Cass Gilbert – What Does The Bikepacking Guru Pack Himself?

Chipps: Which leads us nicely to your bike. What bike and what gear do you tend to travel with? Does it depend on where you’re going?

Cass: To some extent. I’ve sort of ended up with plus tyres… I do have a Pugsley and I’ve done some great trips on it and I love it but ultimately I’ve ended up with a generally rigid 29 plus bike. Right now I’m riding a Jones, which I love because it sort of feels to me like it’s the best of all the worlds, in terms of when I ride it without bags it feels like a lovely trail bike and when I put all my bags on it, it feels like a really nice bikepacking bike. But whatever the particular brand I think I just like the plus tyre and generally the rigid set up and the fairly minimal frame bag and bag on the front and bag on the back, that kind of thing.

When you say ‘minimal’ is it like half a toothbrush and…

Like Crane Brothers’ style? Well I did whittle down my toothbrush because it wouldn’t quite fit in my wash bag but I’m not sure if I really am that… I mean, I carry my computer because I’m often working remotely, sort of thing, and I have my (mirrorless) camera, so I’m definitely not like some of these guys who are very, very minimal. But I would say my sort of litmus test is: ‘Can I shoulder the bike either up a flight of stairs or across a landslide?’ 

I think what I like to feel is even if I’m not riding singletrack all the time, if the singletrack is there I could take it and I would enjoy it. You know, rather than being on the kind of setup and the kind of weight that it just feels a bit too much effort than what you get from it, you know. 

You run a frame bag and a seat pack?

Cass: Frame bag, yeah. I have a seat pack. Actually the one seat pack I have is a really nice on from Tailfin. They’re Bristol based, and they do this cool one which is kind of top loaded.

Which I really like because I’m not really into that sort of…

Big sausage?

Yeah, or the bumble bee style ones. (They’re) not very practical, especially if you’re going on longer trips. I have that Tailfin which I really like but it’s still light.

Is this the one with the carbon rack stays? 

Yes, well my one isn’t carbon, but yeah. They make carbon or alloy, it has this little fork and you can also attach water bottles to it as well and you top load it, so it’s kind of like the best of… You know, like an old rack with a roll-top bag but much more practical than that, and it pops off. So I have one of those. I have a frame bag which is waterproof. A Porcelain Rocket frame bag which is really nice.

And your frame bag is full size, not the one with room for a water bottle?

Full size, yeah, full size because that just fits my MacBook Air, at a particular angle, pressed in, wedged in. Again, I kind of like the practicality of bags rather than necessarily being the very lightest that you can get. So my bar bag is a little bit styled like a Carradice in that it’s a top loading bag, it’s by a guy called Jay Ritchey, son of Tom Ritchey as it happens. He makes these lovely bags. I have one of his bags and then various little peripheral bags. You know, water bottle bag and all that kind of stuff, yeah. 

Right, and you have water bottles on your…

At the moment I’ve got a water bottle everywhere… because I’ve been riding the Baja Divide and you have to carry 12 litres of water sometimes, so they’re everywhere that I could possibly put them but normally just maybe one under the down tube and one on the handlebars and that’s about it really. And if we’re getting a little granular here on this particular bike because it’s got the Truss Fork, I’ve got the Truss Fork bags which are great as well.

That fit in the little gaps between…the fork blades? Any odd stuff that you take? I mean you take a digital SLR don’t you?

Cass: Well yeah, mirrorless, yeah, Sony at the moment, while it’s still working. Two lenses. I have like a general sort of, I think it’s 28 – 75mm which I leave on. And then I have an 85mm f1.8 because it’s nice for portraits and that kind of stuff, which is definitely more than some people, but I do like having it and I enjoy the process of taking photos. And it’s always been (like that), from the very beginning I’ve kept this website and I enjoyed taking photos. Then it was slides and what have you. I think one of the reasons I’ve kept my interest doing it over such a long period of time is that I’ve written and taken photographs and stopped and worked and done other things, so I’ve always kept very motivated to keep doing it more, rather than getting bored of it or burning out or whatever. So I think for me, taking pictures is a really nice part of it, as is writing about it for whoever might be interested…

And it helps supplement your travels? 

