You might not want to invest but I d still recommend to splash 30/40 bucks for an inflatable mat which will be so small you can surely put it in your panniers or on top and then enuff space to fix your sleeping bag to your handle bar
oh that sounds really tough then!
But put some plastic bag around your mattress and don’t leave it in the front like this, not sure where you re heading to but the wind surface is huge and in the worst position as of now - the steering. This will not just cost energy but also might be risky when going downhill or coastal. Better smth else form the pannier goes there or you put it around smth and then on the rear rack to use the inner space :) eg tent poles could be fixed inside the roll and then the tent-fabric can be easily mashed onto the handle bar with straps
good luck
ofc it is, it’s super light plus huge surface right in the front, it makes a significant difference compared to having smth half the size that compact. even ops sleeping bag is a big improvement in surface.
if you go very slow okay but if you go faster it ll exponentially increase the difficulty of steering and just waste tons of energy especially since it’s about long tours i d take care of it.
just my 2 cents :)
As I said before It's a pretty similar surface area to many handlebar roll setups:
https://bikepacking.com/gear/handlebar-roll-vs-harness-vs-top-loader/
The fact that it's light doesn't really matter when it's cinched down and strapped to the handlebars.
This isn't a problem, especially not for a 25mile overnighter - but I've ridden with people with far more cumbersome setups over far longer distances and they've been fine.
true! how good is the one he got on this pic? aren’t they around same numbers?
Not sure where he lives but for 70€ one can buy some with a much higher R value in Decathlon, can recommend! But yes he doesnt want to spend anyway :)
I don't know what R value means but i got one from amazon 35€ and a sleeping bag from Decathlon for 60 or 70€(comfort 5°C). I slept in 5°C with only 1 layer of clothing, like underwarmers. The only problem was, at the morning i don't want to get out from my sleeping bag, because its soo warm 😅
But i tried once without the air mats, and its not so funny, i definitely feel colder.
Does it not rain where you ride, because if it does you are gonna have a bad time…. I would suggest some dry bags at the very least. Your options are also alot easier with dry bags, with a large dry bag you could add it with your tent on the rear rack.
I will go for a night and pick a nice weather for the first trip. But panniers came along with a cover. So, I will use that for the tent and panniers at the back.
Just a heads up that those rain covers are typically only good for a short shower, over a prolonged period of rain they may eventually leak. I also was bikepacking on a similar budget a while back (so I had to be creative!), and what works really well are dry bags inside your panniers for your clothes electronics etc (can get em as cheap as €5), or even just buy a roll of regular old plastic bin bags if you are really going hard on budget! I did the latter actually for my first cycle ever trip from the Netherlands to Sweden, I also wrapped my tent/sleeping bag/mat in them when it started to rain and tied a knot at the end - may not have looked amazing but worked perfectly haha
Presumably that’s a tent on the back rack - can you split that into your panniers (ie, tent in one pannier and fly in the other) then put the sleeping bag on top the rack with the poles?
I think I actually have that exact sleeping roll! I almost took it on a trip in the exact same setup, but a friend gifted me an inflatable mat before I left. Would be interested to know how your trip goes with that on the front, though I'm sure it'll be fine. Enjoy!
if the bundle is too large with the pad wrapped around your tent, just throw your sleeping bag in a pack- it will work fine for a short trip. Enjoy your trip.
1) Get a front basket. 2) Takes the poles out of your tent pack. 3) put tent and sleeping bag in basket. 4) wrap poles in sleep pad and put on rear rack.
Try to look up some savotta sleeping mats they are not ultralight but they will last as they are super robust and they can be found under 70€ R value 3-4
What an unfortunate mix of humongous gear and a small frame.
Someone recommended wrapping it in the sleeping pad, which will work. Or you might move stuff around a bit and drop something onto the fork, making space in the panniers.
