Kelton Doraty Rider Feature
Why Bikepacking?
Before I knew anything about bikepacking or bike touring, I was staying at a hostel in Seattle with friends to see a concert. Another traveler showed up with an old road bike and some camping gear he bought off Craigslist on a whim and said “Mates, I’ve decided to bike to Mexico!”. It never occurred to me that people could travel long distances by bike. I was intrigued and shortly after I started planning my first long trip from where I live in Victoria, BC to San Francisco. My first rig was a Trek 520 road touring bike that I outfitted with panniers. It is super bulky, heavy and not very agile, but I’ve ridden that bike in Europe, across Japan, in the Yukon, Alaska and Hawai’i. That bike has now been relegated to being my “Dad Bike” and I tow our little girl with it in her trailer.
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Passion Outside Of Cycling
I’m really passionate about music. I’ve been playing drums in punk and metal bands on and off for 20 years.
Bike Check
Bike Check
After lots of research, I went with the Bombtrack Beyond 1 because I wanted a fully rigid steel bike that could take anything I could throw at it and be easily serviced if I’m in the middle of nowhere. The Beyond 1 has a compact double groupset that is great for climbing, clearance for up to 29” 2.25” tires to tackle the roughest of FSRs here on Vancouver Island, and a tonne of mounts for gear storage.
Over the last year I’ve made a lot of changes to the bike. A big one is the Redshift Sport Kitchen Sink handlebars paired with their Shockstop suspension stem. These bars are super wide, have a fair amount of flair in the drops for added control, and an endurance loop for getting into a more aero position, while the suspension stem cuts out all vibrations from the road. I’ve also added a PNW dropper post to get a bit lower when descending steep and technical terrain.
Saddle + Post + Storage
Saddle: Specialized Phenom Expert
Post: PNW Pine Dropper (110mm)
Seat Post Bag: Arkel Seatpacker 15L
Rear Hub
Rear Hub: DT Swiss 350, 32h, 142x12mm, 18t, Shimano HG
Bars + Stem + Storage
Bars: Redshift Sports Kitchen Sink Handle Bars (Endurance Loop, 54 cm)
Stem: Redshift Sports suspension 80mm
Handle Bar Rack: Aeroe Spider Handle Bar Cradle
Baggage: Sealine Baja 10L dry bag
Featured Components
Frame Bag
Rogue Panda Double Decker Custom
This is my favourite piece of gear. I love how the colours match the green of my bike and I just think it looks really clean and neat. It’s such a great use of frame space and allows me to store heavy and awkward items lower on the bike for stability.
Front Hub
SP PD8X Dynamo Hub, 32h, 100x15mm, 6V3W
My Dynamo hub in the front allows me to be more self-sufficient and charge my electronics while I ride and at the flick of a switch I can turn off the charger and power my Dynamo light for biking at night.
Places And Plans
Favorite Local Ride
Salt Spring Island is my favourite place to go with friends for a quick weekend bikepacking trip. Ruckle Provincial Park is an amazing, oceanfront campsite on the island and is only about a 40km ride from my front door, primarily on a multi-use trail and with a short, beautiful ferry ride. Salt Spring has a few disc golf courses, some wineries and cideries and steep gravel roads that are fun to explore.
Next Long Adventure
In late July 2022 a friend and I are flying into Dawson City, Yukon to ride the Dempster Highway, which is 1,000km gravel road to Tuktoyaktuk, North West Territories situated on the Arctic Ocean. There are only three opportunities for resupplies along the way, the first being a food drop over 400km into the trip. We are planning on adding in a few days of hiking at Tombstone Territorial Park which means we will have to carry about 9 days worth of food when we depart Dawson City.