(upbeat music)
- What bike and equipment do you take
when you're bikepacking in Patagonia?
Well, let me tell you.
(graphics whoosh)
Hopefully you've seen Mark Beaumont's and my video
where we tackle dirt and a gravel loop
in the Patagonian lake district by now.
But if you haven't make sure you
check it out over on GCN.
There was a little bit of everything
thrown into the mix, and certainly no shortage
of amazing views, amazing food, and amazing people.
But in addition to that I also wanted
to be able to talk to you
through all that super cool tech we had with us.
This was our top-end bikepacking setup.
Let's start off with the bike.
This is BMC's new gravel bike, the BMC URS.
URS is short for unrestricted.
Which pretty much sums up where
Mark and I have been riding.
But you probably don't want to see it
with fully kitted up,
you want to see the bike, don't you.
So I guess I should get all these bags off.
(Velcro scratching)
So now I've taken all the kit off,
you can really see this beautiful bike,
but I'm sorry, it is covered in dust,
and it's pretty, well, dusty here in Patagonia,
but to be honest, I think it adds to it.
Now, on the gravel spectrum,
this leads more towards the off-road
rather than the on-road, not because it's heavy,
or it's slow, quite the opposite actually.
BMC says this bike comes in at 8.3 kilograms,
which is pretty light, and added to that,
this bike's got some really cool features
that lean more towards the adventure gravel rider.
Geometry-wise, this bike more leads
towards the modern mountain bike.
It's got that long frame, or long tops tube,
with a really short stem on the top.
It's also got quite a slack head tube,
so when we're looking at a gravel frame,
tire clearance is absolutely crucial.
BMC say you could run 45 mil wide tires
on this URS frame.
I'm running 42s meaning I've got
that little bit of extra space,
or a little bit of extra wiggle room.
So I can run slightly less tire pressure,
but also this URS frame has another
trick up its sleeve.
This is known as the MTT,
the micro travel technology,
that BMC have integrated into this URS frame.
BMC first introduced this technology
on the Teamelite XC mountain bike,
and it adds an additional layer
of comfort to the bike.
It gives you just 10 millimeters
of suspension travel,
but it's significant enough to take
that edge off bumps,
and is also designed to help with traction
on rough and loose trails.
Now, adding to that MTT a little bit
of suspension there,
we've got some comfort added by
this D shaped seat post,
and that's taken inspiration through
a lot of other of the BMC frames.
Up front we got Easton's carbon fiber bar,
and attached to that, we've got a very short stem there.
What allows you to have that really short stem
is the longer top tube, so you can really get away with it.
On a road bike, you wouldn't be able to.
Now, Shimano has also helped us out
on this trip of a lifetime here in Patagonia,
and they've also got us their new GRX group set,
so I'm using the RX 800 electronic Di2 version.
Now, a lot of you bike packers out there
will be shaking your heads at the thought
of me taking electronic gears out on an adventure,
but, to be honest, with the tech proven
over the last 10 years, I am not concerned.
And Mark Beaumont has told me that
he rode the length of Africa using Di2.
So, this group set is very like the BMC frame,
it kind of merges roads and off-road
with a couple of really cool features.
So on the back there, you got shadow,
plus a clutch system rear mech,
and then on the front you got the narrow,
wide chain ring at the front there.
That's all to help keep the chain on,
and that chain tight through rough terrain.
In fact, on the URS, you have to run it
1x, as with the tire clearance
and nice short chain stays,
you actually can't fit a front derailleur in.
Now you're probably wondering
what gears I'm riding.
Up-front I've got a 40 tooth chain ring,
and on the back I've got 11/40.
That rear mech also helps with the quietness
of your ride, so it stops any chain slap,
which is really helpful.
But also, in an added thing, Shimano
have worked on looking at people's riding
through gravel, and where people ride,
and what position they ride in,
and they've found that a lot of people
ride gravel in their hood.
So they've actually changed the pivot point,
meaning it's far easier to brake when you're in hoods,
and you've got better leverage.
Now no bikepacking check video can finish
without showing you some of my bags.
Luckily Shimano have sorted me out with them too.
This is my seat post bag, so in there I've got
my Vango tent, which is the world's lightest
tent, coming in at 700 grams.
I've also got some cooking equipment,
some food, I've got one of my thermal layers
there from Altura also.
Then if I lead onto my top tube bag,
so this is a really important one.
So I've got my wallet, my phone,
a battery pack just in case I lose battery
in the Wahoo, or my phone.
And I've also got my passport,
because we went through the Argentinian
boarder just a moment ago,
so that's really useful,
and easy accessible.
And I've got my frame bag,
in there I packed some food,
maybe a map, if I'm getting lost,
or tools, anything I want in quite quick,
without unraveling anything too big.
So, anything I need on the day
I'll put in there.
And then, my bar bag.
In my bar bag I've got my sleeping bag,
my roll mat, a few extra layers,
I've got trousers in there, and a pair of shoes.
So that's going to go on my bike
in a moment, because I'm headed to
the other side of the lake,
where that's where we're going to be camping.
Mark Beaumont's obviously with me
on this trip, he's taken a larger bike
with the same frame, but he's also got
some different components on there,
so I reckon we should take a look
at what he's bringing.
- Well my steed for the Patagonian adventure
is pretty similar to James',
the BMC URS, obviously a bit bigger,
I'm 6'3", and the geometry for me is fascinating,
just to see the evolution of bikes
built for bikepacking and gravel over the years.
Gone are the days, I remember being
in southern Ethiopia with the spoon,
trying to clear the mud out
so I could carry on and not have to push the bike.
You know, I'm riding 42s at the back,
similar at the front, they might be
slightly narrower.
And let a little bit of air out of the tires
as soon as we went from the tarmac,
onto the gravel, and that made all the difference.
But what I really like, which I've not
come across before, is that dampening in the rear,
which is meant to give you about 10mm,
and it just does, as well as getting the tire
pressure right, just smoothing out
the ride on these sort of constantly
rough, loose roads.
In-terms of group set, I've gone for
almost exactly the same as James',
except for traditional as opposed to electronic.
So it's the GRX 1x
very much inspired by you know,
the single chairing at the front there,
the cross country setup,
and what looks like quite a big dish at the back,
you know, with all your sprocket choices.
But you need them, and we've felt that already
in Patagonia, with the big hills,
we've both been in the granny gear
at points, but also there's times
where we're fleeing along at 20 plus
miles an hour, and it's quite nice
to have that top end range as well.
What I've not ridden before
on the Shimano group set,
is this clutch system.
And what I've noticed on the sort
of corrugated roads that you're not
getting any of that sort of chain jump.
You're not getting any of the rattling around
you quite often get if you're taking a road bike
into the gravel, or a more old fashioned gravel bike.
The frame bag setup that I've gone with
is different to James', I've gone with
the new Altura bags, and that's sort of
about an 18 liter setup at the back.
I've got really, spare clothes,
things I don't need to access during the day,
pots, pans, cook setup.
In the front, this is what I always
call my house, so that is basically in,
I don't need that until the end of the day.
It's quite often the heavier bag on the
bike as well, and having that weight
up-front, you know, can quite often help.
But you know, the overall setup
in terms of the look and the shape of the bike,
pretty similar, chosen some different componentry,
and well, we've got a long way to go yet,
and some more technical terrain ahead of us.
But so far, really enjoying it.
I hope you've enjoyed this tech video
by James and myself, all about
the BMC Shimano setup her in Patagonia.
If you actually want to watch the adventure
itself, click down here for the link.
Don't forget to subscribe, click on the globe.