Cycling UK Forum

If it were me, I'd leave behind these things:

2 of the tubes,
all the cooking / eating stuff (just take a light knife, plastic fork + spoon, dish towel)
most of the tools
cables
water bottles + steritabs (bought water comes in lighter bottles)
head torches (300g!)


Isn't 1200g is a lot for 2 phones and ipods. Does that include chargers or something?
I'd add some light cooking gear in again if the bikes are quite heavy to start with, maybe.

That "shaver" is not electronic is it? Shave after a steamy shower and it's really easy with a 10g manual razor and soap.

I'd get rid of the swiss army knife too.

hubgearfreak wrote:...you may mock ...

Mock? Moi? Have a shufty at the Amazon five star reviews from people claiming to be satisfied owners. That's mockery. ( Is this the reason for Swiss neutrality? Their army is all busy faffing with penknives. )

How is the OP going to carry that lot?
It would all fit into my trailer!

MickF

The very man. Have you any thoughts about the Swiss Navy? Do they have knives?

Swiss Navy?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_M ... witzerland

Are they allowed knives?

Thank you everyone,

This is the new list:

Kit for Tour

REVISED 2011

Anything asterisked needs looking at
Quantity must be marked

Camping 5625g

* Tent, Tent poles 975g repair 50g pegs 400g
* Trangia 900g+meths burner and fuel there are no pros or cons about meths or gas as we can’t buy either
* Swiss army knive 300g
* Sporks x2 not much
* mugs x2 100g
* Sleeping bags x2 m825g j1200g
* Roll mats x2 j275g m150g
* *Head torches x2 150g


Clothes

* Cycle Shorts x2
* Normal Shorts x2
* t-shirt x2
* Cycling top (base layer or jersey) x2
* Fleece x2
* Waterproof x2
* Flip flops/crocks x2
* Shoes x2
* *Socks
* *Underwear
* Sunglasses x2
* Helmets x2
* Gloves x2


Food water etc

* Food-mostly bought along the way
* Water bottles x4
* steritabs


Bike kit

* Tool kit essentials pliers, 525g spanner 275g multi 150g cables 25g tubes x2 450g chain tool and spare links, spare spokes, lube,
* Pump x2
* Lights x4
* Locks x2


Electronics 1200g

* iPod
* Phone x2
* Battery power supply we need a smaller, lighter, power supply
* Camera
* Speakers - 120g if I remember correctly


Washing etc 750g

* Toothbrush x2
* Toothpaste
* *Wet wipes
* *Toilet paper (ziplock)
* *Sun cream
* Shower Gel in (ziplock)
* Blister kit
* Razor
* First aid+pain killers etc
* Vaseline
* Travel towel
* Dishcloth/sponge


General

* Maps and case each map is about 150g
* Small drawstring bag x2 one each used for pillow when stuffed with spare clothes
* Money
* Notepad
* Pens



Comments:

* Still needs more cutting
* Are the cables THAT heavy?
* Get rid of wrench

have you loaded up that lot and done some cycling ? there's no point cutting your kit if the weight doesn't bother you, or you have Mick's trailer. it also depends on what level of comfort you are used to / happy with. if it's only ten days (and you aren't planning on entertaining anyone in your tent) then you can cut down the clothes quite a bit. a razor ? post one on to the friends you're staying at.

if you intend cooking you'll need to add in the weight of, and space for, food and often water if you're not near a clean source. although for ten days of solid riding I wouldn't take any cooking gear, there are plenty of cheap places to get hot food and new conversations.


cheers

+1
Well said Dougie.

Just a few comments. I find it a bit difficult to figure out whether you are taking 2 of an item each or 2 between you.

Firstly your tent plus poles seems quite light but 400gms for pegs is heavy.

I see that others have said to leave the headtorch and use the bike light. I would do the reverse. If you are going in summer you won't be cycling in the dark and hence won't need bike lights. The headtorch will be much more useful in camp.