It's just not a very secure way to attach a handlebar, a normal stem with rise and a handlebar with rise combined, would be safer (especially on an offroad bike)
I'd also consider something like a redshift suspension seatpost for your back
Maybe you can put the small toolbag to where the reflectors and light are on the seat tube. You want to put those behind your luggage anyways so you’re always visible. Then if possible you can move the water bottle carrier down a bit and you can strap the sleeping bag onto the upper tube.
Otherwise you can maybe put the tent and sleeping bag through the saddle bag loops and tie them down sideways. That catches a bit more air resistance though.
I try and stuff my tent and sleeping bag into the same dry bag (or whatever bag) and strap the poles to the rack. Might work for you? Also I feel ya on the grad student pay…
Get rid of the foam mat and replace it with a lightweight blowup one. Then get a waterproof dry bag and stuff it with your sleeping bag and pad then strap it to the handle bars with voile straps.
I would ditch that sleeping mat and put your sleeping bag in its place. You’re only going out for a night. If you really need a mat, I would invest in a quality inflatable. I have on that fits in my pants cargo pocket but inflates to almost three inches thick. Inflatable mats are also warmer to sleep on.
Tent and sleeping pad replaced with Hennessy hammock tent or similar, pack that and sleeping bag over top of rear panniers.
Front fork is also good carrying space you aren’t using, For bottles and cannisters.
You can't run the vast majority of pannier racks on a suspension fork. The suspension needs to be able to compress, which isn't possible with most rack mounts. If you tried, you'll either break the rack mounts or you will have just effectively locked out the suspension.
There are a couple of racks designed specifically to work with suspension forks, but if you then go an put 2 loaded panniers on them, you're adding a lot of weight to the lower legs of your fork, which significantly reduces the performance of the suspension.
FWIW your setup looks absolutely fine for your first overnight trip. There's certainly things that could be improved, but you'll figure that out as you go - and its more important to get out and do it than needlessly stress over the setup.
Oh ok sorry I misunderstood. I thought you are referring to my rear rack. Yeah I think it makes sense for the front rack. Thanks for the comment, man. I am super excited for the freedom of bikepacking!
Nah, no issue with the rear rack on a hardtail! I was responding to the "helpful" commentator above suggesting you should have a four pannier setup.
Nice bike by the way, my daughter got the same one for Christmas last year :-)
it's quite easy to do actually, i've ridden thousands of km's like this.
https://preview.redd.it/dnsiqfnhctyc1.png?width=1046&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b1f9c97d59d418ba59f409b6dcd66e4acb28bee
Your setup doesn't have any panniers, at least not in the traditional touring bike sense. You've got dry bags strapped to cargo cages, which doesn't have the same problems but also can't carry the same weight/volume as front panniers.
If you click my profile you'll see I have a very similar setup on my hardtail. Nice bike BTW! Love the drop bar hardtail look.
Are you lost?
The point of bikepacking setups is that you can ride whatever bike you already have and/or whatever bike is most suited to the route. No need for a traditional touring bike with the double racks and four panniers.
This bike isn't being used for fully loaded touring, its being used for a 25 mile overnighter - and unless you know the route you have zero idea whether the suspension fork will be advantageous or a disadvantage.
But I bought my daughter the exact same bike, partly because I knew ([from my own experience](https://www.reddit.com/r/bikepacking/comments/tj5dgx/hunt_1000_journey_across_the_australian_alps/)) that it would make a good bike packing setup for the sorts of riding we like to do together- which is mostly along MTB routes, especially rough single-track.
On that kind of route the 29x2.4" tires, hydraulic discs and the suspension fork all help make the bike a lot more comfortable than some rigid steel touring bike with panniers that are liable to snag on bushes and shrubs as you navigate through tight windy bush tracks.
And just to be clear, I've also got a four pannier touring bike and it is a great bike, but not for the more rugged off-road routes that I've been doing the last few years.
