Bikepacking gear list: what to take on your first trip

What goes on a bikepacking gear list?

A bikepacking gear list covers six groups: bike and repair, sleep, clothing, cook and food, navigation and power, and safety. This page is part of our guide to bikepacking for beginners, and bikepacking bags explained shows where it all goes.

Save or print this checklist. Each weight is the maker's spec for one lightweight example (listed in our method), not a recommendation.

How do you choose a sleeping bag and shelter?

Pick a bag whose comfort rating is at or below the coldest night you expect, and the lightest shelter that keeps you dry.

Most bags are tested to EN ISO 23537. Rab describes the comfort rating as the lowest temperature for a good night's sleep lying relaxed, and the limit rating as sleeping curled up, "fighting against the cold". One 0.55 kg (1.2 lb) summer down bag is rated comfort 11°C (52°F), limit 7°C (45°F): fine in midsummer, too cold for a frosty desert night. Your mat matters too: a higher R-value insulates more.

Cycling UK sets out the shelter choice. A bivvy bag is lightest, a tarp adds cover, a small tent gives privacy, and a hammock needs trees or posts. Check where you may sleep: see wild camping rules by country.

Want this for your own route? Windline shows the wind for every stretch, timed to your pace. Free. Make a free ride page →

What clothes should you pack for bikepacking?

Pack for the coldest hour you'll ride, plus one dry layer that never leaves camp. Cycling UK's advice is to layer: a synthetic or merino base layer, then warmers, a gilet or a windproof shell.

Descents and headwinds feel colder: read wind chill on a bike.

What can you leave at home?

Leave anything you can't name a use for. The Adventure Cycling Association warns that "everything you bring adds weight to your bike", and treats cooking kit and spare outfits as optional.

On a first overnighter, eat at a café instead of carrying a stove, and take one set of riding kit. Don't carry three days of food past a shop: plan resupply with our bikepacking food and water guide.

How does the list change for a wet, cool trip?

Add waterproofs and dry bags, and swap down for synthetic. In Scotland or the Pacific Northwest, plan to ride and camp in rain.

• Dry bags inside your bags for sleeping kit, spare clothes and electricals, as Cycling UK advises.
• Synthetic insulation. Rab says it keeps 80–95% of its dry performance when wet.
• Waterproof trousers, overshoes and dry camp socks.
• A tent rather than a bivvy, so you can dress under cover.

Read rain as an amount: see what chance of rain means.

How does the list change for a hot, dry trip?

Add water capacity and sun cover. In the US Southwest or inland Australia, water is your biggest load.

The US National Park Service at Mojave National Preserve, California, says cyclists should carry two gallons per person per day: about 7.6 litres, or 7.6 kg (16.7 lb). That outweighs one complete BIKEPACKING.com ultralight kit, at 5.5 kg (12.2 lb).

Cancer Council Australia advises sun protection whenever the UV Index is 3 or above, with SPF50 or SPF50+ sunscreen reapplied every two hours. On remote tracks, add a registered distress beacon. See bikepacking weather for heat and storms off-grid.

How do you test your kit before the first trip?

Do a shakedown ride: one night near home, fully packed. BIKEPACKING.com calls the one- or two-day overnighter the simplest form of bikepacking.

1. Weigh the loaded bike on bathroom scales.
2. Check every tool fits your bolts and your tube fits your valves.
3. Charge everything and download offline maps.
4. Tell someone your route and when you'll be back.
5. Afterwards, cut whatever you never touched.

Then plan your distances with how far you can bikepack in a day.