Bikepacking: How to Load Your Bike, How Much Weight to Carry and What to Pack

Bikepacking is bike travel with your gear in bags strapped directly to the saddle, handlebar and frame, with no racks or panniers. The three main bags carry 30 to 40 liters, just enough for a tent or bivy, a sleeping bag, some clothes and a day’s food. In exchange, the bike stays narrow, light and nimble, and you can ride gravel roads and singletrack that panniers would never fit through.

If you want to carry more for a long road tour, read bike touring with panniers. Here we cover the bags, how to split the weight, where to sleep and what to pack.

Bikepacking bags: volume and max load

Figures from the Ortlieb and Apidura spec sheets (checked October 2026), two of the most widely used brands. Other brands have similar sizes.

The three big bags weigh just over 2.2 lb (1 kg) together. A pair of 20 L rear panniers weighs 4.2 lb (1.9 kg), and the rack about as much again, so bikepacking saves weight from the start, though it also limits how much you can carry.

Careful with seat pack load. The Ortlieb Seat-Pack spec table lists 5 kg (11 lb), but its safety warning says 3 kg (6.6 lb). Go with the lower number: an overloaded seat pack sways and can hit the tire.

How to split the weight

1. Heaviest items in the frame bag. It’s in the center of the bike and low down, where you notice it least. Tools, tube, food, power bank and, if it fits, water.
2. Bulky, light items on the handlebar. A sleeping bag and pad take up a lot of room and weigh little. More than 11 lb (5 kg) up front makes the steering heavy and slow.
3. Clothes in the seat pack. They compress, weigh little and don’t shift your center of gravity. Cinch the straps tight: if it sways, it’s too full or badly closed.
4. What you use often, within reach. Phone, ride food and sunscreen in the top tube bag or your jersey pockets.
5. Water spread out. Two bottle cages inside the triangle (if the frame bag is a half bag) and one or two more on the fork or under the down tube if the bike has mounts.

Measure before you buy: the seat pack needs room between the saddle and the rear tire and a few inches of exposed seatpost (Ortlieb asks for about 2.4 in, or 6 cm, for its small model), and the handlebar bag needs room between the brake levers and the front tire. On small frames or full-suspension bikes, space is the real limit.

How much it all weighs and how much it slows you down

A two- or three-day trip usually comes to 13-22 lb (6-10 kg) of gear plus that day’s water and food. More than that is hard to fit in the bags.

You barely notice the weight on the flat, and you notice it a lot on climbs. With our power model (a 165 lb rider, a 33 lb bike, upright position and hardpack gravel or rough pavement), at 150 W:

With 40 lb of gear, to climb a 6% grade at 70 rpm you need about 22 gear inches (1.76 m of development). A 1x gravel setup with a 40T chainring, a 44T cog and 45 mm tires gives 25.4 gear inches (2.03 m), or 61 rpm; a 30T chainring with a 51T mountain cog on 29 x 2.4 in tires, about 17 gear inches (1.37 m). If you’re going to carry a load, think about gearing before bags: we explain it in best gearing for climbing and in 1x vs. 2x.

Where to sleep

• Indoors: motels, hostels, inns, campgrounds with cabins. You can carry very little (no tent, sleeping bag or stove), and it’s the best way to start.
• Campgrounds: with a light one-person tent. Tents with short poles or no long poles fit best in the handlebar bag.
• Bivy: a bivy sack or tarp, sleeping bag and pad. It’s the lightest option, but it leaves you exposed to wind and rain.
• Dispersed camping: on much U.S. public land, such as National Forests and BLM land, camping outside developed sites is often allowed, with stay limits and fire rules that vary by area. National and state parks usually require designated sites or permits, and private land needs the owner’s permission. Check the rules for where you’re going before you leave.

What to pack: the basic list

Bike and repairs

• Multi-tool with a chain breaker, quick link and tire levers.
• Spare tube (even with tubeless), patches, tubeless plugs and a pump. Brush up on how tubeless works and how to fix a flat.
• Zip ties, duct tape and a spare derailleur hanger for your frame.
• A small bottle of lube: after a day of dust or rain your chain will thank you (see cleaning and lubing your chain).
• Front and rear lights with enough charge for more than one night.

Clothing (in layers that work together)

• Spare bib shorts and jersey, rain jacket, light insulating layer, clothes for the evening.
• Gloves and a beanie if you sleep in the mountains: temperatures drop at night far more than you’d expect.

Sleeping and eating (if you’re not staying indoors)

• Tent or bivy, sleeping bag with the right comfort rating, sleeping pad.
• Small stove, pot, lighter and a day’s extra food.

Personal

• ID, a card and some cash for small towns where cards don’t work.
• Basic first-aid kit, sunscreen, headlamp, power bank and cable.

Bikepacking vs. panniers

Common mistakes

• Overloading the seat pack. It sways, rubs the tire and punishes the seatpost. Stick to the max load on the spec sheet.
• Bringing everything “just in case.” Do an overnight trip close to home and then leave behind everything you didn’t use.
• Not testing the loaded bike before the trip. Climb a big hill with everything on: you’ll find out if you need lower gears or something rubs.
• Forgetting water. In summer, on back roads, you can go 25-30 miles (40-50 km) without a water source. Plan your refills.
• Not protecting the frame. Velcro straps wear through paint and carbon: put protective film at the contact points, as Ortlieb recommends.
• Ignoring mountain weather. A thunderstorm on an exposed pass with no shelter is a serious risk: check the forecast every morning and have a plan to get down.

Updated October 19, 2026 ·Report an error on this page