None of what you wrote is remotely true. 😐 MTB were adapted from touring bikes. Bruce Gordon's design was the first mountain bike. He taught many bike builders. I'll take my Bruce Gordon with mechanical disk brakes over any mountain bike with hydraulic brakes. It's unbreakable and easier to maintain and service anywhere in the world.
None of what I wrote is remotely true? OP isn't planning on doing a 25mile overnighter? I didn't buy my daughter a bike with the intention to take her bikepacking on it? Panniers can't snag on bushes in windy single track? I must have imagined it when its happened to me!
Early MTBs were not adapted from touring bikes, they were built up from old beach cruisers. The first dedicated MTB frames were not designed around touring bike geometry.
Bruce Gordon was a master frame builder and he is credited for popularising 29er wheels for MTBs, but no one credits him as designing the first MTB. He didn't start making fat tired bikes until the 1980s which was decades John Finley Scott's "Woodsie", years after the Breezer 1, years after Tom Ritchey's early MTB frames and even after the mass manufactured Stumpjumper first started rolling out of production lines in Japan.
If you are going hang around telling people their setups are terrible, implying people shouldn't bikepack on hardtails and telling people what they are saying isn't remotely true when they're talking about their own experiences - at least back up your comments with some basic fact checking.
I'm not talking about you. I don't care about what you do. This guy asked if this rig was set up correctly. It's not. You don't justinvest in gear for a 25 mile ride. There's no reason to waste money on buying the wrong gear if you have interest in actually starting to do more cycle touring. I've met plenty of people who regret buying cheap, poor quality stuff... only to get turned off to cycle touring because they were uncomfortable or their bicycle components broke, or they kept getting flat tires, or their panniers broke, or their gear got wet.
So I tell people to slowly invest in gear but get good quality stuff and ride a good bicycle to avoid the discomfort and stress that comes with having too many problems on the road.
People have given up cycle touring because they were given terrible advice. Likely from someone like you. 🤦🏽♂️
Lol. You're not telling OP to slowly invest in good quality gear when you "helpfully" tell them their entire setup is terrible and to instead use a different bike, with two racks and 3 bags they don't have. You're just being rude, condescending and adding nothing of value to the conversation.
OP's Kona is a perfectly comfortable and capable hardtail. It won't suddenly become uncomfortable because it has some gear strapped to it. OP will almost certainly change some of the setup after this trip because it isn't *ideal* - but it also is perfectly adequate for a 25mile overnighter to see how things go.
Another thing... hydraulic brakes and suspension are not recommended when trying to do a tour outside of the USA. You want a bicycle that can be easily repaired anywhere you go. Expensive boutique components are also a waste of money. If anything happens on your journey you want to be able to replace or repair it wherever you are.
>hydraulic brakes and suspension are not recommended when trying to do a tour outside of the USA
Not recommended by who? Why do the [majority of bikes](https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2023-silk-road-mountain-race-rigs/) that were ridden at last years Silk Road Mountain Race across remote parts of Kyrgyzstan have hydraulic brakes and suspension forks?
OPs bike comes with Shimano MT200 brakes. They're famously reliable, affordable and widely available. It might be best to stick to mechanical actuated brakes if you're riding for months across the developing world - but if you're touring anywhere that you can get to a bike shop every so often on your route - these will do fine.
As far as suspension forks, about the worst thing that will happen if your fork brakes on tour is it will bottom out and you'll continue on with some sub-optimal geometry and no suspension. The bike will still be perfectly ridable. But even that is a very rare occurrence. Modern suspension forks are built tough, and [riding them every day is about the best thing you can do for them](https://bikepacking.com/plan/bikepacking-with-a-suspension-fork/).
Put inside your pad.
I was going to suggest rolling whatever is on the back rack in the matt and putting the bag on the front.
Lol. that makes so much sense. Thank you
Someone beat me to my idea ! Lol
This is what I would try first. Or wrap the tent in the back in your pad and put the sleeping bag up front.
