 What's up, my bike packing buddies? This video is all about how to pack your bike packing bags. I've done a lot of videos about which gear you should bring for different adventures and I'll link those down below. But this video is all about how you get all of this stuff onto your bike. I want to start off by saying that bike packing is a little bit different than bike touring. Bike touring usually means that you're riding on roads and it's smooth and it's flat and your bike's not getting rattled around on an off-road trail. And when you're bike touring, you have big fat panniers on the front and the back and you can bring quite a bit more stuff than bike packing. Bike packing, you really want everything to be snug on the bike and streamlined. So when you're on off-road trails, your bags aren't bouncing all over the place. Look at this big old thing. I've also done many bike tours with a trailer and they're pretty cool. They're super simple, they're easy to attach to the back of your bike. All of your stuff is in one spot and it really moves smoothly behind your bicycle. I don't use this anymore because really it's just more to deal with. If you're flying somewhere with your bike, you also have to fly with the trailer. It's also an extra tire that can go flat and there's just too much stuff. I don't need this much stuff. I really pack lightly these days. So this trailer is now used mainly for grocery shopping. One of the main reasons why I've gotten into bike packing more over the last five years is that it's just more fun. I like dirt, I like mountain biking, I like camping in the middle of nowhere. And the biggest thing is it's a lot safer. When you're bike touring, you're on roads. Roads scare me, cars scare me. But when you're bike packing like let's say in Baja, you're out there in the middle of nowhere and you're not going to get run over. That's a nice piece of mind. If you're new to my channel, I will link below all sorts of bike adventures from all over the world. And the goal with my channel and all of my content is simply to inspire people to challenge themselves and just have a great time outside in Mother Nature. Oh man, it feels so good to be here. If you're new to bike packing, I totally understand that gear can be very overwhelming. There's so many different brands with so many different light weight trinkets and cool things to buy. But my advice for you is don't get worked up in all that stuff. Buy what you can, buy what you can afford. Go to your local outdoor shop, talk to them, they know best. My very first bike adventure when I rode my bike from Honduras to Boulder, I just patched together whatever I could find and I was just fine. Don't get caught up with all the people online talking about gear and measuring grams and weight and all that stuff, you'll just go down an endless rabbit hole and it'll make you crazy. Alright, let's start with the frame pack. And this is where you're going to want to put most of your heavy stuff. And why is that? Well, when you're on off-road trails or single track and it's technical, you want your weight center. It's just easier to maneuver your bike. If you put your heavy stuff back here, it's going to swing around and you're going to fishtail. So you want the heavy stuff right here and big stuff like your bike pump per se. You want to see what's in here? Let's find out. Alright, let's see. One can of beans, two can of beans, three, four, five, six, seven. Is there one more? Yes, eight. You obviously don't need that many cans of beans on a bike trip, but it just goes to show how much can fit in these bags. You know, it looks kind of small, but it really, if you have a wide one, you can fit a ton of stuff in there. Frijoles. People ask me all the time about nutrition on my bike trips. And really, I eat a lot of beans and tortillas. Bean burritos. I love them. You get a lot of protein, a lot of carbs. They're easy to pack. And here's another one. I get this question all the time. I do not bring a stove on my bike packing trips. I never have. These are really easy to make without cooking. You just open it up, pour it in a tortilla, bam! You've got breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Cheers, buddy. Cheers. Whoa! Whoa! Meenie, Meenie, Meenie. Which bag should I talk about next? Moe. The seat pack is really big. Mine holds 15 liters. And this is where I put all of my sleeping stuff, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, my puffy jacket, all of my clothes. This is like my dresser drawer right here. And once I get it packed and locked up, I pretty much don't touch it for the rest of the day while I'm riding. I only open it up when I get to camp and I set up my tent and everything. Peek-a-boo. You want to see how I pack this thing? I start with my sleeping bag and I ram it in all the way to the back. Not as much of the weight up here as you can. Again, put it toward the center of the bike. Next up, sleeping pad. And it really helps to grunt in these situations just like playing tennis and you just got to kind of scream as you're ram it in there. And I'd like to make a point that packing bike packing bags takes time. You're going to have to figure it out. You'll do it and you realize, nah, that's not quite it. You take it all out. You do it again. You go on your trip every single day. You learn a little bit more about where you want different things. So you don't have to completely mail this the first time. It just has to close up and then you're good to ride your bike. And finally, puffy jacket and extra layers. Just put it all in there and you'll see pretty quickly that the bag starts filling out like that. And you can start strapping it up, making sure it's nice and tight. If you're mountain biking, you do not want this swinging around. Roll it up like a burrito. Squeeze all that extra air out of there. I like to clip my flip flops on the back here because they're usually stinky and I don't want them inside the bag getting my clothes all stanky. Just like that. Ta-da! Moving on. Can you guess what is in this little pouch right here? I will give you three seconds. Maybe it's something red or something blue. Just kidding. This is absolutely not where I keep my shaver. I don't