OpinionWhat’s the difference between bike packing and cycle touring? Whatever you call it, adventure riding is growing in popularity
- There is a grey area between the two kinds of adventure cycling, but ultimately it does not matter as long as you are out having fun
It really is bewildering just what an imaginative tweak and rebranding can do, and little more so than when it comes to bike packing and cycle touring.
Cycle touring was always a branch of the sport that suffered most unjustly with an image problem as far as mainstream cyclists went. Dull old steel bikes with heavy canvas bags strapped to them and spare tyres dangling from broken tent poles, mostly ridden by old men with big beards and baggy shorts usually sprang to mind. As much as many of us may well have heard and marvelled at the epic tales of early bike touring exponents, well, it was simply not in the slightest way racy in cycling terms.
As jaded and slow as it appeared, deep down I think that many of us felt twinges of envy and inspiration leaking from the ageing camp stoves of these guys and gals.
Fast-forward to sometime not so very long ago and someone had the bright idea of a rebranding for touring. Ditch those old bikes (or call them artisan and handmade) and lighten your loads. Cometh the small baggage systems that could attach without extra fittings to just about any bike, and then cram in only the essentials and move fast. Hey, lets call it bike packing.
In truth this was not that far removed from the original saddlebags and bar bags used by lightweight tourers, just remodelled. There is no clear and defined bike packing anthology, and there is also no definitive line etched in between bike packing and touring, even if some have a hard time with and accepting the greyness in the overlap that lies between panniers and camping gear travel and the change of shirt and a credit card approach.
All of a sudden (and long since overdue) travelling fast and light by bike while having great micro and not so micro adventures became cool. This aligned very sweetly with the growing aspirations of regular weekend riders. The concept was tailor-made for those who wanted to take on challenges and adventures previously considered far beyond the bounds of their thoroughbred carbon steeds.