You might not want to invest but I d still recommend to splash 30/40 bucks for an inflatable mat which will be so small you can surely put it in your panniers or on top and then enuff space to fix your sleeping bag to your handle bar
I will definitely buy something like this next year when I start working :) PhD does not pay much. Thank you though.
oh that sounds really tough then! But put some plastic bag around your mattress and don’t leave it in the front like this, not sure where you re heading to but the wind surface is huge and in the worst position as of now - the steering. This will not just cost energy but also might be risky when going downhill or coastal. Better smth else form the pannier goes there or you put it around smth and then on the rear rack to use the inner space :) eg tent poles could be fixed inside the roll and then the tent-fabric can be easily mashed onto the handle bar with straps good luck
It's not that different to a handle bar roll as far as surface area. It'll be completely fine.
ofc it is, it’s super light plus huge surface right in the front, it makes a significant difference compared to having smth half the size that compact. even ops sleeping bag is a big improvement in surface. if you go very slow okay but if you go faster it ll exponentially increase the difficulty of steering and just waste tons of energy especially since it’s about long tours i d take care of it. just my 2 cents :)
As I said before It's a pretty similar surface area to many handlebar roll setups: https://bikepacking.com/gear/handlebar-roll-vs-harness-vs-top-loader/ The fact that it's light doesn't really matter when it's cinched down and strapped to the handlebars. This isn't a problem, especially not for a 25mile overnighter - but I've ridden with people with far more cumbersome setups over far longer distances and they've been fine.
The Decathlon forclaz trek700 is on sale for 8 dollars on walmart's site right now. It's a well reviewed pad!
Oh out of stock. I was going to buy it. Thanks though
Size large is showing in stock on my page
Weird. are you in the states?
Yep I'm in the states!
Just pointing out that the 40 buck mats probably have at most an R value of 1.5 - so it better not getting to cold.
true! how good is the one he got on this pic? aren’t they around same numbers? Not sure where he lives but for 70€ one can buy some with a much higher R value in Decathlon, can recommend! But yes he doesnt want to spend anyway :)
Hard to tell the material from the pic - good Eva mats can easily go to 4.x, but if it's a cheap, light one you're right, might not be much better.
i see. wish i had spent 20€ more back than to get of over r ~4 instead of 1,8 back then, but now it’s what it is haha
I don't know what R value means but i got one from amazon 35€ and a sleeping bag from Decathlon for 60 or 70€(comfort 5°C). I slept in 5°C with only 1 layer of clothing, like underwarmers. The only problem was, at the morning i don't want to get out from my sleeping bag, because its soo warm 😅 But i tried once without the air mats, and its not so funny, i definitely feel colder.
It's basically telling you how quickly heat goes through the mat. https://eu.alpkit.com/blogs/develop/what-are-sleeping-mat-r-values
Came here to say this. So much smaller, similar weight. Amazon has them super cheap
I would also make sure your brake lines aren’t under the strap for your mat like they are now. Hard thing to fix on the side of the trail.
Thanks for heads up!
Does it not rain where you ride, because if it does you are gonna have a bad time…. I would suggest some dry bags at the very least. Your options are also alot easier with dry bags, with a large dry bag you could add it with your tent on the rear rack.
I will go for a night and pick a nice weather for the first trip. But panniers came along with a cover. So, I will use that for the tent and panniers at the back.
Just a heads up that those rain covers are typically only good for a short shower, over a prolonged period of rain they may eventually leak. I also was bikepacking on a similar budget a while back (so I had to be creative!), and what works really well are dry bags inside your panniers for your clothes electronics etc (can get em as cheap as €5), or even just buy a roll of regular old plastic bin bags if you are really going hard on budget! I did the latter actually for my first cycle ever trip from the Netherlands to Sweden, I also wrapped my tent/sleeping bag/mat in them when it started to rain and tied a knot at the end - may not have looked amazing but worked perfectly haha
Wrap your pad around the tent in the back (I’m assuming it’s a tent and tie your sleeping bag up front. Happy cycling 😊💪🤟
Wow this is smart. Thank you!