Yes, yeah, yeah, definitely, from the beginning always, like even if it hasn’t been a big money earner I’ve always partly funded the trips through storytelling or whatever, in some form.

Slide shows at the Women’s Institute?

I did used to give a lot of slide shows, like with my local group with the Wednesday Wanderers in Dorset, yeah whoever. I did actually give at that time, slide shows, bike shows and all that kind of stuff and yeah, what have you. People don’t seem to do slide shows quite so much anymore but…

We should bring them back.

Yeah! The one I liked doing was the one about Kyrgyzstan, which I loved touring, and I had the different hats from Central Asia and I’d get, at the end, people to come up and have each hat, a different person with each hat from the regions.

And just finishing off with your bike, so you’ve got plus tyres, you’ve got… camera gear, you’ve got your computer. What sort of living gear, luxuries do you have? How do you sleep and how do you cook? Do you even cook?

Yeah I have a Trangia, little old-fashioned Trangia, with denatured alcohol or bioethanol or something. Recently I’ve got into using biomass, like a little Solo Stove they’re called and you know, you put your twigs in there and you light it and everything, that’s cool. But as a sort of default one it would be the Trangia, but rather than the big, old-fashioned style that you would’ve gone camping with your school friends or whatever, this one is a much more minimal… It’s made in Truckee actually, in Lake Tahoe, around Lake Tahoe, somewhere around there. And it’s called a Clikstand and it’s fantastic. It sort of snaps into place, it’s very light. So I love that thing, it has a little titanium pot, so I have that too. 

I have like an Exped sleeping mat which is very nice, it’s very comfortable. It has a slow puncture but it’s slow so it’s alright. And then I have a down quilt. The gear I have is nice, I don’t know if I really have any luxury items…

You don’t have a tent?

I have a tarp, so like a single pole shelter. My one is rather fancy. It’s made out of Cuben Fiber (AKA Dyneema), it’s very light…by a company called Hyperlite. So I use that and I’ve been in massive storms in that. That’s apparently rated for Everest-style use.

Everest-style tarping? 

Well apparently you can if you wanted to.

…Right…

If you wanted to.

Cass: I think the tarp itself is 500g and that’s for two people, then the pole which is made from carbon and the pegs and stuff. But the only downside is on this particular trip, I was riding the Baja Divide before this event and on one night there were tons of spiders and I don’t like spiders, and there must’ve been 20 or 30 of them and every time I woke up and shone my torch around they were like crawling everywhere. I love the tarp apart from the spiders and the scorpions. 

I got into that style of camping because it allowed me to go much lighter, losing the sort of traditional two skin tent that I used to travel with. I basically went lighter on the sleeping bag by using a quilt, an Exped air mattress, very light, and then the tarp, all of which packed down very small as well. 

So that’s one of those gear investment things that allows you to then take that step into actually being genuinely a lot lighter with your setup and suddenly you can ride the trails that you love riding anyway, but with a bit of gear on there. And I actually still have my (original world-touring, 1990s) Rockhopper Comp so it’s not like I don’t love that bike. I turned it into an Xtracycle with the Xtracycle bolt on piece and I got Argos to spray it green and I got new decals for it, so I love that bike.

And you’re on a Jones short wheelbase is it?

Well I was riding, and I probably would still be riding it, a Jones Complete short wheelbase which is this kind of like ready to roll, reasonable priced bike but…

The steel one?

Steel, yeah, unicrown fork. In the States they’re $1,800 which is definitely a reasonable price, a Surly sort of price, maybe a little bit more, but lovely bike. I love the Jones geometry because it’s very comfortable and it’s great mountain biking on it.

