I have had no problems climbing thus far, but you have a point. First, I use a drop bar, and that is better than a straight bar. Second, I have a bar bag, I have three fuel and water bottles on the frame, and I try to have my rear panniers as far forward as I can. Finally, and most importantly, I try not to overload the rear. So I only have a light tent on top of the rack and no heavy extra rackpack. Last summer in Norway I had more than the usual because of the potentially bad weather, and it was obvious that I should not have taken any more than I had.
On that trip my luggage weight was about 18 kg. Of that, 3 kg was in cold/wet weather gear that I would not normally take elsewhere. I have also calculated that I could have lost another 3kg by leaving home some unused stuff, and getting lighter equivalents for other items. Take less than that, and you begin to loose functionality, however. So, realistically, some 12-15 kg is quite possible in most conditions. That should be fine in just two rear panniers. If you want to loose more weight on the panniers themselves, have a look at the new experimental lightweight range that Ortlieb are selling in small numbers in Germany (price for one rather than a set): http://www.outdoorworks.de/index.php?site=index.html&prod=7337&vid=86748&function=set_lang&lang=en
Willem
On that trip my luggage weight was about 18 kg. Of that, 3 kg was in cold/wet weather gear that I would not normally take elsewhere. I have also calculated that I could have lost another 3kg by leaving home some unused stuff, and getting lighter equivalents for other items. Take less than that, and you begin to loose functionality, however. So, realistically, some 12-15 kg is quite possible in most conditions. That should be fine in just two rear panniers. If you want to loose more weight on the panniers themselves, have a look at the new experimental lightweight range that Ortlieb are selling in small numbers in Germany (price for one rather than a set): http://www.outdoorworks.de/index.php?site=index.html&prod=7337&vid=86748&function=set_lang&lang=en
Willem