Bike camping is fun and it is a cheaper way to tour. However you do need sufficient time to do it. Over the last few years we have seen many bike tourists cycling around the island of Taiwan. The more adventurous decides to cut across the central mountain taking them high up above the clouds. Each time as we passed a cyclist packed with gears we would observe their packing. Many time we found that most cyclist had packed their gears wrongly or had use the wrong setup.
In today's world, there are many types of bicycle you can tour camping, there is no right or wrong on the choice of bike. You can have a foldie, fixie, recumbent or a MTB to go touring. It is the preference of the rider and the places that the rider is heading to. What is more important is how you pack your gears on a bike. A poor packing could send you an early retirement from your camping tour because it will affect the CG (center gravity) of the bike which might cause unnecessary accident.
Before going for a bike camping tour, you need to know if your bike can carry the gears. What kind of gears to bring, routes planning and more.
There are few options you can carry your gears.
1. Backpack - Carrying a heavy backpack while touring on a bike beside a hydration pack. It will create strain on the shoulder and will slow you down. It will be ideal if you are going off-road where the trails are narrow. If planning for such arrangement, it is best to keep the load below 12kg.
2. Panniers - Pannier system is great but there is still a tendency of off balance. You can have either 2 or 4 pannier system on a bike. There is very little chance that any of your pannier system breaking down except overloading or a bad crash.
3. Trailer - This is the easiest option, just throw everything you need and pull it. It is also the safest touring arrangement as it does not change the CG of the bike and you will have better control. The only setback is that you will have to prepare repair kit for the trailer if it breaks down. So far I have read a few trailers that broke down but this is mainly due to overloading and going off-road.
In this topic we will cover the following list of gears that we came across. Give you an idea the choice of gears to rig up your bike.
Cycling in Taiwan Guide - This is our Guide and from our experience travelling around the island. Will be updated accordingly.
- Bikepacking Taiwan Routes
- Must Have Gears
- Road Precaution and Suggestion
- Best Time for Bikepacking
- Giant Bike Rental Programme
Bicycle Racks
Panniers and Bags
Trailers
