Equipment

by Benni

This year I participated at the Bikepacking Trans Germany. One afternoon, I grabbed my towel and wanted to wipe myself dry with it, as Anja, another participant, said: “You are carrying a towel with you? Is there something, with which you can waste more weight?” Indignantly I told her about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where it says:

A towel is just about the most massively useful thing any interstellar Hitchhiker can carry. […] You can wrap it around you for warmth […]; you can lie on it […]; you can sleep under it beneath the stars […]; use it to sail […]; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head […]; you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course you can dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough..

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

After thinking about it for a while though, I had to agree with Anja. Honstely: What’s true for the towel also applies to the T-Shirt. Only the T-Shirt can be used as a T-Shirt in addition. I arrived at the conclusion: I won’t take a towel with me on my trip, therefor an additional T-Shirt!

Such retrenchments are necessary, if you want to mount everything you need on a bike but still be able to go cross country. Months before departure I was busy putting together all the equipment. My motto has always been: As light as possible, but still rugged. Okay, I admit, those two categories are often mutually exclusive. And if there exists a very light and rugged version, it’s always the veeery expensive one.

I think I came up with quite a good compromise between weight, quality and price. Some things could surely still be discarded, but I’m not intending to win a race.

Bags

  • Gear-Pack Ortlieb (actually a backpack; I’m carrying it on the rack, offers o lot of space for tent and mat)
  • Frame bag Burgfyr (custom-made)
  • Handlebar– and Accessory-Pack Ortlieb
  • Jerrycan and Gas Tank Revelate Designs
  • 2x Feedbag Revelate Designs
  • 2x Stuff bag Salsa (mounted with the Anything Cage HD on the fork)
  • Backpack Ortlieb

Sleeping

  • Tent MSR Hubba NX 1 (light and free-standing)
  • Ground sheet
  • Thermal mat Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol (for such a long trip foam seems just more reliable to me)
  • Sleeping bag Yeti Passion Five Down
  • Inlett Cacoon Seide
  • Cushion? No! (What am I carrying a T-Shirt for?!)

Clothing

  • Hardshell rain-jacket Arc’teryx
  • Down-jacekt Yeti
  • Long-sleeves shirt Schöffel
  • T-Shirt (mixed fabric with Merino)
  • 2x Shirts X-Bionic (tight-fitting; one short-, one long-sleeves)
  • Short bike-pants Gore
  • Long bike-pants Gore (with zippers, so it can be transformed into second shorts)
  • long underwars Ortovox (Merino, for sleeping)
  • 3x underpants (2x Merino, 1x synthetic)
  • 3x pair of socks (Merino, 2x thin, 1x thick)
  • Over Shoes Gore
  • Cycling-gloves
  • Warm gloves
  • Hardshell-gloves Outdoor Research
  • 2x Buff
  • Shoes Pearl iZumi (with Cleats, but still suitable for walking)
  • Sandals Bedrock
  • Sunglasses
  • Helmet

Spares and Tools

  • Multitool Victorinox (with circle jack and bitset)
  • Pump Lezyne
  • Belt Gates
  • Tyre
  • Tubelessmilk Stans
  • Repair kit for tubeless-tyres
  • Tyre lever
  • 2x tubes Tubolito
  • 2x Cleats
  • 8x break-shoes
  • Bowden cable (for breaks and gear box)
  • Spokes (hidden in the saddle-tube)
  • Oil (don’t have a chain, but still useful)
  • Cable ties Heldenwerk

Cooking

I almost completely go without any cooking gear. With that I accept the disadvantage of eating cold most of the time but saving a lot of weight.

  • Pot Vargo Bot (Titanium; serves as container for different things – can also carry water)
  • Cup (Titanium)
  • Spoon “Spork” (Fork and spoon in one)

Washing

  • Wash bag Tatonka
  • 2x toothbrush (1x electrically, chargeable via USB)
  • Toothpaste
  • Dental floss
  • Outdoor-soap
  • Sunscreen
  • Mosquito protection
  • Deer sebum
  • Lip balm
  • Nail cutter

Electronics

  • Camera Sony Alpha a6300
  • 2x Objective Sigma (Festbrennweite 19mm und 60mm)
  • Action camera Yi 4K+
  • Microphone RØDE Stereo VideoMic Pro
  • Microphone Sennheiser ME2
  • GorillaPod Jobby (with ball-head)
  • MP3-Player
  • Earphones
  • Back light
  • Headlamp
  • Outdoor-lamp Luci Solar 2.0
  • E-Book-Reader Kindle Paperwhite
  • GPS-device Garmin GPSMaps 64
  • Smartphone Samsung Xcover 4
  • Laptop
  • external hard disk
  • Solar charger Blitzwolf
  • Power bank Xtorm 10.000mAh
  • Adapter Skross
  • several cables

Paraphernalia

  • First aid kid
  • Water filter and purification tablets
  • 2x bike bottles und 1x bottle Nalgene
  • Water bag 2L
  • Carabiner Nite Ize Figure 9
  • Several pack sacks
  • Severals straps Voile / Black Diamond