Complete Bike Touring Gear Setup - What to Pack for a Long Distance Bicycle Tour

Hello everybody and welcome to this windy day. Today I'm going to discuss all the things that I take for our new six-month tour to the north of Europe. If you don't know me, my name is Maudy and together with my boyfriend Eric we've been traveling around the world on our bicycles for the last few years already, with some breaks in between of course. And on this channel we've documented all our adventures and we also like to give some tips and tricks along the way to So what should you take? Of course this is very personal and everybody has different preferences and different touring styles, so let me share a few facts about our upcoming tour. Over the course of six months we're heading to the UK, Iceland and Scandinavia in different seasons, so in spring, summer and autumn. And that means all the gear that I'm taking is suitable for different weather circumstances and different seasons. We do like a little bit of comfort, so we take some comfort items too. And we also take a lot of filming equipment, so keep that in mind. Our setup is generally a little bit heavier and bigger than most touring setups that you see out on the road, especially comparing to a bikepacking setup. Eric is stronger than me and he kindly proposed to take more weight on the bicycle, so it would be a better experience for us both, especially in the mountains. This is very nice because we kind of maintain the same speed and it's a more fun experience overall. I will briefly share the items that he takes extra compared to me, but he will make a separate video where he's going to discuss all the items and this will be released on YouTube very soon. Our gear has changed and evolved a lot over the course of a few years and by trial and error we found out what works for us and what doesn't. And I will elaborate a little bit on each item, what I like about it and what I don't like about it. Just a short disclaimer, everything you see here in this video, every product that I share is bought with our own money, so we're not sponsored or anything. Don't worry about that and let's dive into the video. So this is an overview of all my gear. There are different categories that I'm going to discuss. I will put them here onto the screen. I'm not going to dive into every item because some items are just self-explanatory. Most of the items I will discuss a little bit more into detail. If you want to skip ahead, I've put timestamps in the description below. First up is my clothing. This is probably the least organized section of all categories. Let me first say that I don't like bike clothing. I don't like how it looks and I don't like how it feels. And as we more or less live on our bicycles, I like to kind of blend in and prefer a more casual look. My clothing changes a lot due to the wear and tear of always being outside. And yes, I always tend to take too much. First up are a selection of casual generic t-shirts, a mid-layer and simple flip-flops to wear at camp. As for pants, I switch them out a lot. Generally I take some casual pants, a short pants and a long warm legging. Next up are my cap and my shoes. This is a simple cap from Patagonia. Nothing fancy and it protects my face from the sun. These are the Evadig trail running shoes from Decathlon. I like the fact that they are breathable and comfortable. They have a good grippy tread, which make them great for the occasional hike we make. They're also super flexible in all directions. The only thing I don't enjoy is the slight drop. A barefoot type of shoe would suit me better. I like to take just a regular towel. I've also tried the microfiber ones before, but I don't think they dry very well. So for me it's worth the little bit extra weight and space in my bags. On to my underwear. I like to take four pairs of socks, two that I switch out on the bike, one pair of warm socks for on the bike and one pair for in bed, a regular sports bra and some underwear. These are my two puffy down jackets that I take. They're both from Raab. One mid-layer and one extra warm layer. I really like the fit of the Raab jackets. This jacket I tend to wear most of the time. It takes the wind out and it's nice and comfy. This positron jacket from Raab makes me really toasty. It's not the most elegant, but it's just very comfortable to wear around camp or when temperatures get below freezing. Next up is my rain gear and my cold weather clothing, with on the right side two pairs of generic gloves. These are waterproof overgloves from Decathlon. I've never used them and still need to test them out. Most of the gloves that I used in the past were not actually waterproof. Eventually water always got through, so I hope by layering up and using these overgloves that problem will be solved. These are some very simple rain pants from Decathlon. I like the fact that this one is easy to put on and they have some protection for the feet as well. I just bought these as an emergency solution, but I will probably switch them out when we go to Iceland. To be honest I don't really expect much from it. Even some more expensive rain pants that I bought in the past, they've started to leak, which is why I currently didn't want to invest a lot of money in it. The Arcteryx Beta AR rain jacket is absolutely one of my favorite pieces of kit. I decided to invest in a durable and quality rain jacket and I already own and use this jacket for about six years and it's still going strong. I bought it second hand because it's a very expensive jacket. You do have to take good care of it and wash it with the proper detergent. It has some nice features to make sure no wind or rain is coming