Originally Posted by
SparkyGA
Personally you sound pretty heavy. Do you mind posting a list or at least some photos of the gear you are bringing? Would be a big help for us to help you out.
Consider reducing the amount of gear your carrying to a point where your not using front panniers and the associated racks. That alone can save you 5 to 6 pounds. Use water bottle cages and plastic bottles to put smaller, heavier items inside, like spare parts.
As the poster above said, invest in clothing that can be worn on and off bike. For example a neutral colour merino wool shirt works great in cooler temps and looks totally fine off bike. You also don't need to carry massive quantities of underwear, socks and such. If you can only wear one pair of underwear at a time, why carry two pairs? Go commando when washing. Also your likely going to be staying in a lot of cheap hotels in Nepal, so you can regularly wash your clothing i.e. nightly wash your cycling clothing in the sink. That way you don't bother carry multiples of those items.
This is my bike with the ortlieb panniers. Also a pic of me with a donkey I bought to cross the Tibetan Plateau. The picture of the donkey is 25 years old, and I have been doing this kinda stuff the whole time. The bike pic is last weekend on a practice trip.
The donkey was carrying about 50 pounds, but that included food. I had no tent, and stayed with nomads.
The bike has about 50 pounds. I have a tent, and a Trangia Alcohol stove. I maybe have too many clothes. As stated, I can ditch them along the way--I buy all my gear second hand. All the gear on the donkey was also purchased second hand.
I still have time to reduce my gear. I work on it every day. I am still within airline regs. One nice part about the surly with S&S is that it fits as regular luggage. I havnt weighed it yet, but I think with the box about 30 pounds. Then the duffel with all my gear and panniers will have to be below 50 pounds in order to avoid excess charges.
I could skip the bike and get another donkey instead, but I sort of have my heart set on trying bicycle touring. It sounds like something I could do for the next few years, once I get the hang of it.