I finally get why “bike packing” or “modern touring” is taking over the old-school idea of weighing down one’s bike with 100s of kilos of gear and a full set of Ortlieb panniers. People (like me) want to feel their bike move under them and be able to occasionally sprint, or corner, or descend, you know, the fun stuff. I’m more excited by the prospect of a 100km climb from Spartinburg to Mt. Mitchel than I am cross-country trip on a loaded bike. This realization is important because it significantly changes the type os bike I ultimately want to use as my primary bike. The Salsa Warbird is my goal. It can be ridden as a full road bike just by changing the tires, or it can be used in bike-packing gravel roads with full mounts for frame and seat packs. That is the ideal combination and it is taking the cycling world by storm. There is a lot of money in selling that exact combination to bike enthusiasts.
Grinding out a hill in a triple-chain ring on a mountain road with traffic is not really, um, fun. It might give a sense of accomplishment, but that is a different thing. Then on the descent, you cannot even enjoy it for fear that the weight of your rig won’t allow you to hit any descent speeds — especially if all you have are mechanical disk breaks (hydraulic are almost required these days).
Picking a line on a mountain bike and going over the handlebars on occasion with branches and single track all around is fun, but not something I want to do over 55. I just don’t have the body for it (and who does really). Plus you never get to enjoy your surroundings because one look away and you can literally die (depending on the trail).
Mountain biking is definitely fun, but it is far from the main stream. Most people who buy a mountain bike usually get a hard-tail, because they are way cheaper, and never really want to use all the stuff on it. They end up hating it because they are so slow on anything but single-track. Most of them actually want a gravel bike and don’t even know that is an option. Those that do fork the outrageous money for an advance mountain bike end up not knowing how to dial in the suspension or lock it out or have to pay tons of money to maintain it all. Mountain bikes have really come a long way, but not in the direction of most casual riders really want or need (which is why my Gary Fisher sat on my patio, unmaintained for so long until someone finally stole it). In short, they are loud and slow on anything but single track (horrible for commuting), way more expensive than a gravel bike, and ususally far harder to maintain properly.
Unfortunately, this has me annoyed by my beautiful Marrakesch (but please don’t let her know, I still love her if for nothing more than the color and rock solid sturdy frame). Marry has been built for heavy and very slow riding. She has a ton of water-bottle mount points and pack mounts and fender mounts and kick-stand mounts but her mounts are not designed for bike-packing.
Bike packing uses a bit seat back, a frame pack, and a handlebar bag. That’s it. The idea is that the trip you are going on is designed to be really minimalist. You are more likely to use a hammock than a tent to sleep and eat on the road rather than carrying all your food around with you. The trade off is that you can travel much faster at ever level. You are more aero and have far less weight to carry around. Bike packing has fast and fun as a priority over can-be-repaired-anywhere-in-the-world like touring. There are no extra spokes mounted on the frame, nor bar-end friction shifters that are the most reliable. Instead, on a bike-packing gravel bike, you get SRAM electronic shifting that is reliable even out of the saddle using technology that you would never, ever dare take far away from a relatively close modern bike shop.
Bike packing is more likely to have a support crew who take turns in a vehicle carrying the really heavy stuff or the group, all the repair equipement (other than tube and pump), gear to cook a big group meal and have a campfire, and a place to stow your guitar for enjoying those group camps at night. And don’t forget water, lots of water so, at most, all you need is one water bottle full. Supported rides are always more fun, just expensive unless you arrange them yourself with your friends, like we used to do in Moab, Utah on the While Rim trail, which is an absolutely perfect gravel trail even though I did it on mountain bikes.
All this means I’m likely to sell Marry (don’t tell her) with all her gear for a good price, but maybe not. I’ve already taken a huge hit on depreciation for her and all the gear and having an extra bike might not be a bad thing. She’s perfectly fine for now as I get fit and when we finally find that perfect house in Davidson I can work the cost of a dream carbon-frame (thinking climber) “gravel” bike with SRAM Force Warbird into the mortgage. Besides, I don’t have a place to put another bike at the moment.