Comfort
When riding for many consecutive hours or multiple days, comfort becomes the most important characteristic of the bike set-up. Being able to stay on the bike and pedal without discomfort – think about neck, hands and bum for example – will allow you to cover greater distances and have a good time while you do it! When bikepacking, especially if not racing, speed is rarely a priority and achieving an ultra-lightweight set-up becomes less important.
In this piece we look at characteristic of common set-ups and items that can affect comfort on the bike.
The first thing to do is probably to look at your position on the bike and things such as handlebar height, saddle height, etc. Assuming that’s something you have already done: keep reading. If not, you might want to skip to the bottom of the article.
The bike
On an event like the Tor Divide we expect most participants to use bikes designed for off-road riding such as MTBs or gravel bikes (no road bikes sorry!).
The main differences between traditional MTBs and gravel bikes typically are:
No suspension on gravel bikes vs front/full suspension on MTBs;
Drop handlebar on gravel bikes vs flat bars on MTBs;
More “aggressive” geometry on gravel bikes compared to MTBs;
Limited tyre clearance on gravel bikes compared to MTBs.
While there are several valid reasons for using a gravel bike at the Tor Divide – especially if that’s the only bike you have! - but comfort-wise is clear that a MTB is going to be more comfortable than a gravel bike for long days on the saddle.
There are however things that can be done to maximise comfort on gravel bikes (as well as on MTBs) before you go and buy a different bike!
Gloves & Handlebar tape
Hands can take a lot of abuse, especially on rigid bikes, and our advice is to experiment with different gloves and handlebar tapes until you find one that works for you. Look for large gel pads, ensure you get a size that fits your hands just right, without restricting them and that is not too large so that the gloves won’t move while riding.
Handlebar tape comes in many different thicknesses with a thicker bar tape being typically more comfortable than thinner tape. Depending on the size of your hands a very thick tape might not be the best option.
To enhance the comfort of the handlebar you might also want to consider using gel inserts or bar grips such as the Redshift Cruise Control Bar Grip System, to eliminate hot spots and reduce hand numbness/pain.
Tyres
Tyres transfer any bump from the road to the wheel and bike. When run at low pressure, they can act as suspension and fitting wide, tubeless tyres will allow you to run them at lower pressure and reduce amount of vibration transferred to the frame, while reducing the risk of punctures.
If you have a gravel bike, 40mm is what we recommend as a minimum for the Tor Divide. If your gravel bike has clearance for wider tyres it might be a good idea to fit the widest tyres you can. Be careful that in case of rain, mud may pack around the tyre and rub your fork. Always ensure you always have sufficient clearance, especially when riding off-road in the wet.
Shorts/Bibs & Saddle
Whatever you decide to wear when bikepacking, make sure it’s something you’ve used before and have tested on long rides. The type of shorts, the use of a chamois, and saddle are all highly personal preferences that will be driven by factors such as body size and shape, riding conditions and style preference.
We are fans of GRVL Apparel bib shorts that come with a very comfortable chamois pad, two rear pockets and a relaxed style that looks good also off the bike. We use them our recce’s for the Tor Divide, as well as all around year rides, and the bibs are still going strong.
Your saddle will play a big role on your comfort when pedaling. Unfortunately there aren’t many ways to find out other than buying one and trying it, however a bike fitter should normally be able to recommend one for you and even lend you one and/or get you to try different ones during the bike fit process.
Before investing in a new saddle, consider buying second hand to reduce waste and expenses. If you find out that you’re not getting along with the saddle you can always put it back on sale.
Shoes & cleats
Ensuring you have comfortable shoes, and correctly set up cleats, will allow you to pedal efficiently and minimise strain on knees. Ensure your shoes are comfortable and wide enough. Your feet will tend to swell after many hours on the bike and you want to make sure your shoes have the space to accommodate that.
There are several tutorials online and on YouTube to see how to set up cleats correctly. This should give you a good starting point but like everything you might have to go through a bit of trial and error process to find what works best for you.
Suspension
Mountain bikes typically come with a front suspension (i.e. hardtail) or front & rear suspension (i.e. full sus). Having suspension greatly increases comfort when riding off-road, especially on rocky terrain. It is more forgiving on the body and allows the rider to hit some rocks at speed without having to absorb the impact with hands/arms/body. In addition to comfort it also offers other benefits such as better control on downhill sections.
Gravel bikes typically don’t come with traditional suspension however some manufacturers have started to produce suspension forks with short travel aimed at gravel bikes. These work well however are expensive, require some knowledge to install them and add weight compared to a traditional rigid fork, they’re also typically not compatible with fork mounts and would require adapters.
A less intrusive and cheaper way to add some degree of suspension to a gravel bike – or any bike – is to introduce flex at the stem and seatpost using products such as the RedShift ShockStop system. This consists of a suspension stem and a suspension seatpost with elastomers and springs respectively, that can be changed to “tune” the response of the stem/post to the type of bike and terrain, and to the weight of the rider.
I have been using a ShockStop Suspension Stem for nearly a year and I’m incredibly happy with it. I ride a lot of Peak District gravel and singletrack (i.e. gnarly stuff) and I’m not the lightest rider at 88kg/14stones. It is difficult to describe how it feels to have the Redshift stem on, because I actually don’t feel the stem doing anything!
I have set the stem at its maximum stiffness in line with Redshift guidelines for my weight/bike. With these settings I have to be off the saddle and really pushing on a steep hill to feel the handlebar moving under load, which is something I rarely do! On rocky and chunky gravel I don’t feel the stem moving or smoothing the bumps (I have a couple of times, on relatively big jumps/drops that caught me by surprise) but I know it does as my hands rarely hurt and are not fatigued after a ride, which they used to do before installing the stem.
I have ridden the bike with the Redshift Suspension stem on single rides up to 275km and for up to 22hrs. I’ve used the same configuration on a multi-day bikepacking race where I did eventually experience some hand fatigue on the final day (720km. 4.5days, 3hrs avg. sleep time) but it was on terrain not exactly designed for gravel bikes. In those situations, I’ve heard that a second pair of gloves can be beneficial as glove pads are unable to regain their thickness after multiple days of use with little rest in between.
The weight of the stem is slightly higher than the one of a regular stem but for the benefits it offers I find it’s definitely worth the additional grams. Redshift also sells a Pro version which cuts down weight if keeping your bike as light as possible is a priority for you.
Click on the video below to see how the suspension stem works.
Bike fit
There is no point having the most comfortable bike and accessories if they don’t fit you (e.g. frame size / handlebar angle / seat height and slope, etc).
There are numerous guides online on how to perform basic bike-fit on your bike. These are usually good enough to achieve a good starting point and might work for many people. Remember that when bikepacking your position on the bike is rarely “aero” and extreme. This might come at the cost of efficiency and speed which is not a key parameter unless you are racing. At the same time, a small defect on the set-up, that you might not notice on short rides, is more likely to come up on a bikepacking event.
If you are experiencing pain during/after riding and have already tried looking at the items above, then you might need help from a professional bike fitter. After analysing you and your set-up they will be able to recommend the necessary changes. You might be surprised to see how even very small tweaks can make a big difference.
