Could "E-Bikepacking" Become A Thing asks Bikepacking.com

[Aushiker]

 

[BikerG]

I set up my hardtail e-mtb for single or two night bikepacking. Overnight destinations are usually trail camps, off trails or fire roads. For less grueling rides, no long steep climbs, I’ll use my acoustic all terrain bike, my Ritchey.

 

[jabberwocky]

Bikepacking in general is kind of a niche within cycling, but its been popular enough over the past several years that some smaller manufacturers have been successful offering bikes catering to it. I do think its an unexplored market for ebikes that could be quite successful on a similar scale with the right offering. Especially given that most bikepackers aren't doing week long tours across multiple states, most seem to be doing 1-2 night trips at most. For an overnight where you have a way to charge at the camp spot, you don't need massive amounts of battery, though the more you have the better.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

My opinion: both range and charging time limitations of existing e-bikes really limit your options. Some otherwise appealing routes are just not feasible, and others would require rather contrived and unnatural itineraries in order to work around the range and charge time limitations. Outside of fairly short overnight trips I just don't see it.

A lot of it also depends on how you define "bikepacking". For me if you are sleeping someplace with convenient access to electrical outlets every night it probably isn't bikepacking. You can make plausible bicycle travel work in a lot of places with an e-bike, but I just don't see them for extended serious wilderness travel just yet.

 

[BikerG]

A lot of it also depends on how you define "bikepacking". For me if you are sleeping someplace with convenient access to electrical outlets every night it probably isn't bikepacking.

Yeah, that would be more like bikeglamping.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Depends where you live. In UK or Ireland you're never that far from civilisation - we're on Islands after all! And a lot of people now bikepack for just one night over the weekends during the summer especially, as its easy to organise and cheap too, and often just use a simple bivy overnight so don't have to carry much or plan and then can get back to work on the Monday. e gravel bikes are becoming quite popular for these kind of short & cheerful 'get out in nice weather' kind of trips. Like this:

 

[jabberwocky]

My opinion: both range and charging time limitations of existing e-bikes really limit your options. Some otherwise appealing routes are just not feasible, and others would require rather contrived and unnatural itineraries in order to work around the range and charge time limitations. Outside of fairly short overnight trips I just don't see it.

A lot of it also depends on how you define "bikepacking". For me if you are sleeping someplace with convenient access to electrical outlets every night it probably isn't bikepacking. You can make plausible bicycle travel work in a lot of places with an e-bike, but I just don't see them for extended serious wilderness travel just yet.

I don't disagree. I mean, I have some friends who are into it and they generally are camping in remote places and riding ~80-100 miles a day (or more) when they are doing weekenders. So nothing on the market is really feasible for that. But those people probably aren't in the market for ebikes anytime soon anyway.

But I also see a lot of people who do overnights with a total distance of ~80-100 miles (so 40-50 a day). Definitely doable with an extra battery or an extender or two, especially if you keep power down and use the motor as an assist to compensate for weight and help hills instead of using it to do most of the work. A lot of popular overnight routes could pretty easily be modified to end the day at an improved campground or motel so batteries could be charged as necessary. I have a few routes near me on my bucket list and have looked into how they could work for my setup. Its generally (though not always) doable.

You can argue about whether that counts as bikepacking, but I can see it being an attractive option for people who don't necessarily need to camp in the wilderness. At some point its the same argument some cyclists make about ebikes in the first place (its not real cycling).

The Confluence is a step in the right direction, but a lot of the emtb world has moved to 700-800whr batteries built in. Take a powertube 750 instead of the 625, stuff it in a drop bar ebike with some load carrying ability, add extender support and you have a bike that can go well over 100 miles at moderate assist levels. On a lot of routes, thats probably two days and one night of riding before needing a charge with judicious assist use.

I see it similarly to how a lot of ebikes slot into the cycling world: expanding possibilities in many ways, with some limitations that regular bikes don't have. But I think some options in the ebikepacking realm will get some people who wouldn't otherwise consider them doing some overnighters and/or longer rides.

