lightweight touring.

[foxyrider]

Here is the loaded rig (less mudguards not yet fitted) ready to roll. The bike has completed 7 long loaded tours from the Baltic to the Alps.

[gloomyandy]

On my last trip I just had the one paper map that covered the entire route for during the day route finding. I then had a number of more detailed maps and a set of guide book pages all scanned as pdf files and stored on a kindle touch. Having maps etc. on a kindle is not perfect but the touch makes the usable and I could also carry a bunch of books to read. Saves a fair bit of weight and the kindle with wifi turned off uses very little battery and easily lasts two to three weeks. You can even use it as a web browser at a push if wifi is available...

[MarkF]

As i'm B&B'ing this year, 18 days around Germany, I've gone 'lightweight' reducing the load to @12kg total.

Wow! I just spent 19 days crossing Spain and my entire luggage at check in weighed at 5.7kg. With a bit of planning and thought, I reckon I could have got that down to nearer 4kg.

[bealer]

My non-camping set up weighs around 4-5kg. I did LEJOG on my Carbon Fibre bike. It worked fine, you miss out on some of the comforts, but the bike feels pretty good due to not carrying much weight.



If I'm camping, I generally take panniers, just to rear ones. A friend uses drybags bungied on, but they're just not very convenient. My kit is pretty light, the tent and sleeping bags (beyond the bike itself) are the key items to cut down in weight. My bike is a 10kg steel framed bike, so pretty lightweight given the material.

- Tent - 850g
- Sleeping bag - 500g
- Sleeping bag line - 180g
- Mat - 500g
- MSR Pocket Rocket, Ti Mug, and fuel cannister

That's pretty much all I need. They fit into the panniers easily. Looks like this, ignore that the panniers are overly full, I'd stuffed them with beer and loads of food

[nmnm]

- Tent - 850g
- Sleeping bag - 500g

Jings, Bealer, that's a light tent and sleeping bag! I have quite a roomy tent (one of those pyramid Golite Shangri-la ones, 1.7kg w the inner) but the downside of the luxury space is that I think I need a warmer, heavier sleeping bag as my body heat can't heat the airspace so much.

[foxyrider]

As i'm B&B'ing this year, 18 days around Germany, I've gone 'lightweight' reducing the load to @12kg total.

Wow! I just spent 19 days crossing Spain and my entire luggage at check in weighed at 5.7kg. With a bit of planning and thought, I reckon I could have got that down to nearer 4kg.

The twelve includes tool kit, camera and the clothes i'm wearing not just the stuff in the bags - my cycling shoes weigh almost a kilo, camera over 500g. The bags and contents when riding weigh @ 4kg - three changes of clothes, off bike footwear, washkit and the lock!

The bike - including the stupidly expensive TubusTi rack currently weighs just shy of 9kg.

[theenglishman]

I saw a very good talk at a Horizons Unlimited meet (ok it was aimed at motorbikes, but the principle is the same) where the speaker talked about want vs need. He took a very lightweight bag, a tarp, a water bottle and ate cold food, so no need for a cooker/stove. One pair of clothes and one pair of shoes. He carried more in the way of tools than he did camping stuff - and he didn't have many tools! And had some serious adventures, including the Sahara.

Now ok - humming like a fresh turd and no hot food sounds like the tour from hell to me, but he's right - you don't need lots of stuff, but you might want it.

I wish there was a similar gathering for bicyclists as there's much info to impart/soak in on such weekends.

[bealer]

- Tent - 850g
- Sleeping bag - 500g

Jings, Bealer, that's a light tent and sleeping bag! I have quite a roomy tent (one of those pyramid Golite Shangri-la ones, 1.7kg w the inner) but the downside of the luxury space is that I think I need a warmer, heavier sleeping bag as my body heat can't heat the airspace so much.

It's a single skin tent, so it's light, but not perfect. It suffers (as all tents do) from condensation on the inside, except I don't have an inner to protect me from the condensation drops. It's built around being well ventilated, so you don't really warm any more than the sleeping bag. The other thing I miss is a decent entrance to the tent, to cook in when it rains etc... I can do it in my tent, but it's a bit of a squash.

My sleeping bag is light, but expensive at over £200. With a silk liner I can sleep in temps down to -2C but comfort levels are nearer 3C. I wish I had gone for a slightly heavier bag (700g) for the sake of 200g to give me a bigger usage window. Although that said, I only really tour in the Summer, so temps rarely go below 5C at night.