in and it also has two pockets and ventilation zippers under the arm. Also one of these emergency solutions, some very simple generic gloves from Decathlon. Next up are some down booties and this simple hat. The hat is also from Decathlon. Before I had a nice knitted one from Georgia, but cold air got through and my ears got really cold, so this one is nice and warm. These down booties are a real game changer. Before I always had cold feet in bed, but this is a great solution. Since my feet are warm I tend to be warmer overall and have a better night's sleep. Next up is my sleep system, something very important to me. A good night's sleep can make or break your bicycle tour. This time around I've decided to switch it all up and invest in some new gear that I'm very excited about. Having a good night's sleep in the tent is still a big challenge to me and something I really want to improve. Let me show you what I got. This is the Neoair Xterm sleeping mat with a claimed R-value of 6.9. It is as far as I know the warmest mat on the market. This was an important deciding factor for me. We often sleep in temperatures below freezing and I noticed that I lose a lot of body heat to the ground. It has a horizontal baffle system and a wing lock valve and it blows up with a pump sack. The Xterm is a big upgrade in terms of warmth, but it has some downsides compared to my old mat. This is my old mat, the Sea to Summit Etherlite XT woman's version. It has an R-value of 3.5 so it's not suitable for winter conditions. But the surface of this mat is extremely comfortable and I don't think any other mats can top that. I never had any problems with any pressure points. I also really like the design of the pump sack. With only four blows I can inflate the entire mat and deflating is also much faster than my new Neoair Xterm. My old secondhand Mountain Hardware Phantom Zero Fahrenheit sleeping bag was at the beginning extremely warm, but it has never been a bag that I've found to be very comfortable. I sleep in many different positions and to make optimal use of the sleeping bag's rating you need to sip and singe everything completely, which made me feel very restricted and uncomfortable. Over time the loft power of the down also decreased and even after thoroughly cleaning it, it has a lot of cold spots and not the same insulation qualities as before. So time for a new bag, or rather quilt. This is the Zen Biffy sleep system. It consists of two parts. Number one is the sheet that you attach to your mat. It has a hoodie and two strips of draft fabric on the side. The big advantage of the hoodie is that I can place my pillow inside to prevent it from falling off my mat in the night, which was a regular issue. If it is too warm I can lay the pillow on top of the hoodie. I also like the fact that I can easily wash it and that my air mattress stays clean. This is the quilt itself. It has 800 fill power down and this awesome blue and orange color. You can use it as a quilt, but you can also completely modify it so that it sort of mimics a sleeping bag, but with more room to move around. It's a little bit of fiddling around, but once you attach the matched colored hooks, the fabric prevents drafts from coming in on the sides. On the bottom you also have multiple tweaking options and you can even cinch it up completely to make it as warm as possible. I can't wait to try it out in real life. Next up is everything I carry in my handlebar bag and new top tube bag. I'll start with the obvious things. Some earphones, a USB cable, a charger for my camera batteries, my camera batteries, my passport that I usually carry in another pannier, sunglasses and case, lens cleaning wipes, big lighters, my wallet, a pen, masks, plastic coin for a shopping cart and a pouch to store some of these items. Everything on the right side I plan to store in this new waterproof top tube bag. My handlebar is small and I needed some extra easy accessible space to store a few items that I need often, mostly for filming. Now I can store my extra lens in my handlebar bag, so I'm able to switch it out quickly when I want to. I already noticed that the zipper doesn't function perfectly, let's see how that works out. This is a new simple headlamp from Decathlon. I replaced my old one because I tend to use only the red light, which my old one didn't have. I already noticed that the headband is too tight, so I'll see if I can modify it. It's USB rechargeable and it's adjustable, which I like. An item that I never seem to use, but always take with me, the Moon Nebula rear light. An awesome little light with a lot of settings and very bright. One of those items that might come in handy sometimes, when it's foggy or when riding in tunnels for example. And this time I take it too. The ThruNite TN12 is a powerful small flashlight with 1100 lumens, it's very bright and there's a strobe mode on it that I would use for potential unwanted visitors at night. I never actually use it, but it's one of these items that I enjoy taking for some peace of mind. This is a Samyang 12mm wide angle lens, that I lately use more often to take videos when I'm talking. This way you can see the surroundings better in the background. I don't love the colors that this lens produces and it's also manual focus which makes it difficult to handle, so I hope to upgrade one day. Next up is a simple 10 liter foldable backpack, which is great when we stay in cities or when we do some groceries. As we love hiking so much we still think about a setup where we can also take our full-size backpacks. The Buff is a multifunctional piece of kit that I always find a use for. For example in Vietnam against air pollution, or when