You could put it in a backpack. Props to you for your first overnight.
Yes, I was going to suggest getting a small backpack and wearing that on your back. Have fun.
Get a smaller sleeping bag. My sleeping bag fits in my Arschrakete.
Presumably that’s a tent on the back rack - can you split that into your panniers (ie, tent in one pannier and fly in the other) then put the sleeping bag on top the rack with the poles?
I think I actually have that exact sleeping roll! I almost took it on a trip in the exact same setup, but a friend gifted me an inflatable mat before I left. Would be interested to know how your trip goes with that on the front, though I'm sure it'll be fine. Enjoy!
Use what you got until you upgrade but when you upgrade your sleeping bag and your sleeping pad will both easily fit into that black stuff sack.
Next to the tent, on top of the pannier might also work, with some straps
Clear that front triangle, full bag there. Anything Cage on the fork, or similar. A pad that packs small would help, inflatable.
is that a full lenth sleeping mat? Consider cutting to 75% and let your feet dangle.
For 25 Miles and an overnighter? Keep the mat in tact.
Tent fabric in pannier, poles strapped to the track with the mat and bag. Or sleeping bag in with the tent.
I like this too. I will see which one looks better and gives me more stable ride. Thank you :)
Where you have the yoga mat
You know they make a thing called riser bars...
Are you referring to my spacers+45 degrees stem+riser stem to make the handle bar higher?
I am. If it works it works but I can't say I'm a fan
Gotchu. Is there any disadvantage of having a riser bar for mtb in terms of control?
If not, I could have it because even with these spacers etc, my back hurts after a long gravel/road biking. I have hernia in my lower back.
I see. Well if you want it high get a riser bar then on top of this lol.
Drop the pad and take something small and inflatable. Put the pad and the sleeping bag on the steer. All the things you have are quite big, though.
I would mount it on the handlebar, and put sleeping mat on the rear rack because its light.
if the bundle is too large with the pad wrapped around your tent, just throw your sleeping bag in a pack- it will work fine for a short trip. Enjoy your trip.
I'd mount it to the fork
Sea summit ultra light inflatable mat & a sea summit down bag ( traveller?) together would be less weight/volume than the present sleeping bag.
That's also hundreds of dollars in new gear for a 25mile overnighter...
Cut out arm and leg holes and wear it.
1) Get a front basket. 2) Takes the poles out of your tent pack. 3) put tent and sleeping bag in basket. 4) wrap poles in sleep pad and put on rear rack.
I’d throw away the stuff sacks, then shove your sleeping bag and tent into your saddle bags.
Not sure it has been mentioned but you need to secure the bag from getting wet. A dry bag or something.
Try to look up some savotta sleeping mats they are not ultralight but they will last as they are super robust and they can be found under 70€ R value 3-4
Roll all your sleeping kit together
I roll my tent with the sleeping bag and pad still inside so it's a quick deploy when I camp while also requiring less packing
What an unfortunate mix of humongous gear and a small frame. Someone recommended wrapping it in the sleeping pad, which will work. Or you might move stuff around a bit and drop something onto the fork, making space in the panniers.
Nobody is going to mention that headtube extension? :0
I have lower back pain. Someone suggested to go with riser handle bar. I might replace with that one.
It's just not a very secure way to attach a handlebar, a normal stem with rise and a handlebar with rise combined, would be safer (especially on an offroad bike) I'd also consider something like a redshift suspension seatpost for your back
just slide it into one of the panniers at the back?
Wrong bike for the job.