But for this (Baja Divide) trip, very generously Jeff Jones offered to lend me a Ti version of the same bike. So it’s Ti frame, Ti truss fork, even some things which I would generally not have invested in myself like the eeWings cranks and all kinds of carbon rims and yeah, it’s an amazing bike. Actually the carbon rims are fantastic and that’s something I could see myself getting into. Not necessarily the Ti cranks, as lovely as they are. But as a result, the whole bike, I think it’s a 24lb bike so normally I’d be touring on a 35 probably pound bike so that’s…

Plus luggage?

Plus luggage, yeah. And this means that… I love to stop and ride trails and singletrack and this means that I’ve got a bike that feels fantastic to ride but also is really robust and really tough and I can sort of throw anything at it, but I also really enjoy it as a trail bike as well. 

I finally got around to writing up a review of the unfeasibly light, Jones titanium SWB! Given that it’s been in my possession for way longer than I was expecting (Covid Complications) and morphed into a number of different builds along the way, it’s a long one! Should you want to wade through… the link is in my profile. There are many photos too! 

(Here’s a quick aside from Cass on his current setup, with pics from Miles Arbour for this lifestyle photoset)

Cass’s Ti Jones SWB

Over the years I’ve ridden Thorns, On-Ones, Surlys, and Tumbleweeds. All wonderful bikes in their own right. But right now I’ve settled on a Jones SWB, which I’m especially enamoured with because it’s supremely comfortable on long bikepacking trips and super capable on cross country trails too. I hate to miss out on trail-fun when I’m touring and Jones’ geometry hits the sweet spot for me.

I’ve always gravitated to steel bikes for many reasons, affordability and general robustness being two of them. I was actually enjoying the bare bones, steel unicrown version of this bike (a Jones Complete) all of last year. Then the opportunity came to try the titanium version and I wavered. It was supposed to be a short term loan but thanks to COVID-19, I haven’t been able to return it. So now I’m ‘stuck’ riding this space metal beauty for a few months more (-; 

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I err towards the side of simplicity when it comes to component choice. This bike is a bit of a mishmash of components. Befitting its costly frameset, it was sent to me as a super high end build that Jeff Jones lavished with blood, sweat, tears, and money – hence Cane Creek e-Wings and a Kent Erikson seatpost adding to the titanium bling. Wheels are DT-350 rear hub/Jones front hub, stainless steel DT spokes, and 55mm Jones C-Rims. These have been fantastic despite all my poor line choices. I was a carbon rim naysayer but no more.  

For travel purposes, I removed the Eagle drivetrain and XT hydros, replacing them with stuff I’m more familiar with/is easier to source overseas, such as an XT/SLX Shimano 11 speed drivetrain, with a hardwearing 11-50 Sunrace cassette, and Avid BB7s I’ve had for many moons. I’ve run a set of Hope F20s flat pedals for years too and they refuse to show any signs of bearing wear. Thankfully, I’ve managed to slowly polish down those leg lacerating pins, so I no longer ride in fear. A WTB Pure goes everywhere I do.

On long trips, I’m more of a fan of practicality than weight saving, within reason. Revelate makes Jones’ ti truss fork bags. Although they hide the beautiful lines of the fork, they are enormous and practical (kind of like slim panniers, but lighter, rattle-free, and room for a pineapple). A friend of mine, Jay Ritchey (aka BXB) made me a Goldback, a gorgeous Carradice-esque front bag. My waterproof framebag is made by Porcelain Rocket and has gone from bike to bike to bike in recent years. And representing the UK (by way of Bristol) is Tailfin’s Aero Pack – a nifty cross between a minimal rack and a modern, lightweight seatpack. It’s fantastic. 

I’m running Maxxis Chronicles, set up tubeless, as this is what I had to hand when I planned my last trip. I do like them, though I’m a bigger fan of WTB’s Ranger Toughs (great for roughstuff bikepacking), Schwalbe’s G-One Allround (light and very fast on gravel and forest roads), or Schwalbe Nobby Nics (great when teamed with a dropper for trail riding at home). 

Cass Gilbert in the real internet world