[Closed] Bikepacking hardtail

If you like Giant, the Fathom 1 29er may suit. It’s what I now use for similar duties. I swopped out some bits, shifters and mech to slx, plus have a pair of slx brakes on their way. Also swop between dropper and fixed post to aid using a decent sized seatpack.

I don't own one but, if I was looking, I'd head over to the Sonder site and start there.

Surely the only thing that makes a hardtail a bike packing hardtail is the frame mounts?

If you're not bothered about that, then you're just choosing a hardtail really.

That said, from your choices....bikepacking is tough on frames - bags and straps rub over long distances. I would steer clear of carbon frames to that end, unless you want to cover your frame in helitape.

Have you looked at Surly frames - a number of them are built for bikepacking. I'm enjoying my Bridge Club for example.

Sonder frontier?

Not mine but well rated in the bikepacking community

https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=21283

Depends on your budget, some of those bikes mentioned above can be expensive and difficult to get The Sonder Frontier comes highly rated, great value for money and comes in a variety of builds, 27.5, 29ner, rigid forks, sus forks, SRAM and Shimano. I started purchasing from Alpkit recently and they seem like a very good (and ethical) company to deal with.

Sherpa owner (in 853 guise) and it’s brilliant. Way more capable than I expected as a trail bike, but also very efficient, rolls well and doesn’t feel overly cumbersome with luggage. I looked at bikepacking specific frames but as it was to be a multipurpose HT, I felt the long chainstays were too much of a compromise when I just wanted it as a fun trail bike. I’d probably take it bikepacking over my gravel bike a lot of the time due to the comfort and I don’t think it’s much less efficient. Only thing is in a 17”, with bottles, there is no room for a frame bag.

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I've gone down a similar path to a couple of folk above; I've a Big Dog steel hardtail that I use for this sort of purpose, steel frame and the angles are fine for both moderately fun trail and longer rides.
As part of the selection process, you will need to decide if you are having a dropper post or not, then if you are, how to rig a seat pack to do less damage to the sliding surface. Pal & I both use the Wolftooth seatpost collar; it's an expensive option for what it is but is great as it covers two bases. Fitting it protects the stanchion surface from mucky straps rubbing the finish and secondly when re-positioned as a clamp, it has a strong enough grip to be able to hold your post up if you have a failure on a longer trip. Worth thinking about in advance when designing your ideal rig.

Highland man raises a valid point re the dropper. For info, the seat post strap on the Restrap bags is too wide for the wolftooth clamp (and I am a wolftooth fan girl so I did try!). So instead I’ve got the Rockshox enduro collar on the dropper, and then attached the rear bag to a Topeak DP mount which works really well - bag is super stable and I can still use a bit of the dropper.

this?
https://www.marinbikes.com/gb/bikes/2022-pine-mountain-1

An OO Whippet might be too much of a compromise for trail riding if you've come off a FS Anthem. If you're OK with PlanetX then maybe go a bit more burly with the Scandal?

Second the Big Dog as one to look at.

I have a Whippet and it rides great. Geometry wise it would suit bikepacking I'd imagine as I wouldn't want to run a LLS type bike over a long distance. Would rather have a much more neutral ride, which is exactly what the Whippet gives.

However it isn't that tough a frame. There are no extra mounts and the paint is poorly finished. If you don't mind scratching it up to high heaven with clamps etc, fair enough. But for the money and the fact you'll not really be fussed about weight with a loaded bike, I'd look at something more suited.

Thanks for all the replies on this, that sherpa posted above is an absolute beauty. I will be running a straight post at first but may venture onto a dropper at some point also being the owner of a restrap saddle bag that info above about strap width will be extremely useful as it's something I haven't thought about.

I'm going to take the weight penalty and buy a stanton sherpa, the whippet is lovely but with some big overseas bike packing trips in the pipeline I think investing in steel would be the best choice. Now the real tough choice is which colour!

Personally I don’t think the actual bike is that important. As long as you find it comfortable.

I started off with what I had (a mk1 Solaris). The fact that the design morphed into LLS highlights that this wasn’t the best bike ever (it had a ridiculously light front end that was only partly alleviated by luggage). I then built up a mk SolarisMAX (ie non LLS) which was longer and conservative geo. Ran this for most of my bikepacking including multiday long hour trips and it was absolutely fine. I’ve subsequently changed it for a LLS version but that was Feb 20 so not had any real long day testing. I’ve also used a new Gen Sherpa without bother.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/77564901@N06/45569661195/

Out of your two options id go Sherpa but I’d consider an 853 frame (and that would make it pricey so I’d consider other steel manufacturers).

