Changing gearing setup for mtbs for bikepacking

trevstonbury

Hi Guys,

Looking for a bit of advice. I am slowly looking to setup 2 Whyte mtb's so they can be used for bikepacking. They are entry level bikes (see links below). Currently I am looking to improve the gearing setup for weight and reliability . I wanted to know if 1x11 ratio would provide enough gears for bikepacking, meaning less moving parts and more reliability, just wanted your opinion on which parts your would recommend based on the following specs. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Bike spec’s as follows
Whyte 604 2017
https://www.rutlandcycling.com/368305/p ... -blue.aspx

Whyte 605 2017
https://www.rutlandcycling.com/368306/p ... range.aspx


Kind regards

Trevor

adminwprr8oby

Hi,
Agree with oxoman about the terrains. I stumpled upon this comprehensive guide to bikepacking that might be useful in your case. Hope you find, what you are looking for!

JBA

Just try the bikes as they are on a short one-night bike packing trip and then decide what, if anything need changing. Maybe consider swapping the cassettes for 11-36 to help on longer, steeper hills.

I went on my first bike packing trip a couple of weeks ago. I was on my 1x11 hardtail* and my mate on a 2x10 hardtail**. We did just over 100 miles over 2 days and neither of us had any problems with gearing.

* 32T chainring & 11-42 cassette.
** 22/36T chainrings & 11-36 cassette.