Family Bikepacking
Last year, my family spent a fair number of our weekends in BC’s Southern Gulf Islands; this nearby zone is our go-to spot for weekend bikepacking trips. If you want a primer on most of the islands in this area and some logistics, I’ve got you covered here.
What we didn’t cover last year was all the creature comforts for these excursions, how we carried it all, and what we slept in; this was a function of the majority of the camp gear being the same as what I took the year prior for a solo circumnavigation of the San Francisco Bay area; there’s a full breakdown of every item packed and where I carried it here. In preparation for this summer, we were due for a couple of major updates and some minor ones.
Pretty much all of the changes to this year’s setup can be attributed to one factor – the smallest member of the family won’t stop growing. He outgrew 17,472 pairs of MEC Gorp pants, and his bike, but more critically for bikepacking he outgrew the ToutTerrain Singletrailer which was the main mode of transportation for the bulk of these trips. He’s not strong, stable, or situationally-aware enough to ride on these trips unassisted, but without the trailer, what were we going to do?
In 2025, the ToutTerrain took us so many places and opened the door to pedal-powered possibilities. Between bikepacking trips and around town, it logged a couple of thousand kilometres behind my gravel bike before moving to a new home and a smaller child. I miss it.
We’re back in 2026! Much is the same, and there are a few significant differences. Mom’s bike (left) has an upgraded Tailfin rear rack and pannier; my cargo carrying is unchanged.
Mom and Dad’s bike setups are very similar to last year’s. She’s on a flat-bar Landyachtz AB-ST, and I’m on a custom drop-bar titanium Landyachtz.
Storage has been tweaked; Mom’s bike has been upgraded from saddlebag-style rear storage to a Tailfin Cargopack and pannier arrangement that’s a duplicate of mine, albeit usually equipped with smaller panniers. We have an assortment of 10-litre, 16-liter, and 22-liter panniers to choose from. We also each run one 5-litre fork-mount mini-pannier; I have a 14 liter Apidura full-frame bag, she has a smaller Rapha Explore half-frame bag. Now that we’ve ditched the high-mount ToutTerrain, I’m able to run a 16-litre Cargopack as well to help offset the lack of trailer storage.
The little dude’s bike has a Vancouver-made HMPL mini-frame wedge pack – Matt reversed the zipper from the standard bag – and it’s a near-perfect fit in the 16″ Prevelo Zulu Two. The ability (and responsibility) to carry his own stuff has been a big hit for carrying Hot Wheels, a stuffy, or snacks.
A being able to carry a few of his own odds and ends has helped him understand our space is limited. Mind you, that hasn’t stopped him from trying to bring everything under the sun.
I still do the heavy lifting with the same Tailfin setup I’ve had for a few years now. We eat out a fair bit on these types of trips, but it’s always nice to be able to warm up a Walking Tamale and make coffee while we stop at the playground.
After a lot of research, reading reviews, and talking to friends, the best solution to the biggest challenge seemed to be from a company called FollowMe Tandem.* It’s heavy and bulky, but the tandem coupling very solidly attaches a kid’s bike to your bike, connecting your rear axle and the trailing bike’s front axle. The initial setup was a bit of a pain; we had some compatibility issues, and there are some aspects of it that I’m still working to customize and improve, but it remains the only option I’m aware of that ticks all the boxes. One feature we really wanted was to be able to easily detach so A can ride where it’s safe and when he has the gumption. Tow ropes weren’t considered as we’re regularly on the road.
*This is a product that’s been on the market for a long time now, but it seems like they may have closed up shop sometime in the past 12 months or so. If you have any details, please chime in below.
If you imagine that an e-bike is a bit like having Nino Schurter levels of power in your bottom bracket with a few pounds of weight penalty and some whining noises, the FollowMe is a bit like adding a 65-pound motor that sporadically functions for brief, random periods while violently shaking the bike. Sometimes it yells at you, sometimes it sings.
Shortly after acquiring the FollowMe, we took the show on the road to Portugal for some bike-touring along the Algarve coast.
The FollowMe folds up (sort-of) out of the way when A’s bike isn’t attached. It remains heavy, and has scratched the **** out of my carbon Tailfin rack.
We have outgrown our sleep system. We’ve got one weekend in the new kit. I’ll give an update at the end of the year to see how everything has fared.
The biggest piece of the puzzle was staying warm, dry, and bug-free. We needed a new tent. The Nemo Dragonfly OSMO 2-Person bikepacking tent treated us very well, and I plan on keeping it around. It’s light enough for one person adventures and remains a great option for times Mom can’t join, and it’s just A and I. But we were running into the usual issue with our growing family member; I was starting to feel like a sardine. Width-wise the Nemo wasn’t going to cut it for three-person trips in 2026; the tent was too narrow, as was our singular double-wide air mattress. We needed more room.
