Its all too much

[bigjim]

I toured last year on my touring bike with front and rear panniers plus bar bag,tent and sleeping bag. I struggled on a few hills and ended up walking quite a few times. I recently [with this years touring in mind] spent some time perusing a website dedicated to simpler lightweight touring. Much of it made perfect sense. We buy heavy touring bikes and then proceed to equip them with even heavier panniers and bar bags. And them we fill them up!
I have started to weigh my gear. Sleeping bag. 3KG. Tent 3.5KG. Add in a few tools and a sleep mat and it’s starting to equal the weight of a lightweight race bike! I’ve not added clothes, water, food etc yet! Why not get rid of all the heavy bags? Swop for light [100g]underseat bag for front bars. 500g Rucksack and lightweight frame for rear. Plastic bags for waterproofing instead of heavy cotton duck etc. Now I can take a lightweight bike! It won’t be pretty, but whatever…..
When I was a teenager I toured on my racer with 1 carradice saddlebag. Are we been conditioned into making it harder for ourselves by the marketing crowd. Looking at the loaded bikes website I’m surprised some of those machines move.
[FONT=&quot]Does anybody tour light and I don’t mean the C/C touring crowd?
Jim
[/FONT]

 

[sadjack]

I know what you mean. I did my first tour in 2008 and carried waaaayyy too much stuff which meant it became a real chore.

I did another in 2009 and put into practice what I had learnt the year before but was propbably still carrying too much.

End of April I go again and will put what I have learnt to good use.

For me its a learning curve and a balance between taking stuff because I need it, and stuff because I'd like it

 

[Anthony]

I guess it all depends on how you like to tour. If you like to rack up the miles and cycle at your 'normal' speed, then being light weight is essential. But if like me, you like to take your time on tour and not worry about speed, then weight is not such an issue. I'd rather have all the stuff I need and go a bit slower.

 

[bigjim]

A sleeping bag that's weighs 3kg and a tent that weighs 3.5 kgs? You need to invest in some lightweight gear.

Agreed. In the process of doing just that. lessons learned, but still considering the whole process re lightweight bike or heavy tourer. The current touring ethos appears to be adding weight to weight. I've got a touring bike which can take a lot of weight so I'll add weight. Err. No!

 

[Muddyfox]

A sleeping bag that's weighs 3kg and a tent that weighs 3.5 kgs? You need to invest in some lightweight gear.

The trouble is Lee ... the more lbs you lose the more £'s you spend

I was looking at some lightweight tents and sleeping bags etc etc as now i've got the Panorama i intend to do some short tours this year, but the cost of the lightweight stuff is way over my budget for something that i'l be doing solo or with Jake, my wife is'nt really interested in cycling (but i'm ever hopeful) as she's started to read Alastair Humphreys books

Simon

 

[bigjim]

I'd rather have all the stuff I need and go a bit slower

Need or want? Is simple not better?

 

[Anthony]

The stuff I need is the stuff I want. Simple can be better, but like I said earlier, it depends on how you like to tour.

 

[Sam Kennedy]

Oh, I thought you were committing suicide, judging by the thread title!

Touring is something I would definitely be interested in, however, the amount of stuff I would have to carry just puts me off.

I am slightly tempted to try just cycling and wild camping, it might be fun for a few days.

 

[Muddyfox]

You are thinking about money but you should be thinking in terms of work and sweat.

I agree what your saying that the lighter kit will make things better when touring but when you have'nt got the disposable cash to spend on something that only i am interested in (within the family) its very hard to justify spending that extra money when other family members will want a different type of holiday

Simon

 

[rich p]

I pack the essentials such as a lightweight tent, sleeping bag, bed mat, stove, cooking and eating equipment and change of clothes. After the essentials the marginal increase in taking another T shirt, pair of socks etc is hardly worth worrying about. The extra weight is minimal in comparison to the essentials so a little luxury is fine by me.
I average about 50 miles a day depending on terrain, sights etc so speed is not an issue. If you were having or wanting to do a much higher mileage then weight would be an issue.
FWIW, I also carry my wife's thermarest, sleeping bag and 2 lightweight stools and have no problem with the weight or distance or hills so beware of turning the trip into a minimalist exercise for the sake of it.

 

[summerdays]

In my case you should look in my pannier or handbag... there is always a million things in there for "just in case...", and together with the lack of clearing it out so that rubbish collects - I'm never going to be able to do light touring ... for a start I would take 2 camera's ... you see you have to be prepared

Did I mention Mr Summerdays sometimes gets irritated with me?

 

[ASC1951]

I agree what your saying that the lighter kit will make things better when touring but when you have'nt got the disposable cash to spend on something that only i am interested in (within the family) its very hard to justify spending that extra money when other family members will want a different type of holiday.

Good point - as they say about equipment, "Light. Strong. Cheap. Choose any two".

Here are a few thoughts from my experience of cycle touring on a standard (Reynolds 531 and drops) bike.
- good quality lightweight equipment is regularly available secondhand at the same cost as mediocre new stuff. I'm perfectly happy with a s/h sleeping bag, for instance.
- most people simply take far too much stuff: e.g. shoes for the evening as well as shoes to cycle in, or so many electronic gadgets that they might as well be at home. To stop myself doing that, I use to take only what would fill my rear panniers but re-pack it using from panniers as well.
- you really don't need to cater for every possible disaster. If you are in Europe outside winter, stuff will dry out without you dying of hypothermia and shops are around to sell you all the necessities of life. I would rather inconvenience myself for half a day replacing something broken than weigh myself down for a week carrying spares for everything.
- it is psychologically important to have a luxury or two. Mine were a small wooden pepper grinder and a couple of dense paperbacks.

 

[jay clock]

I went to NZ and took too much. My "Light" sleeping back was over 1000g and tent was heavy. I also had two front panniers which weigh about 1kg on their own. I have whittled it down, bought much lighter (and pricier) kit and now manage with 2 panniers and a lightweight drybag

see here for my musings http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=104184&v=4B

 

[bigjim]

Light stuff does not have to be expensive if you look beyond the cycling related items. As mentioned in my post, panniers and bar bags etc weigh quite a bit on their own and are expensive. Probably because they have to be tough and waterproof to hold heavy expensive items. But a cheap rucksack or stuffsacs weigh next to nothing in comparison and are cheap to buy or replace. My 600g rucksack cost me £6 and an even lighter stuffsac costs about the same. A plastic binliner weighs nothing and is totally waterproof. Light touring does not have to be expensive. It can be a lot cheaper, as you then do not have to buy a specific heavy Touring Bike! What would you rather ride on those beautiful roads in France? A lightweight flickable machine or a heavily loaded tourer? The going slowly argument does not stand up, as you can still pedal slowly on a lightweight racer. On that heavily loaded tourer you do not always have a choice.

 

[GrahamG]

I was glad to have realised the cumulative weight of stuff if you don't think about the weight of individual items. Thankfully I was able to get stuff cheap, either on sale or budget brands or both (vango for the tent, alpkit for the sleeping bags etc.) and thankfully ended up with full camping and cooking kit for two people plus clothes and the other half's toiletries (immense for various medical conditions!) down to about 25kg. This all went into one ortlieg dry bag on a trailer with a pair of panniers used for waterproofs/emergency items and food bought along the way.

*edit - the challenge now is to balance weight saving against the odd creature comfort/security of extra items for 3 months worth of touring.