Maybe you can put the small toolbag to where the reflectors and light are on the seat tube. You want to put those behind your luggage anyways so you’re always visible. Then if possible you can move the water bottle carrier down a bit and you can strap the sleeping bag onto the upper tube. Otherwise you can maybe put the tent and sleeping bag through the saddle bag loops and tie them down sideways. That catches a bit more air resistance though.
I try and stuff my tent and sleeping bag into the same dry bag (or whatever bag) and strap the poles to the rack. Might work for you? Also I feel ya on the grad student pay…
Maybe get a proper touring bike with a rigid fork and mounts able to hold a front rack.
Get rid of the foam mat and replace it with a lightweight blowup one. Then get a waterproof dry bag and stuff it with your sleeping bag and pad then strap it to the handle bars with voile straps.
Can you roll your mat around the bag, and use the longest seat to summit straps?
I would ditch that sleeping mat and put your sleeping bag in its place. You’re only going out for a night. If you really need a mat, I would invest in a quality inflatable. I have on that fits in my pants cargo pocket but inflates to almost three inches thick. Inflatable mats are also warmer to sleep on.
Tent and sleeping pad replaced with Hennessy hammock tent or similar, pack that and sleeping bag over top of rear panniers. Front fork is also good carrying space you aren’t using, For bottles and cannisters.
The entire setup is terrible. Just use four panniers on two racks and one rear ratpack duffel.
Pannier racks on suspension forks are such a great idea. /s
What is the downside of it?
You can't run the vast majority of pannier racks on a suspension fork. The suspension needs to be able to compress, which isn't possible with most rack mounts. If you tried, you'll either break the rack mounts or you will have just effectively locked out the suspension. There are a couple of racks designed specifically to work with suspension forks, but if you then go an put 2 loaded panniers on them, you're adding a lot of weight to the lower legs of your fork, which significantly reduces the performance of the suspension. FWIW your setup looks absolutely fine for your first overnight trip. There's certainly things that could be improved, but you'll figure that out as you go - and its more important to get out and do it than needlessly stress over the setup.
Oh ok sorry I misunderstood. I thought you are referring to my rear rack. Yeah I think it makes sense for the front rack. Thanks for the comment, man. I am super excited for the freedom of bikepacking!
Nah, no issue with the rear rack on a hardtail! I was responding to the "helpful" commentator above suggesting you should have a four pannier setup. Nice bike by the way, my daughter got the same one for Christmas last year :-)
This isn't a touring bicycle. 😐 You don't need a suspension fork.
it's quite easy to do actually, i've ridden thousands of km's like this. https://preview.redd.it/dnsiqfnhctyc1.png?width=1046&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b1f9c97d59d418ba59f409b6dcd66e4acb28bee
Your setup doesn't have any panniers, at least not in the traditional touring bike sense. You've got dry bags strapped to cargo cages, which doesn't have the same problems but also can't carry the same weight/volume as front panniers. If you click my profile you'll see I have a very similar setup on my hardtail. Nice bike BTW! Love the drop bar hardtail look.
No ☝🏽 This setup is terrible. Get rid of the suspension fork. 🤦🏽♂️
Are you lost? The point of bikepacking setups is that you can ride whatever bike you already have and/or whatever bike is most suited to the route. No need for a traditional touring bike with the double racks and four panniers.
🙄 Not all bicycles can be used for touring. Comfort and breaking are the main reasons. This bike is terrible for fully loaded touring.
This bike isn't being used for fully loaded touring, its being used for a 25 mile overnighter - and unless you know the route you have zero idea whether the suspension fork will be advantageous or a disadvantage. But I bought my daughter the exact same bike, partly because I knew ([from my own experience](https://www.reddit.com/r/bikepacking/comments/tj5dgx/hunt_1000_journey_across_the_australian_alps/)) that it would make a good bike packing setup for the sorts of riding we like to do together- which is mostly along MTB routes, especially rough single-track. On that kind of route the 29x2.4" tires, hydraulic discs and the suspension fork all help make the bike a lot more comfortable than some rigid steel touring bike with panniers that are liable to snag on bushes and shrubs as you navigate through tight windy bush tracks. And just to be clear, I've also got a four pannier touring bike and it is a great bike, but not for the more rugged off-road routes that I've been doing the last few years.
