Bikepacking Accessories

Do you bikepack on the bike you ride every day? Or perhaps you worry about parts when you leave your steed locked up on tour? We try out the Hexlox system, designed to secure saddles, wheels, handlebars, and even thru axle wheels against theft…

We were pretty intrigued by the Farfarer Trailer when we first heard about it a couple months ago, so we stopped in to Frances Cycles in Santa Cruz to meet its maker, Joshua Muir. Read on for our conversation with Joshua, along with a selection of photos of his shop, the trailer, and his bikes…

In the world of family cycling, there are tagalongs… and there are tagalongs. A far cry from the cheap lookalikes unearthed on Craigslist, Tout Terrain’s Streamliner is a super high end, suspended trailer bike complete with a 160mm air shock, a 1×9 SRAM drivetrain, a light tubeset, and a whole list of quality components. Cass Gilbert takes one bikepacking with his family and finds out if it’s money well spent…

We used rivnuts, aka rivet nuts or threaded rivet inserts, to add bottle bosses and attach an Anything Cage to a steel fork. It worked well, but here are some things we learned, and what we’d do differently next time. Plus, everything you’ll need to do it yourself…

In celebration of another great year for the bikepacking community, we’re happy to announce our 2018 Bikepacking Awards. Part one of three recognizes gear that’s made a lasting impression in categories including Best New Component, Best Tools, and Top Five Bikepacking Bikes. Plus, some thoughts on the bikes that have captured our interest for 2019…

Rockgeist recently introduced the new Spacelink system, a steerer tube mounted accessory designed to anchor your top tube bag for better stability and to provide a velcro-free connection for your stem bags. We gave it a try on a couple trail rides, and here are our first impressions…

While many bikepackers are satisfied with a folding multi-tool for trailside wrenching, and others just blow off weight concerns and carry a full set of L-hex wrenches, some prefer the utility of a bit driver multi-tool. Here’s a comprehensive list of some of the better ones out there…

Thanks to their inbuilt GPS, intuitive operating systems, and power navigation apps, smartphones make increasingly capable navigation tools. We try out the Quad Lock Bike Mount and see if it’s strong and secure enough to trust your hallowed smartphone for bikepacking…

We’ve been happily using the Blackburn Switch multi-tool for a couple years now, so we were excited to see the release of a bigger and more comprehensive second generation model of the tool, the Big Switch. Here’s our hands-on first impressions along with a look at the Switch Wrap…

The OneUp EDC System is loaded with tools and functions, all of which fit neatly into a well-engineered and compact package. But, does it have everything you might need for a bikepacking trip? We’ve had the EDC Tool and HV Pump combo in our possession for about a year now. Here’s the review. Plus, a look at the new Plug and Plier Kit…

Long before the advent of modern bikepacking seatpacks, there were saddlebags. This style of luggage continues to hold favour amongst many dirt road and gravel tourers, largely because of its top-loading practicality. In this edition of The Low Down, we take a look at what kind of saddlebags are on the market, discuss their pros and cons, and suggest accessories to help run them securely. Given that they’re also loaded from the top, we’ve included a number of front rolltop bags, too.

Designed to tether with your smartphone and sync with your Ride With GPS or Strava account, the Wahoo ELEMNT aims to simplify the process of navigating with a dedicated GPS. After a year of regular use, here’s our full report on how it’s fared, what we really like about it, and what we think could be improved (because Wahoo is constantly rolling out firmware updates)…