need it to be that accessible. This is where I keep my Sony camera. This is my main camera, the RX100 Mark 7. I keep it here because it is so easy to get in and out of while I'm riding my bike. Let's say there's a dog chasing me or something very spontaneous and momentary and I want to capture it on film and keep it right here just so I'm quick draw. Bam! I got you! Let's go away! But wait, there's more. This is also where I keep my fork and knife so I don't need to use disposable plastic when I go to a restaurant. Alright, let's talk about the front of the bike. This handlebar bag right here is great and again you're going to want to put stuff in there that you're going to use throughout the day. So what do I have in here? You know I love my drone, got to have my drone in there. I usually have my Mavic Mini in here but it's out for repair right now so this is the Mavic Air. If you do put your drone up here, you really want to pad it because these things are very, very delicate. I also have my rain jacket. You never know when it's going to rain. You want to be able to get it quickly. I also have hot sauce because well, you know, I love hot sauce. This might be also where you want to keep a little bit of toilet paper. This is where I keep my water purifier pen and sunscreen. Alright, under my handlebar bag is my tent. And the great thing about tents these days is that they are tiny and lightweight. I mean, check this thing out. It would fit between drop bars. I ran mine under the brake cables right here and I just Velcro it to the handlebar. It's really, really tight. It's not going anywhere. And if you're somebody who likes carrying more stuff or you're bike packing in the winter, you might want to look into one of these types of bags, one of these big front rolls where you can carry just a lot more stuff. I am a very lightweight bike packer, so I don't bring much. I don't use this very often, but let's say I was going to Alaska, I would definitely use something like that. Okay, since we're at the front of the bike, let's talk about these bags right here. They're great for carrying water bottles. Again, you're riding, you can just get it in and out. I also, you know me, I film a ton. So this is where I keep my GoPro. I also keep power bars and gels and other extra batteries, things that you want to get at really quickly. And you'd be surprised how much this holds. I think I rammed in 15 clip bars once. I'd like to talk a little bit about documenting your adventures. You all know that I do it a lot and more and more people are starting YouTube channels or they just want to make cool videos to show their family and friends. And so we're all traveling with small cameras nowadays. And my biggest tip is that you want to keep your stuff accessible. If it's at the end of the day and you're tired and you're like, oh, it's a beautiful sunset, but I don't want to deal with getting my camera out of the back of my bike. It's zipped in three different pouches. You're probably not going to do it. So keep your stuff easily accessible right up front. I also forgot I keep this little tripod up here and that's how I stop, set up the tripod, ride my bike in front of it. It's exhausting, but it makes your videos a lot cooler. Also I have this little clamp here now. And so sometimes I keep my GoPro right here so it's even quicker access. I can just grab it and turn it on. And sometimes I take the GoPro and I stick it on my helmet and I just try to get every different angle while I'm documenting because it just makes the final product more dynamic. Don't worry, little guy. We're not going to forget about you. This is the final bag and this little seat bag is where I keep most of my tools. I've got tire sealant in here, tubeless tire repair kit. What else do I have in here? I have an air cartridge. I even have an extra tube and there's even more in there. There's my little multi-tool. Let's talk about water. Hydration is one of the most important things when you're doing any type of exercise. Yes, I know beans are important, but water is even more important. Where do you put water bottles? Well, I like putting two up here. That's why I have easy access while I'm pedaling. I can grab my bottles. If I'm somewhere like the Baja Divide where I don't even have access to water for three days, no rivers, nothing, then you really gotta bring a lot of extra water. And so you pack some of these big ones. You can put them on your forks. You can put them right here. Again, there's no exact answer to this. It all depends on the adventure that you're going on. This is not a gear video telling you exactly what you need to bring on a bike-packing trip. You know what you need, essentially. First aid and food and water and sleeping systems and all that kind of stuff. It's all about just where you put those things. But I will talk about something that I get questions about all the time. And it is, Ryan, do you bring a lock? And the answer is no. I've never brought a lock on any of my bike tours. And it's mainly because you don't really need it. I run into a grocery store or a gas station. I put my bike out front and I've never had any problems. It's also an opportunity to make a friend. If there's somebody in front of the grocery store, you can say, hey, hey kid, I'll give you two bucks if you watch my bike. Or a lot of times you can bring your bike in the store if you just ask nicely. And at campgrounds and places like that, I mean, you're sleeping right next to your bike. The chances of it getting stolen are very slim. Of course, it could happen, but it's just not something that I feel is necessary, especially since they are heavy. All right, I hope you found this informative and helpful. If you have any more questions, please write them down in the comment section. And I will get back to you. The most important thing is just to go out there and have fun. Riding bikes is fun, right? We all know that. You'll slowly get the hang of it as you pack and repack and pack and pack and pack and pack and pack. You'll get it, I promise. So thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe. And again, I will link below adventures from all over the world that will help inspire you to hit the road.