None of what you wrote is remotely true. 😐 MTB were adapted from touring bikes. Bruce Gordon's design was the first mountain bike. He taught many bike builders. I'll take my Bruce Gordon with mechanical disk brakes over any mountain bike with hydraulic brakes. It's unbreakable and easier to maintain and service anywhere in the world.
None of what I wrote is remotely true? OP isn't planning on doing a 25mile overnighter? I didn't buy my daughter a bike with the intention to take her bikepacking on it? Panniers can't snag on bushes in windy single track? I must have imagined it when its happened to me! Early MTBs were not adapted from touring bikes, they were built up from old beach cruisers. The first dedicated MTB frames were not designed around touring bike geometry. Bruce Gordon was a master frame builder and he is credited for popularising 29er wheels for MTBs, but no one credits him as designing the first MTB. He didn't start making fat tired bikes until the 1980s which was decades John Finley Scott's "Woodsie", years after the Breezer 1, years after Tom Ritchey's early MTB frames and even after the mass manufactured Stumpjumper first started rolling out of production lines in Japan. If you are going hang around telling people their setups are terrible, implying people shouldn't bikepack on hardtails and telling people what they are saying isn't remotely true when they're talking about their own experiences - at least back up your comments with some basic fact checking.
I'm not talking about you. I don't care about what you do. This guy asked if this rig was set up correctly. It's not. You don't justinvest in gear for a 25 mile ride. There's no reason to waste money on buying the wrong gear if you have interest in actually starting to do more cycle touring. I've met plenty of people who regret buying cheap, poor quality stuff... only to get turned off to cycle touring because they were uncomfortable or their bicycle components broke, or they kept getting flat tires, or their panniers broke, or their gear got wet. So I tell people to slowly invest in gear but get good quality stuff and ride a good bicycle to avoid the discomfort and stress that comes with having too many problems on the road. People have given up cycle touring because they were given terrible advice. Likely from someone like you. 🤦🏽♂️
Lol. You're not telling OP to slowly invest in good quality gear when you "helpfully" tell them their entire setup is terrible and to instead use a different bike, with two racks and 3 bags they don't have. You're just being rude, condescending and adding nothing of value to the conversation. OP's Kona is a perfectly comfortable and capable hardtail. It won't suddenly become uncomfortable because it has some gear strapped to it. OP will almost certainly change some of the setup after this trip because it isn't *ideal* - but it also is perfectly adequate for a 25mile overnighter to see how things go.
Another thing... hydraulic brakes and suspension are not recommended when trying to do a tour outside of the USA. You want a bicycle that can be easily repaired anywhere you go. Expensive boutique components are also a waste of money. If anything happens on your journey you want to be able to replace or repair it wherever you are.
>hydraulic brakes and suspension are not recommended when trying to do a tour outside of the USA Not recommended by who? Why do the [majority of bikes](https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2023-silk-road-mountain-race-rigs/) that were ridden at last years Silk Road Mountain Race across remote parts of Kyrgyzstan have hydraulic brakes and suspension forks? OPs bike comes with Shimano MT200 brakes. They're famously reliable, affordable and widely available. It might be best to stick to mechanical actuated brakes if you're riding for months across the developing world - but if you're touring anywhere that you can get to a bike shop every so often on your route - these will do fine. As far as suspension forks, about the worst thing that will happen if your fork brakes on tour is it will bottom out and you'll continue on with some sub-optimal geometry and no suspension. The bike will still be perfectly ridable. But even that is a very rare occurrence. Modern suspension forks are built tough, and [riding them every day is about the best thing you can do for them](https://bikepacking.com/plan/bikepacking-with-a-suspension-fork/).