Month: June 2019

Bikes of Taunus Bikepacking Part 2

So we heard you like pictures of bikes. Here are more riders sharing their setups before the June 22 start.

#15 Jochen is also back for more this year, this time on a Surly ECR 29+ with 2×10 running on 2,2″ Maxxis Icon Tubeless tyres.
#43 Christian’s Cube Reaction not only looks fast, this bike broke the course record of the Bikepacking TransGermany race last summer. It comes with 2×10 Shimano XT, DT Swiss wheels, Infinity saddle and Profile Design TT bars.
#44 Knut likes to keep it simple: OCTANE One Gridd aluminium frame, Apex components, Sunrace 11-46 cassette, 40 teeth chainring, BB7 mechanical brakes, Gravel King SK 43mm tubeless, SQ Lab saddle.
#14 Local rider Franzi’s modified Salsa Fargo has seen the world, not least the mountains of Kyrgyztan on the inaugural Silk Road Mountain Race
#21 Phil’s Ghost Fire Road Rage is hard to miss and rolls on 29″ x 2.0 tyres
Local rider #54 Carsten’s Koga Beachracer ready to ride.
#37 Erik lives in Hofheim on the edge of the Taunus hills and is bringing his trusty Sequoia.
#2 Ken and his custom built Mason Bokeh already put in a mighty ride last year. 38 oval chainring, 11-46 XT Di2, DT Swiss wheels with SON dynamo and WTB Riddler 45c tyres
#7 Britta is back. Another bike that has already finished the first Taunus Bikepacking. Serious Grafix Elite on WTB Riddler 37mm tyres and 1×11 gears: 40/10-46
#20 Christian’s trusty Kona Jake the Snake, 46/34 – 11/40. He’ll be adding a bar bag and dynamo front wheel for lighting.
#22 Arne’s Bulls Copperhead 3RS, 2×11 gears: 38,28 /11-40, pictured at kilometer 181 of the Taunus Bikepacking track.
#32 Andreas counts on his Open U.P., 1×11 32/ 10-42, 650B WTB Venture 47
Swiss rider on a Swiss bike: #48 Christoph’s BMC Teamelite looks very capable of climbing!
#41 Dieter from will be riding on a Kona unit 2-9 with rigid carbon fork, modified with a 32T chainring, 11×50 cassette and Michelin Force XC Competition MTB 29×2.25 tires. He explains “For ergonomics I have a SQ-lab 611 Active saddle and mounted SQ-lab bull-bars on my 25° backsweeped On-One OG handlebar to give me multiple handpositions. My front bag is filled with a Cumulus down comforter, rainwear and other small stuff. In the pouch I have an EHBO-kit. All bags (exept the toptube bag) are made by Uraltour. The custommade framebag contains food, snacks,… and my bike repairkit. Below the downtube I have a mount to hold a 1,5 L water bottle. In the top tube bag I have snacks and a batterypack for my handlebar light. In my backpack I have another batterypack for my head light. I will also carry an empty 1L bladder in it, in case I need to supply more water. The seatbag contains a tarp, leightweight matress and clothes. I will use a Garmin GPSmap 62 for navigation and have my smartphone as a back-up. The weight of the entire kit and steel bike is 23kg (excl. water and food/snacks). Not the lightest but I’m a rookie and I like it the hard way :)”

Bikes of Taunus Bikepacking

It’s all about the bikes! Our riders are sharing some of their setups before the June 22 start.

#6 Fabian’s Kona Sutra Ltd. has eaten many miles, including last year’s Taunus Bikepacking course. He’s relying on 45mm tyres and a gear ratio of 36/10-42 to get him up the hills.
#34 Dominique’s Pilot Locum spotted on the Tuscany Trail, so it’s definitely used to climbing. He says “the bike is undergoing some changes which *should* be ready by thursday somewhere. Gone are the 27.5+ and the fork and the seat pen,  in comes the 29’er and some lighter rolling rubber and some Lauf and a fixed seat pen.”
#49 Bianca from the neighbouring Westerwald region rides a Fuji, is excited for the tour and “just a bit worried about the climbing and the baggage”.
#11 Daniel is back on a new bike after his finish last year. He optimized his set-up to prevent bad surprises. Bike facts:
– NS Bikes RAG+
– Hunt Adventure Sport Wheelset 650B + WTB Nano 2.1 (tube setup)
– 1×11 SRAM Rival / 42 chainring / SunRace 10/50 cassette
– Power2Max Powermeter
– TRP Spyre SLC brakes
– SQlab 612 Active Carbon saddle
– KCNC components

And some more from Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByfJl7moIdL/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByN0MzaCYtW/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByzUUDFo-qM/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByxAFUclf97/
https://www.instagram.com/p/By0yxwIodCP/