Tour Divide Bikes and Equipment
 

I am often curious to see what the Tour Divide riders are using for equipment. Yes, this is a race, not a tour where they are taking a pleasure ride to take in the view. And yes there is a big difference between racing and bike touring or bikepacking. But since a lot of the riders are not sponsored by bike companies and many of them are using a lot of the bikepacking gear that are used by some bikepackers on this forum, it can be interesting to see what the equipment trends look like for those that are pushing their gear to the limits.

The analysis links have a good discussion of the drivetrain details, navigation tools, tire sizes, luggage, and trends. The other links have a ton of photos and descriptions of individual bikes.

There is minimal discussion however on the camping gear used. But many of these racers are sleep deprived and have minimal camping gear along, so perhaps there is not enough camping gear on these bikes to be worth mentioning?

Some of the links have a LOT of graphics, so if you have a limited data plan or limited data speed, be forewarned before you open the links.

2025 Flat Bar Bikes:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-t...e-rigs-part-1/

2025 Drop Bar Bikes:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2025-t...e-rigs-part-2/

2025 Analysis:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/rigs-o...-divide-stats/


I also included the links for 2024 for comparison:
2024 Flat Bar Bikes:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2024-t...e-rigs-part-1/

2024 Drop Bar Bikes:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/2024-t...e-rigs-part-2/

2024 Analysis:
https://bikepacking.com/bikes/rigs-o...-divide-stats/


Yes, this is for a race, so aero bars are common, not used that much by the rest of us for touring. And, in a race they are often riding at night, so dynohubs are much more common than the typical bike touring or bikepacking setup. And there are a lot of suspension forks in use here too, no surprise given that the riders are going fast for thousands of miles. But there also are a lot of similarities with what the rest of use for our more leisurely riding.

A few of my thoughts after looking at the links above for this year are as follows:
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• I have often heard people compare touring and bikepacking as touring means racks with panniers and bikepacking means no racks, but the tour divide shows that even the ultra light racers are using more racks and panniers than they used to, although those racks and panniers are clearly different than the common touring racks and panniers the rest of us use.
• Non-derailleur multi-speed drivetrains (Pinion and Rohloff) are still a tiny minority. And the derailleur drivetrains are almost exclusively 1X systems. I was surprised to see how many are using a 10-52 cassette, as that range of gears approaches the total gear range of most 2X or 3X systems, or Rohloff hubs for gear range. I was unaware that you could buy a 9-52 cassette (e-thirteen), that is mentioned for one bike, that range of gearing at 578 percent is wider than on a Rohloff hub. That said, for touring I am sold on at least 14 gears for touring, not the 11 or 12 gear 1X systems that are common for the racers. I have a touring bike that is fitted with a Rohloff (14 speed) hub and I also tour on 3X8 derailleur touring bikes, thus the 1X derailleur systems in that race are quite different than what I use. REI sells a Sram 12 speed 10-52 cassette for $250, but I pay $27 for my Sram 8 speed cassettes at REI, less elsewhere.
• I am often surprised to see a small number of people using non-cycling GPS units in a race. While most are using cycling specific GPS units, there were several Garmin Etrex units in use. Since I use a non-cycling GPS, I am probably more likely to notice this than most of you. A few use a Garmin Etrex as their primary GPS with either a phone or a Garmin cycling GPS as backup.

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I have no connection with the race, Bikepacking.com. or any manufacturer, just posting this as I find it interesting. I thought that some of you may find it interesting too.


ADDENDUM - JUNE 25:
There is a winner. From the photos he has almost no luggage at all on that bike.
https://bikepacking.com/news/robin-g...5-tour-divide/

Using a word search for Robin, his bike is not summarized at any of the above links. From the photos, it is a drop bar bike with a suspension fork.

There are often racers in the Pioneer Mountains section south of Wise River, MT this time in the race. I have seen them twice.

I’m in Wisdom right now. It has warmed up to 35 degrees. I was going to head into the Pioneers starting today, but there is up to 7” of snow possible through Sunday. No, thank you, Hope anyone out there is OK.

The only ""trend"" I saw the last days are ENORMOUS tube like bags on back racks. ;)) ultra ugly.

Tour Divide, always great stories!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fbd1f0376f.jpg

I've installed clip-ons on my handlebars and will keep them on. I rarely lean on them, but when I do I appreciate tremendously the relief they provide to hands/elbows. They also make for an excellent mounting point for electronics.

Downside is that I can no longer use a traditional handlebar bag. But a 3-liter dry bag + 1.5L top tube bag make a decent substitute.


Less expensive and better battery life. Although the 1040 solar gets a decent autonomy. But pricey

Robin Gemperle, I M P R E S S I V E

incredible!