As with anything there's always give and take.

[Dakkar]

My partner and I are touring Italy next week. It will be my partner's first tour so to make it as easy as possible and as pleasuable as possible for her we are staying in hostels and B&B's so travelling light with no camping gear. I told my partner she could only take a carradice long flap camper saddle bag and a bar bag. She seemed mythed at the limited luggage space but I told her she would thank me when we start climbing the hills in Tuscany. Anyway she has really got into the spirit of things; given serious thought to what she needs to take and wants to take, compromised and still has a little space in the bags with changes of clothing for day and evenings, she might just enjoy this travelling by bike lark.

[Dakkar]

Also check out this interview with Mike Hall on the gear he managed with on his round the world record breaking ride.

http://road.cc/content/news/59716-inter ... record-kit

[tatanab]

I told my partner she could only take a carradice long flap camper saddle bag and a bar bag.

Perfectly easy for summer touring. I go away for a month and my Camper's Longflap is usually only 3/4 full. In the spring or autumn a bit more might be needed because of variations in temperature. As a point of honour the bag is done up on the shortest hole in the strap and the longflap is only extended if needed to cover food I've bought or to cover hastily shed clothing. For me a barbag is a recent addition in the last 8 years. Until then the camera etc also lived in the saddlebag and the map in use lived in my back pocket.

I have done some weekend camping with just the saddlebag. Bag has sleeping bag and mat, clothing etc and the tent is on top of the saddlebag. That's ok for a weekend but for a few weeks away I'd add more capacity.

[jags]

Also check out this interview with Mike Hall on the gear he managed with on his round the world record breaking ride.

http://road.cc/content/news/59716-inter ... record-kit

wow that guy is something else 200 miles a day broke the world reckord by two wee ks
the bags he was using is class.
thanks for that link just shows you it can be done but you have got to be built of steel, or carbon in his case
so that rules me out

just on the carbon thing he said he prefers it to all other bike materials like steel TI because they crack.
huh so much for not using carbon as a touring bike

[willem jongman]

My current weight for camping trips in Europe outside the cold season is 15 kg. That includes a spacious tent (Helsport Rondane 3), comfortable sleeping kit (PHD bag and Exped Downmat) and a Trangia 27, but no unnecessary stuff like chairs, extra shoes etc. I could bring it further down to about 12.5 kg without giving up any comfort, but only by spending rather a lot on a new tent like the Hilleberg Anjan 2, lighter panniers like the Pacific Outdoors ltw small and a new mattress like the Neoair Allseason. If I wanted to get my luggage weight further down to 10 kg it would involve a real decrease in comfort like using a TN Laser. For now, the 15 kg is fine with me, but if I were to use an audax bike I would certainly need to reduce it.
Willem

[salsafargo]

If you're going to embrace lightweight touring, the pillow has to go... stuff the sleeping bag bag or tent bag (if that makes sense) with the few spare clothes you have, for a pillow.

yes, I camped pretty much every night. I don't take a stove, as it's such a faff and you then really ought to carry food as well, and water, and oil, etc, etc. decent lunches, and then light dinners; you can eat cheaply on cafes and with street vendors. putting the tent up front between the bars was a revelation for me. I had a home-made sort of roll bag thing (made by a mate), and it really was the best bit of kit I've had in a long time. but the first few trips I made do with bungees.

the bag support is worth it. without the support the bag rests on the mud guard (really wouldn't be practical if you had no mud guards). having said that, it snapped while up near Glencoe, though that was after a good few thousand miles and plenty of off-roading.

I had been looking at the Salsa Anything cages, that might be useful for you.

but the lightweight thing is well worth trying out. it can all get a bit zen when you have very few possessions, but you can still get competitive and hang on to the wheels of the local chain gang, and laugh in the face of a 20% climb (and grin demonically on the down-side). for me it's all about freeing yourself from the things that you think you need, to gain a foot-loose and fancy-free feeling that being unencumbered gives you.

i use salsa anything cages to carry 1 man tent and a sleeping mat,i put the poles in the dry bag on top of rear rack,you could use a wildcat handlebar harness to carry your sleeping bag fastened to the handlebars http://wildcatgear.co.uk/products/handlebar-harness/

[jags]

some excellent set up's there lads thanks for all the replys
the expedition bag support i ordered from wiggle wont be available until late july
and i ordered the wrong one should have got the QR version. i email them and asked them to change the order hopefully they get the message.