By Krista Halling DVM DACVS
My dog and I were looking for a folding bike small enough for airplane travel but burly enough to tackle off-road and mixed terrain rides. Along came our All-Packa. We bought it a year ago, and here’s our overview of its use and performance for our dogpacking adventures: the Dog-Packa!
Bike specs and overview
Made in Oregon, USA, Bike Fridays are known for their time-tested performance as folding touring bikes. Their flagship model, the New World Tourist, is a popular touring bike for long overseas trips. The company also has several other models for different types of riding.
The All-Packa, their bikepacking off-road model with 20-inch wheels, interested River and me because of its capability of tackling mud, dirt, and gravel – the rims accommodate tires from 2.0-2.8 inches wide – yet the bike still fits in a standard suitcase for air travel. It’s tricky to find a bike that does a great job of balancing off-road performance and ease of packability. The All-Packa checked off this sweet-spot.
In keeping with its bikepacking design, the All-Packa comes with lots of braze-ones for mounting water bottle cages and bags: 3 on each front fork, 4 on the top-tube, 3 on the down-tube, 2 on the seat tube.
We spec’d our bike with a SRAM 1 x 11 drivetrain, 2.4” tires, a folding rear rack, and their ‘packalope’ handlebars (which split in two for travel).
The rear rack has a generous weight limit of 25 kg. Although if your dog is a lot larger and heavier than River, you might find that a trailer works better.
Our bikepacking bags
The frame’s narrow triangle is a bit unconventional, but there’s still loads of room for bags and water bottles. We’ve mixed and matched our bags based on what bags I already owned and a bit of creativity.
Here’s our set-up:
- Handlebar: two ‘feed’ bags, and a waterproof handlebar bag
- Top tube: a wide top-tube bag at the front and a wedge tup-tube bag near the seat-tube
- Triangle: a ‘half” frame bag (it’s not custom, it just happens to fit). You can get a frame bag made from Take-a-Trip Bags or a custom frame bag from Blue Dingo Bagwerks.
- Down-tube: standard water bottle cage
- Front forks: Salsa ‘Anything’ cages with fork bags
- Under saddle: another feed bag for additional water and some sunscreen
- Rear rack diagonal strut: fork bag, attached using Voile straps
Our riding experience
Most of our rides have been on rail-trails, unpaved bike paths, and dirt roads (we don’t ride much technical single track), and the All-Packa has performed beautifully. It’s comfortable for multiple full-days in the saddle, and has excellent traction on the mixed terrain that we ride.
We’ve ridden with ease on wood chip paths, gravel rail-trails, mud, grass, pavement, patches of snow, and even through deep (10-cm) puddles.
River’s basket is 1m off the ground and she has no issues jumping in and out of it, with some bungee-leash assistance from me.
Packing for local travel
To fold the bike for quick transportation (ex: on a bus or in the back of your car), the seat mast hinges forward against the top-tube, the rear triangle detaches from the seat tube and both the rear triangle and rear wheel swing under the main frame; and if needed the steering tube (i.e. the part of the tube above the head tube) and handlebars can pop off through a quick release just above the head tube. This configuration makes the bike approx. 36” x 29” x 14”.
Packing for air travel
We haven’t yet travelled by air with our All-Packa, but we’ve packed it our Samsonite suitcase (31” x 22” x 13”) to go through the process and check that it and River’s collapsible crate will fit. They do!
To fit the All-Packa in a suitcase, a bit more disassembly is in order: the rear rack is removed and folded flat, the seat and seat tube come off, the handlebars are removed and split in half, and the front wheel is removed.
Granted, this is a bit more of an ordeal compared to the quick fold of our 16-inch-wheel Brompton bike – but the All-Packa is also more like a regular-sized bike in terms of ride feel and performance. So for a few more minutes of packing-and-unpacking, you’re rewarded with a very capable and sweet ride.
Overall thoughts
River and I love riding our All-Packa. It’s a smooth, stable, comfortable experience and a fabulous dogpacking bike for mixed terrain and off-road adventures. I don’t miss ‘standard-size’ bikes at all.
Have you ridden the All-Packa? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.
Related content
Here’s our YouTube overview of the All-Packa
About the author
Krista Halling is a veterinarian board-certified with the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and creator of Dogpacking.com. She is also certified in the Human-Animal Bond and in Canine Physical Rehabilitation. Krista loves travelling and adventuring with River, her mini goldendoodle sidekick.
I have an Alpacka and will be getting a rescue ~10lb dog this week! I’m very interested in dogpacking (I’ve bikepacked for years in and around Montana, my home). I’m considering a rear foldable box like your’s but am very curious about other options. My new dog will be small enough to fit in a front or back pack, so am curious about getting one of those for a change to the rear rack placement. I talked to Rachel and Cashew who are about to finish the Tour Divide as dogpackers, and she said her little dog prefers the back pack, especially on colder days. I’d appreciate reviews of other methods of carrying our doggies on adventures. THANKS!
Thanks for your comment, Larry, and huge congrats on your new friend! I’m sure you’ll have amazing adventures ahead of you. I love your idea of more expansively comparing and contrasting various ways to transport a dog on a bike I’ll put that on my list of upcoming articles. I’ve discussed crate vs trailer vs cargo bike in the article called how to bike with your dog. My quick spoiler alert reply is that I’d say the ‘best’ method depends on the dog, the trip, and the environment. The dog: size and breed will dictate which set-up gives them enough comfort and room to change position. The trip: in a backpack, it’s much harder to keep an eye on how your dog is doing so on a long trip this could be more challenging than an open set-up; also if you like to let your dog run beside your bike, a crate set-up makes in-and-out very easy and efficient. The environment: backpacks certainly keep a dog warmer than being in an open crate. In cold conditions that is helpful; in hot conditions that could create a safety concern. Hope these considerations help! Happy adventuring and watch out for an article with more detail on this.