it's really sunny out and I want to protect my face, or even as a headscarf in Iran. This is a waterproof phone case that I bought in a whim. I've never used it and haven't found a perfect solution yet to use my phone in the rain. This is just a quick solution and it seems to work fine. I can still use the touchscreen also when it's wet. Do you have any tips on how to use your phone in the rain? This is one of these must-have items. The Inetropeth tick tool is the best one we've had. We take the risk of ticks very serious and we do a full body check of each other twice a day. We place the tool on the front side of the tick where the head is located and slide it backwards to remove it. If you're solo I recommend using a mirror to check your body in places that you can't easily access. A simple patch kit that came with my air mattress. This is an Opinel knife. Absolutely love it as it never seems to need any care. It stays razor sharp. The only slightly annoying thing is that when the knife is still a bit wet and folded up, the wood swells and it's not easy to get the blade out. But I would still highly recommend it. Next up is a simple medical kit with some paracetamol and band-aids. Eric carries a more extensive medical kit. Next up is the Anker 20,000 milliampere power bank. It has several outlets to charge multiple devices at the same time and also has a quick charge. On to my toiletries. I will go over them quickly as it's all quite self-explanatory. Starting with my shampoo, bicarbonate, coconut oil and the bicarbonate and oil together make my deodorant and a product for my skin. A comb, we take a razor to cut our hair. I often take some supplements, toothpicks, toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm, earplugs, an eye mask and my toiletry bag. And what's missing is a pair of nail clippers. On to some miscellaneous items. On the left is my toilet kit, in the middle a chair and on the right some exercise equipment. The last year we've cycled without a chair, but for our big trip when we were in Europe, we carried this foldable chair from Aliexpress. It's a kind of Havenox clone and very comfortable with a nice back rest. Lately we've been resting and cooking just on a simple foam mat on the ground, but for this upcoming trip we like some comfort and decided on this small aluminum folding chair. Just to be able to stretch the back a little more, especially when cooking, this would be nice. It folds up easily and packs super small. We take some elastic rubber exercise bands to train other muscles that we don't use very often while cycling. Now on to cooking. We cook a lot of our meals ourselves. The meals we eat on the road are mostly very simple. We mainly cook pastas, some sort of bean dish or a stew of some sort. We always take garbage bags, some rubber elastic bands which are very handy to close packages, some simple lightweight cutlery from home and a drying towel that we cut into four small ones to wash and switch them out easily. A windshield is very essential to make optimal use of your gas canister. This is a simple aluminum one of which we forgot the brand, but it works perfectly. On the big trip we took a multi-fuel stove, but we both don't enjoy using it. It takes some time to set up and we always get dirty hands. For shorter trips and in countries where we can easily find gas canisters, we landed on this fire maple blade 2 titanium stove. We've used it a few times and are completely in love. It's easy to handle and it stands on the ground so it's very stable. We take a gas canister for cooking. This is a connector piece to be able to use a gas canister with a different connection. This way we have more choice and we're able to buy the cheaper ones that you often can find in the dollar store for example. We always take a box for leftovers or to store some fruit or other things that might leak. This is our big titanium pan. We love the size and can make a large meal which is perfect for two hungry cyclists. We only don't like that it scorches easily on the bottom, but that's a trade-off that we accept as we don't like to use aluminum or non-stick coatings for health risks. We also eat directly out of the pan and often don't carry an extra plate. One of the most asked questions on our channel is what coffee cups do you use? So shout out to our old coffee mugs, the Zilli's hot mug cafe chair. An absolutely super easy way to make coffee, but it often gets a little bit sour and has a lot of residue in it still. So now we opted for the AeroPress which makes a nice tasty and clean cup of coffee. We have to restrain ourselves a little bit though not to bring a grinder. I also take the simple stainless steel cup. We take a lot of herbs and spices and keep them in sturdy leak-free Nalgene containers. Also a simple cutting plate to chop up some vegetables. These are my Nalgene water bottles. As you see they need an upgrade. I like that they're very sturdy and I can use them as a hot water bottle when it's cold. This is the Camelbak Podium, a simple sports bottle. When I bought it new it took a very long while before the taste of plastic disappeared, something they advertised with that they didn't have that. I do like that it has a locking system on top so no water can spill while riding. Now on to some bike-related gear. I take an extra inner tire, mostly from Swalba, a simple yellow safety vest and a PVC tube with my spare spokes. Normally I would maybe also carry some spare brake pads and brake and shifter cables. This is my Montbell helmet. A few of you pointed out that my helmet doesn't work well when wearing my cap under it. I still have to find a solution for that. Also I saw some people with helmets