Surly Karate Monkey included in Bikepacking.com bike of the year.

As one of the first 29ers on the market, the Karate Monkey has built quite the following over the years

Following part one of this year’s Bikepacking Awards – our collection of Best Bikepacking Videos, Photography and Art of 2017 – part two splits a hotly contested collection of gear into nine categories. Read on to find out what we consider to be the best products relevant to bikepacking… from great outdoor apparel and interesting innovations, to the bikes that have impressed us the most (and a few we’d love to try). In the interests of looking forwards, we’ve also included our top 5 bikes that we either haven’t had a chance to ride thoroughly this year, or have been announced but aren’t yet available.

Although some of the gear that’s made the cut has yet to earn an in-depth review on the site, it’s all equipment we’ve had first-hand experience using and feel confident in recommending. And note that although the emphasis is on 2017 products, these awards are drawn from all the gear we’ve tried and tested this year, irrespective of when a particular item came out. After all, the ‘latest and greatest’ isn’t always the best, irrespective of what the marketing hype may tell us. In our minds, bikepacking is as much about gear that stands the test of time as out-of-the-box performance, so we’ve tried to strike a useful balance.

 

Click here for the awards feature and here for the Karate Monkey feature.