 

[PedalUma]

Gravel/Adventure bikes are becoming more popular. They are hardtails with fixed forks and drop bars that flare. They do things road bikes do but have wider tires that are usable off tarmac. They also have attachment points for front and rear racks and fenders. Loading up a suspension bike does not make sense, it defeats the suspension. I see that you could get into more remote camping sights that may be just 40 minutes off road. Far enough to get away from traffic sounds and some light pollution to see the stars, but not out of cell range or emergency services as from a Park Ranger.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

The trip only starts when you get out of cell range.

There are lots of e-bikes out there where you can do many popular long-haul tours. That problem has already been solved. At this point in time someone has probably already ridden the Northern Tier, the Trans Am, and the Southern Tier routes across the States on an e-bike. Probably. All of those trips with some modification are doable with existing e-bikes.

What (probably) isn't doable with existing e-bikes is something like the GDMBR, the Oregon Outback, or the BC Trail. And without some fundamental changes in how we approach e-bikes they will continue to not be doable.

 

[Explorer-1]

I hope so. I look forward to more long range ebikes. Right now I see that goal as easier than any charging infrastructure.

 

[jabberwocky]

The trip only starts when you get out of cell range.

There are lots of e-bikes out there where you can do many popular long-haul tours. That problem has already been solved. At this point in time someone has probably already ridden the Northern Tier, the Trans Am, and the Southern Tier routes across the States on an e-bike. Probably. All of those trips with some modification are doable with existing e-bikes.

What (probably) isn't doable with existing e-bikes is something like the GDMBR, the Oregon Outback, or the BC Trail. And without some fundamental changes in how we approach e-bikes they will continue to not be doable.

I agree that those sorta of bikepacking routes are likely never going to see much ebike interest.

The flipside of that though is that most people who purchase bikepacking bikes aren't doing those sorts of routes. Like, I would bet that for every 100 cutthroats salsa sells, only a handful get used for those sorts of big remote bikepacking trips. Most are bought by people who wanted something for overnights, endurance gravel routes, a versatile rough surface commuter, that sort of thing. And those are all uses that ebikes can work fine for.

Like, I've been eyeing the Slate Springs loop (I have some friends who have done a lot of it). Its rough and mountainous, but only 50ish miles, which is doable without needing a charge with what I have. I also really want to do the Forks of Cheat loop someday; 100 miles is maybe something I could do with enough battery, but I've also looked at splitting off into Bowden at ~53 miles in and spending the night at one of the two campgrounds there.

Like all thing ebike, you have an extra variable to consider when planning, but (at least in my opinion) ebikes can handle most of what people do on bikepacking bikes.

 

[dblhelix]

I'm skeptical about feelers inquiring whether something can be a 'thing.'

I've been cross-country 2X on an e-bike and have done my fair share of shorter bike-packing excursions. Not going to talk about packing 2 chargers, solar trailers etc as this has been discussed to death. The elephant in the room is that, unlike regular bikes, we rely on 2-yr warranties. The preferred customer is the 'urban commuter' who puts few miles on the bike within the warranty period. On the buyer side, consider that rough terrain/distance will leave you with a lot of wear on your bike at the 2-year mark when you start paying out-of-pocket.

I agree that the occasional overnighter/weekender is the ticket, but I think a regular bike might just be more fun. The charger/extra battery/heavy bike undermine the spirit of bike-packing, I think.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I too have a short list of shorter bikepacking trips that I am working down. What I've found is that even the shorter trips are at best awkward and usually impractical even with an e-bike with lots of legs and a willingness to hypermile as much as possible. What I mean by "awkward" is that you might either need to start with a full charge in the middle of nowhere in order to get around your range limitations or you might be forced to have a very short day in order to charge up for a long powerless section.

You need to keep in mind that riding on steep, rough roads while loaded down is probably the Worst Case Scenario for e-bike range. I find that even running 90+% of the time in Eco on my e-bike (with two 500wh Bosch Powerpacks) 60-odd miles and 6000-odd feet of elevation gain is an optimistic maximum range on logging roads and trails.

I suspect (but do not know for sure) that if you used very outside-the-box controller algorithms to deliver pedal assist it might just be possible to build an e-bike with existing battery tech and an assisted range approaching 200 miles and 20k feet of elevation gain. But I also suspect that there would be diminishing returns on the weight and cost of the system as a whole that might make it all pointless.