Basically, you are going to slap 5-10kg of luggage on it so it’s going to be ‘impaired’ from unladen. You don’t need a lot of travel up front as the luggage will slow/calm you down. 120mm is ample (on a 29er). As long as you are comfy and less wandery ladden uphill is good!

I’ve alway ran a fixed post (again, I’m luggaged up so not so much in need of a lower post...). That said I’ve a new frame coming soon which would make more sense to put the longer travel forks and the 200mm dropper post so my ti frame will be my ‘new’ bikepacker and it has a dropper already so we will see...

I’d tend to steel for frame material due to durability and cost. Make sure you put on plenty frame pro.

If it’s primarily being used for bikepacking keep the spec sensible (you don’t need £850-1000 forks with mega tunability and SLX/Deore is plenty). As ever, decent wheels are important. Handlebars and post will get rubbed, so I’d avoid carbon and keep these cheapish. Also, long days mean you get tired and more prone to fall off, there’s the luggage rub, no point in destroying expensive kit.

Oh, a double 10 or 11 speed all’s worth considering as bigger spread (esp if you want zippy on the gravel).

All imho of course...

When using a seatpack on my Fatbike or Full Sus, both of which have droppers, I just slip the strap over a bit of pipe lagging.

I’m going to take the weight penalty and buy a stanton sherpa

Good choice. You won't regret. I haven't touched my full sus since mine arrived.

Seatpost wise I have 2 for my Fathom 29, a fixed one for use with luggage and a Reverb AXS for the rest of the time. Both posts have saddles permanently on them so it's literally a 30 second job to swop. Appreciate it's a costly solution though !

I picked up a Vandal in the sale for this reason (and to save my FlareMax for riding when it's less shit outside again).

Regarding the frame rub, when I did my first foray into bikepacking last year I split open an old inner tube & wrapped it around areas where I thought rub might be an issue.
I ended up wrapping the entire top tube (using electrical tape to secure at each end) & the entire seatpost too. I mainly did the seatpost as the grippy rubber helped the saddle bag stay in place & reduced the amount of waggle.

I have been using a Travers titanium hardtail.
The titanium doesn't mark with bags and the ability to fit plus wheels is a bonus!
Max

Echoing comments above, I wouldn't get too hung up on the frame. My current bike is based around a Rockhopper frame I bought off here for £25...with 14 year old 26" wheels that'd cost me £550 to replace with modern standard ones of the same quality! Solstice trip a couple of weeks ago:
[img] [/img]
Couple of points: I personally prefer this lighter, stiff aluminium frame to the older steel frame it replaced (but that's more down to geometry and its effect on hill climbing). I actually have a 29er frame and bikepacking forks ready to go, just needs a wheelset to swap everything else over, but in all honesty the old 26" setup does the job well enough that I can't justify the outlay until catastrophic frame/wheel failure forces me to...

Well the trigger has been pulled. I have gone for a 2021 Salsa timberjack for 520 beans from Keep pedalling. So excited for this build, going to strip down the anthem over the weekend ready for its arrival on monday.

My only compatibility issue I think is my fox 32 step cast is 100mm and the recommended is 130mm so I'm quite a bit off, does anyone know how this will affect the geometry?

My only compatibility issue I think is my fox 32 step cast is 100mm and the recommended is 130mm so I’m quite a bit off, does anyone know how this will affect the geometry?

On the Salsa website is does say 150mm to 100 mm fork so you might be ok. The head angle is quite steep anyway so that's ok. I'd couldn't see the bottle n bracket height but that could be an issue, the seat angle will very steep.

But I can't say I'm convinced that buying a hardcore hard tail for use with 32mm stantion 100mm fork makes sense. The sonder Frontier would seem like an obvious option for a l00 mm fork

No mention of the Pipedream Sirius S5?
That's my dream bikepacking/XC build, a Sirius with light components but modern trail bike geometry

I've got a 29er Pike @ 140mm I'd swap you for the Fox 32 if you're interested?

Hi there, really interested to hear how you are finding the Vandal please - specifically it’s climbing ability and how compliant is that Ti frame?

ahsat could you not get a frame bag and strap bottles on uderneath the down tube with voile straps, works for me.
I just put some copy Jones bars on my HT and hey presto perfect bike packing rig.

HT rather than FS?

Whatever you do, don't watch any of Neil's videos from BIKEPACKING.com 🙂