Originally Posted by
Salamandrine
I'd imagine it always varied by individual, then as now. Now that you point it out, the ultra light crowd seems to have had a lot of influence in bike camping as well as backpacking. Still, there are those that pack everything: a laptop, a phone, a GPS, a camp seat, etc.
I definitely rode a lot from junior high through high school, but didn't try bike touring until summers while in college. I never broke anything, but I didn't do *that* much of it. The most epic one for me was about 24 days, IIRC.
For sure much of my own camping gear is lighter than the vintage stuff, but even BITD you
could find light gear, if sufficiently motivated. Down bags were always light. Hoop tents were light, if you even bothered with a tent. Water purifier? What's that?
Actually I think tents have been going backwards the last couple decades, but that's pretty OT. In general though, yeah, gear was heavier. I did have one buddy who rode across the country on his Trek 720, and he had and used one of those Optimus suitcase stoves. It was hilarious. Must have weighed like 8 lbs.*
EDIT * Ha, I looked it up and they only weighed 28oz full. They
looked like they weighed 8 lbs.
Ha, I love all of this post. My adolescence up until high school was mostly touring in the summers - if I can remember correctly probably a year on the road in total. We were definitely in the *heavy* camp. We rode over Gotthard Pass with a set of pétanque (French bocce) balls. I broke two Blackburn lowriders in six months, along with one Blackburn rear and a Trek fastback seat stay. Lawn games aside, I agree about tents. I do remember one time camping near the aptly-named Siren, WI, where
tornadoes passed within a few miles of our camp and I was lying on my back with my feet in the air to support the roof of our not-so-aptly-named Windy Pass Bullfrog tent which was collapsing in the gale. These new ones with the hubs between poles are over-engineered, which probably makes them durable but definitely makes them heavy!
Anyway, with my jumble of hand-me-downs (usually heavy stuff because heavy stuff lasts long enough to hand down) and cheap new stuff (usually heavy because it's cheap), I struggle keeping the load down these days, even on a short trip. Luckily I have nice Nitto racks and 48 spoke wheels on my Ron Cooper to support it all, purchased and built out of post-traumatic stress from all the touring breakdowns I suffered in my teens.