Points well taken on the serviceability of e-bikes over the long term. I've noticed for a long time that my otherwise excellent Charger GX Rohloff is a shop queen compared to any acoustic bike I've owned.

The newfangled Salsa e-bikes look promising as they are starting to check my boxes on what I'd want in an e-bike well-suited for bicycle travel, if not full on bikepacking.

 

[jabberwocky]

I too have a short list of shorter bikepacking trips that I am working down. What I've found is that even the shorter trips are at best awkward and usually impractical even with an e-bike with lots of legs and a willingness to hypermile as much as possible. What I mean by "awkward" is that you might either need to start with a full charge in the middle of nowhere in order to get around your range limitations or you might be forced to have a very short day in order to charge up for a long powerless section.

You need to keep in mind that riding on steep, rough roads while loaded down is probably the Worst Case Scenario for e-bike range. I find that even running 90+% of the time in Eco on my e-bike (with two 500wh Bosch Powerpacks) 60-odd miles and 6000-odd feet of elevation gain is an optimistic maximum range on logging roads and trails.

Yeah, true that. Weight, rough terrain and elevation are all enemies of range. I pretty much ride in eco on my Giant (which is 100% assist). Sometimes I ride with my local gravel club, and when I'm riding the ebike I tend to turn it down to 50% or 75% so I can get a workout. Running lower assist extends range considerably. I've assumed if I was doing an overnight I would want to turn down assist and do some local rides to get an idea of consumption rates. For the battery and also my legs.

The newfangled Salsa e-bikes look promising as they are starting to check my boxes on what I'd want in an e-bike well-suited for bicycle travel, if not full on bikepacking.

Me too. Not even necessarily for bikepacking, but just for long gravel rides with the option for some overnighters.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Yeah, true that. Weight, rough terrain and elevation are all enemies of range. I pretty much ride in eco on my Giant (which is 100% assist). Sometimes I ride with my local gravel club, and when I'm riding the ebike I tend to turn it down to 50% or 75% so I can get a workout. Running lower assist extends range considerably. I've assumed if I was doing an overnight I would want to turn down assist and do some local rides to get an idea of consumption rates. For the battery and also my legs.



Me too. Not even necessarily for bikepacking, but just for long gravel rides with the option for some overnighters.

I think the range concern for e bikepacking is much more of an Aussie or North American issue because in Europe it'll be mixed terrain mostly; small back roads to off road tracks but you're just never that far from somebody's house! The route planning though would still need to be more accurate, which could be a pain, in not being able to just pull up and pitch a tent. But watching riders youtube videos on the GDMBR they often stay in B&Bs or hostels or people's houses so with careful planning it might still be feasible.

 

[dblhelix]

I too have a short list of shorter bikepacking trips that I am working down. What I've found is that even the shorter trips are at best awkward and usually impractical even with an e-bike with lots of legs and a willingness to hypermile as much as possible. What I mean by "awkward" is that you might either need to start with a full charge in the middle of nowhere in order to get around your range limitations or you might be forced to have a very short day in order to charge up for a long powerless section.

You need to keep in mind that riding on steep, rough roads while loaded down is probably the Worst Case Scenario for e-bike range. I find that even running 90+% of the time in Eco on my e-bike (with two 500wh Bosch Powerpacks) 60-odd miles and 6000-odd feet of elevation gain is an optimistic maximum range on logging roads and trails.

I suspect (but do not know for sure) that if you used very outside-the-box controller algorithms to deliver pedal assist it might just be possible to build an e-bike with existing battery tech and an assisted range approaching 200 miles and 20k feet of elevation gain. But I also suspect that there would be diminishing returns on the weight and cost of the system as a whole that might make it all pointless.

Points well taken on the serviceability of e-bikes over the long term. I've noticed for a long time that my otherwise excellent Charger GX Rohloff is a shop queen compared to any acoustic bike I've owned.

The newfangled Salsa e-bikes look promising as they are starting to check my boxes on what I'd want in an e-bike well-suited for bicycle travel, if not full on bikepacking.

LOL, shop queen indeed. The Load is even worse.