that go more down around the sides and the back of the head, which seems safer so I might upgrade in the future. We got tipped by one of our veteran cycling friends to take a piece of outer tire instead of a complete new tire. I always take this multifunctional garden glove. It comes in handy when doing some bike chores, but most of the time I use it to clean up camp from spiky plants or when I need to remove some sticks and whatnot. I also take rubber kitchen gloves to use when I'm packing up a freezing cold and wet tent. This way I don't get my hands cold and my normal gloves don't get wet. These rock straps always come in handy when you need to take something extra. They replace the luggage straps with the metal hooks that you see often. These can be a little dangerous in my opinion. The rock straps can be easily tightened and untightened without the risk of accidentally releasing it. On to my electronics. First of all I take an organizer bag from Ali Express with all my charging hubs, cables and SD cards. Next up is this Joby aluminum tripod, an essential piece of kit for filmmaking and much more sturdy than the old plastic one we owned. On top is a Mephroto ball head for easy positioning of the camera. I take a Seagate 1TB hard drive and a Samsung 2TB solid state disc and I carry them in two pouches. In Istanbul we bought an extra power bank from Powerstar. Currently we don't have a dynamo or solar panel so this enables us to stay a little bit longer out on the road. All these items I store in a simple pouch from the 100 yen shop. As we now go to countries with a lot of precipitation even in summer, I decided on this waterproof camera protection case. This way I can still make beautiful shots without always having to fall back on the action cam with lesser image quality. My MagSafe adapter for my MacBook and this is my old 13 inch MacBook Air. It's from early 2015. It still does the job but editing is really slow so I hope to save up and upgrade to one of the new models with an M1 chip. This would also enable us to shoot better quality video and it will provide a smoother editing experience. This is my MacBook protection case from CaseLogic, solid and sturdy. A dry bag to protect my computer and other electronics. My Oppo A72 smartphone. It's quick, can connect to different GPS systems. It has a big screen which is easy for navigating with a quad lock universal phone mount on the back and a simple silicon case. I only don't like the quality of the camera. This is my old Sony A6000 camera body with a Tamron zoom lens and a neutral density filter for filming. It's a great all-around lens with a decent zoom range and good low-light capabilities. It's very sharp and produces nice colors. The camera body is pretty outdated and it lacks some important features for our shooting style so we definitely want to upgrade. It also doesn't have a mic input so it can only attach an external mic to the hot shoe. We would love to upgrade our microphone too because the current one has some problems that are impossible to fix. On to my panniers. Over the last few months I've experimented with different setups. I've tried a handlebar pack from Ortlieb but I must say that I prefer to chuck all my cooking equipment and food in a rack pack and call it a day. So the setup that I'm going for on this trip are two times the Ortlieb gravel pack, two times the a 31 liter rack pack, the ultimate 7 liter handlebar bag and a top tube bag from Rock Bros. On the bike I also carry two stem bags for my water bottles from B'Twin. All the items that I take will be organized in different colored bags. This way I can find everything easily and it makes for an efficient packing routine when we're on our camping location. Now lastly I will quickly share the items that Eric carries. So I take the food and cooking supplies and Eric takes our tent. Now first a quick flashback to our old tent, the Marmot Vapor 4 person tent. This was a real palace and a nice tent but very heavy and we often had problems with condensation. We upgraded to a lighter version, the Marmot 3 season ultra light tungsten tent. It has better ventilation and is much lighter too. We do like a little bit of extra space and a three-person tent is just enough. It's easy to set up, freestanding and has a nice color that blends into the surroundings. The extra items that Eric carries are our tool bags, a medical kit, our Sony action cam and DJI Spark drone, which we by the way love to upgrade to the just released DJI Mini 3, our bike lock, the Katadyn B3 water filter and our tripod. Alright this is the end of the video. I really hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it. If you did consider giving it a like and subscribe to our channel. As I said before we're always testing and evaluating so that's kind of an ongoing process. There are so many great products out on the market to tweak your setup with and if you're like us it's kind of easy to fall into the trap of always wanting to try the latest and greatest thing on the market but that's not necessary at all. You also absolutely don't have to break the bank to go on a bicycle tour. Many of the products that you see in this video are bought secondhand, even our bicycles. Yeah you can also use your old bicycle to convert it into a touring bike but I would suggest to invest in a few items. If you go on a longer tour it's good to have a sturdy frame, a good wheelset, good sleep system, good waterproof bags to make it a more fun and better experience overall and so you don't have to constantly worry about something breaking. All right that's it for now. Thank you so much for watching. Have a great day and I'll see you in the next one. you