Join The Bikepacking Collective

Become a Sustaining Member

We’re a small, independent platform at the forefront of building the bikepacking community for more than a decade. Join the Bikepacking Collective to help sustain our work and create original bikepacking routes, authentic stories, quality guides and resources, and up-to-the-minute reporting. By joining, you’ll receive a lot of great benefits, including the option to receive The Bikepacking Journal, our biannually printed publication, as well as access to exclusive merchandise, industry discounts, and tons of prizes.

Bikepacking Journal

In 2018, we launched The Bikepacking Journal, our biannually printed publication that’s packed with the very best in pedal-powered storytelling and photography from around the globe. We feel a great sense of responsibility in producing a printed journal, both for our readers and for the environment, and we aim to publish one that’s worth savoring and proudly displaying on your coffee table. To this end, we’ve carefully considered every detail in the Journal’s production to create the most beautiful publication possible. By joining the Bikepacking Collective, you can get issues in the mail twice a year and read each collection of stories in the full glory of print! Preview Issue 01 / 02 / 03 / 04 / 05 / 06 / 07 / 08 / 09.

 

Bikepacking Collective

Fill in the form below or read on to learn about member benefits. A Bikepacking Collective membership is available to anyone, worldwide; additional fees may apply in some countries due to shipping.

Note: The deadline to join and have your membership start with The Bikepacking Journal Issue 11 was October 17, 2023. If you join today, your first issue will be the spring 2024 issue (#12); the deadline is April 17, 2024.
  • Billed Annually
  • $0.00

  • IMPORTANT: By joining the Bikepacking Collective, you agree that your membership will automatically renew at the end of each one-year membership term from your join date. You can cancel your membership at any time before then, but all benefits (including delivery of The Bikepacking Journal) will cease immediately upon cancellation, and we do not offer any refunds upon early membership cancellation.

Already a member? Click here to log in and update your details.

MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS

As a Bikepacking Collective member, you aren’t just helping evolve and build a stronger BIKEPACKING.com, you’re also helping us curate and create high-quality content for the entire bikepacking community. For just over $5 a month (the price of a beer), you’ll also receive two issues of The Bikepacking Journal in the mail each year, and a whole lot more. Complete benefits include:

The Bikepacking Journal

One of the key aspects of being a member is a subscription to our bi-annually printed publication. We print issues in May and November of each year. We’ve printed 10 amazing issues as of spring, 2023, which you can preview here.

Collective Rewards

We give away bikes, bags, apparel, and gear packages on a regular basis. Each reward is limited to Bikepacking Collective members, who are automatically entered for each drawing. We’ve already given away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of great gear, including several bikes and frames, bikepacking bags, clothing, and more. Check the Collective Rewards to see what’s up for grabs for our members. A couple of our recent favorites include this Revel Wayward Dream Build and a Chumba Yaupon frame.

Exclusive BIKEPACKING.com Gear

We occasionally offer new merchandise (T-shirts, hats, patches, stickers, etc.) and include items with each Journal (such as printed maps and bandanas). When they come available, members are always be the first to be notified and have exclusive access with a 20% off discount to our store. We have merchandise sales three or four times per year, each featuring new t-shirts, hats, stickers, patches, socks and more.

Industry Discounts

We’ve lined up hundreds of industry discounts. Currently, we’re offering members significant discounts from major brands such as Revelate Designs, PEdALED, Brooks, WTB, and many more. Take a look at the fall 2023 list here. Stay tuned for updated offers on an ongoing basis.

Access To Features

Membership grants access to exclusive tools on the site, such as the Bucket List and Route Log, which allow you to bookmark routes you want to ride and check off those you’ve ridden. In addition, we occasionally post expanded stories from The Bikepacking Journal that are only available to members. We have several more website features in the works, too.

Invest In The Future Of Bikepacking

Every year, we make an effort to invest in the community and build the greater bikepacking infrastructure. Member funding helps us maintain and expand our original routes network, and we utilize a portion of member dues to build new routes. For example, in 2022, we launched the Eastern Divide Trail, the longest off-road bikepacking route in the world, a massive undertaking that couldn’t have happened without the support of the Bikepacking Collective. Additionally, we regularly allocate funds to support organizations and causes that make a difference and help progress bikepacking. These include El Grupo Cycling, which focuses on getting young people out bikepacking, and the the Routes Access Fund, which we allocated a portion of member dues to support BIPOC bikepackers.

Consider this an ongoing list of benefits, as we have plenty of other ideas for Collective member offerings in the future. So get signed up, and please pass this along to your friends.

WHY JOIN?

BIKEPACKING.com was created from behind the handlebars out of a passion for sharing adventure. Our small team strives to inspire others to get out and explore our planet, experience its wild places, and connect with its diverse cultures, all via the bicycle’s elegant simplicity. In keeping with that mission, our goal is to ensure that the site and its many resources remain free and open to everyone. But, given the time and effort required to keep the site growing, we need your help with funding it. Here’s why:

1. Build a Better BIKEPACKING.com

Beyond ensuring the future of this website, your contributions will help grow and improve BIKEPACKING.com as a resource for the bikepacking community. This ranges from increasing our contributor rates to adding fresh mapping features to implementing additional website functionality.

2. Expanded Routes, More Inspiration, and a Bigger Community

Our ultimate goal is to be able to concentrate our efforts on 1) creating in-depth and meaningful content and inspiring stories; 2) bringing to life new and original bikepacking routes and updating old ones; and 3) connecting and informing the bikepacking community. Your support and input will enable us to continue pushing our high content standards and expanding our diverse network of paid contributors.

3. Banner Ads Aren’t Sustainable

With ad blockers, insta-marketing, and the erosion of online advertising rates across all media, securing banner advertising is becoming increasingly challenging, especially for a niche activity. Looking forward, it’s clear it will be unsustainable as our sole source of funding. While there are currently some banner ads in place, and we greatly appreciate our advertisers, we’re determined to create a more consistent and rounded model. In addition, managing a complex advertising model is very time-consuming, and much of that time could be better spent developing more meaningful aspects of the site. We’ve experimented with additional means of funding, but nothing feels quite true to our vision. Ultimately, we feel the future of this website depends on our community, the Bikepacking Collective.

Still not convinced? Read our Bikepacking Journal Manifesto for some additional thoughts on our goals for the publication and why we need your support.