Please leave the speakers as I assume this means you will be inflicting your music on everyone else at campsites Leave the ipods as well, you can survive a couple of weeks without music

DougieB wrote:have you loaded up that lot and done some cycling ? there's no point cutting your kit if the weight doesn't bother you, or you have Mick's trailer. it also depends on what level of comfort you are used to / happy with. if it's only ten days (and you aren't planning on entertaining anyone in your tent) then you can cut down the clothes quite a bit. a razor ? post one on to the friends you're staying at.

if you intend cooking you'll need to add in the weight of, and space for, food and often water if you're not near a clean source. although for ten days of solid riding I wouldn't take any cooking gear, there are plenty of cheap places to get hot food and new conversations.


cheers

Yes, we've done about 750 miles of touring over the last year and last summer we did 583 miles with this kit list, and the weight is a bother (especially now we have tourers from the 80s)
I'm not sure how we could cut down the clothes, unless it was the fiendishly ambiguous 'x2' that muddled things
We hope to always be near a decent source of water, if not we can use our drinking bottles and/or bungee a big one to a rack, food wise we always find space
I see your point about the razor, if we just get people we're staying with halfway to buy one, that should be fine Every little helps after all
Cooking gear seems essential as finding places can be difficult at times.

freebooter wrote:Just a few comments. I find it a bit difficult to figure out whether you are taking 2 of an item each or 2 between you.

Firstly your tent plus poles seems quite light but 400gms for pegs is heavy.

I see that others have said to leave the headtorch and use the bike light. I would do the reverse. If you are going in summer you won't be cycling in the dark and hence won't need bike lights. The headtorch will be much more useful in camp.

Please leave the speakers as I assume this means you will be inflicting your music on everyone else at campsites Leave the ipods as well, you can survive a couple of weeks without music

The bike lights are essential as when things go belly-up we're often cycling as it gets murky,
We'll have to see about headtorches, it might be worth cutting one
The weights marked are questionable, we'll have to go through them again
The speakers are only very small so no-one else hears and going two weeks without music would drive us more insane than spending 8 hours a day on the road
And x2 means between us

Thanks everyone, excellent help

Swiss army knive 300g, pliers, 525g spanner 275g multi 150g

That's a total of 1250g. You could easily halve that. (I didn't see tyre levers in your list, but you might not need them.)

I agree with your decision to have bike lights, just in case, provided they are lightweight.

I assume your clothing list includes what you will be wearing. My clothing list would be different, but that's about personal preference.

Do you need two phones? Heck, do you even need one phone?

You've still got two pumps and two locks.

Leave the heavier of the two phones at home. Get the other unlocked and switch sim cards as necessary. Probably save on the weight on the extra charger as well..

Stephen.

What's the rationale for having two pumps?

Cachao wrote:Cooking gear seems essential as finding places can be difficult at times.

I think this probably sums up what happens when you start cutting kit. I travel fairly light (http://www.soogate.com/lht-ferry.jpg on the way to turkey, mostly camping), and I accept that I'll miss the odd meal here or there; I'm hardly going to waste away. I have to wash my clothes (2 merino t-shirts, 1 lightweight shirt) every second day, although sometimes I don't manage it. I cycle in flat pedals, so the shoes I cycle in are the ones I wear off the bike. I have one pair of shorts for cycling, and one pair of trousers. I don't have waterproof trousers, so I cycle in wet shorts on the occassions when it rains. etc, etc.

from your revised kit list you 'could' cut it down a great deal. most things you take away result in some sort of compromise, or the possibility of you have to 'make do' in cases like you can't get your ideal meal in the evening. some of your cuts may just result in minor inconveniences like not having music to listen to. you can wear clothes more than once (the exception for me is socks, you need to pamper your feet), merino t-shirts are good for multiple wearings.

rather than 'what can I cut', maybe try and think of the consequences of leaving behind bits of kit. and whether you are happy with / could put up with those consequences. cooking gear is a great example, you may just prefer cooking your own but you're very unlikely in the UK to fail to find some sort of food; though occassionaly it's not the best food or the right time.

good luck.