeVolcano said:


> I plan to do the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest. I just wish they included a bikepacking organize ride. Thanks for the links.


Last year Vince from Chumba did a bike packing presentation. I know they'll be out there again this year so pick his brain if you see him, he's a really nice guy.


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## JoeVolcano (Jan 20, 2017)

Finished the bike pack trip out to Big Bend SP. I did opt not to use the rear setup. During the shakedown ride before the trip - the seatpost rack since it failed to hold any cargo weight without sliding down and rubbing the rear tire. So instead I hitched a Bob trailer and pulled the cargo instead. Riding in the desert meant I had to carry water in addition to the gear i plan to bring. The new set up did make riding single track trails there tricky and I had to push the bike on some steep sections.

The jeep trails were more ideal and the trailer handled well. I made it to the zone and pitched tent. I kept that location as my base for the entire stay. Biking on the trails at Big Bend SP was very enjoyable and the bike handled it well. It was fun.


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