After a lot of consideration and building charts of floor size, tent weight, fabric, cost and folded pole length, we landed on the MEC Spark UL3. It has two big differences in construction over the Nemo – it’s semi-freestanding as opposed to fully freestanding, and it’s sil-nylon instead of Nemo’s proprietary blend of sil-poly and sil-nylon. The upside to this is it means the larger tent comes in at a nearly identical weight on my scale. The downside is the Spark UL3 takes a bit more careful staking and setup, and the nylon fly is a bit saggier, especially in the rain. Everything is a tradeoff, and I’m already getting better with the nuances of setup and stakeout on the Spark to make it faster and more taught.
The poles also don’t fold up as short as the Nemo. This is typically one of the main differences between “bikepacking” and “backpacking” tents. If you’re trying to fit a bag between your brifters this a consideration; however having longer folded poles means less joints, and less weight. There are also no 3P “bikepacking” tents that I’m aware of on the market anymore; Nemo and Big Agnes both discontinued the 3P versions. The poles for the UL3 fit in the Cargopack and would also fit in either one of our framebags, so the length isn’t a concern.
The fly is visibly a little saggier. It’s also very lightweight. Crucially, the nylon isn’t less waterproof, but it will expand/stretch when wet and require re-tightening of the guy-lines at times. We’re also not out in torrential rainstorms very often with a 5-year-old, so I don’t expect this to be a significant problem.
The Spark UL3 is semi-freestanding; this means two of the corners require staking as the pole only runs to the center at one end. This may mean occasionally you have to get creative with staking, and if you’re on very hard or very soft ground regularly, a fully-freestanding (and probably heavier) tent may be a better option.
The interior feels palatial compared to the Nemo, the UL3’s square floorplan is 43cm wider at the head, and a full 56cm wider at the bottom. Peak height is identical. I miss the overhead storage loft from the Nemo, but there’s some loops I’ll attach a thin cord through to hang odds and ends.
The increased floor width meant there’s now room for an additional mattress and sleeping bag to augment the doublewide Big Agnes Rapide SL pad and Thermarest Vela 0C quilt. I’m always trying to make items as multi-use as possible so I’ve gone with an ultralight setup, a MEC VectAir SL Xtreme 6 Mummy and a quilt-style MEC Talon 0C Ultralight Hybrid Sleeping Bag. The combo comes in at a paltry 1100g and should be excellent for solo adventures. If you’re a deep nerd and desperately need to shave a few more grams, MEC’s 2-Kilo project will help you trim 155 grams off this sleeping bag/pad. I really like the look of the 565-gram Alpha UL 1-Person Tent that goes along with the 2-Kilo Project, but it wasn’t going to fit the three of us.
Gone are the days of feeling lightheaded and filling your pads with moist, soon-to-be-mouldy breath; like most modern camping air mattresses, the VectAir SL’s storage pouch is used as an inflator.
Our complete sleep system, including pillows, sleeping bags, sleeping bag liners, liners, tent, pads, and groundsheet.
It all fits in four bags – both sleeping bags fit in one 16l Tailfin pannier. The tent, groundsheet go in the 18l Cargopack with room to spare. Finally, the Big Agnes doublewide pad goes in one 5l fork-mount bag, and all the pillows, sleeping bag liners, and VectAir pad fit in a matching 5l bag.
So should you immediately rush out and buy all these things prior to your first bikepacking trip? You certainly don’t need to. Put together what feels like a viable kit, toss it all in some old panniers and a backpack, and get out there. There are lots of ways to carry things on a bike, and if the weather is nice, you don’t even need a tent.
When you’re out there, you’ll notice how different camping and traveling on a bike is over cars; you can experience the islands in a whole new way, whether that’s noticing the spotted fawn hiding in a bush or the faint path that leads to the locals’ secret swimming hole.
We’ve got several weekend excursions already booked, and one big one for late summer in the early planning stages. We’ll put all this kit through its paces as best we’re able and check in later in the fall; as ever, the setup and accoutrements are going to evolve and change with each trip, and I’d bet by the end of summer all three of us will have gears as A is likely to make the jump to 20″ wheels. I’m curious to see if the semi-freestanding, silnylon tent is an option we end up liking enough to justify the weight savings, so far, signs are good. I need to figure out a way to better prepare food than just the JetBoil; freeze-dried food isn’t really on the menu, but space for even the lightest pot & pan setup is extremely limited.
As Uncle Dave said in his Guide to Bikepacking, “Bikepacking is nothing if it isn’t a series of decisions. Where to go, how to do it, what to bring and how to pack it. You can spend an awful lot of time on the ‘what to bring’ portion of this conundrum. Everything becomes a compromise of cost, weight and comfort.” I can’t tell you the best solution for you, but I’m doing my best to futz around through my specific needs and share those. Share yours below, and if you’re out there in the Gulf Islands, we’ll be out there. Say hi!
We need some cook/kitchen upgrades this year for some future trips. In the meantime, mixing some fresh broccoli, corn, and local smoked salmon into instant ramen will do just fine.
We can argue about the details and preferred flavors all day long, but hopefully we can all agree it’s hard to beat the combination of bikes, camping, and your preferred beverage.
Elder millennial, size medium.
Reformed downhiller, now rides all the bikes.