IMO the bikepacking vs bike camping (touring) differentiation has more to do with the location, terrain & bike geometry than it does with how the bags are carried on the bike.
I was a little annoyed when a new friend kept calling a fully paved overnight bike camping trip through the suburbs to a state park with amenities a “bikepacking trip”
I don’t see much difference between them at this point I guess. Theyre just different systems to accomplish the same thing, and they’re not even mutually exclusive. I see rack and pannier people with feedbags and butt rockets, and I see single track bike packers like Cass (@whileoutriding) with racks (see the King Rat racks).
I say, whatever gets you out there, do that. Water will find it’s own level.
bike touring = car road trips
bike camping = car camping or walk-in camping
bikepacking = backpacking
atmo
a s24o “backpacking” trip is really usually more like walk-in camping
so I’d call any one-night bike trips bike camping
atmo
actually thinkin’ about it…
I’d call a one night out and back trip walk-in camping or bike camping
if you can find the rare one night loop I’d call that backpacking or bikepacking
My partner recently bought a 3 person tent for camping with the dog but we tried it out for the first time bike camping last weekend (sans dog). Unfortunately I discovered that the tent poles were longer than my top tube.
Fuck I miss bike camping. I can’t wait until I can move somewhere where it is more accessible (mainly because I’m horrified of riding on shoulder-less rural Texas roads)
What’s crazy about this is I’ve never lived anywhere where if you pull up behind someone on a Texas 2-lane, they will practically ditch their car to let you by. Nowhere else in America have I ever seen this. But Texans spare no effort to fuck you up if you ride a bike.