Thread: Touring-curious
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Old 12-15-21, 06:25 PM
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Originally Posted by sdimattia
Backpacked with a 55L pack and 20-30lbs of weight. I've only ever backpacked with a group (or there was always a couple of packhorses when we went packtripping at which I carried very little) so I've never actually had to put all the gear soley on myself. ...
My backpack in Grand Canyon was about 50 liters. My backpack this past summer for longer trip was 70 liters. The grand canyon trip was with one other, the trip this past summer was solo.

If you could stick with 20 pounds not counting food or water, I would say two rear panniers is likely enough. If you are 30 pounds before you add food and water, I think you want four panniers.

There was a thread on this forum a month or two ago where someone cited some historical research that said four panniers was more stable.

That said in the first photo below, I have my light touring bike, four panniers and handlebar bag, no rack top bag but have tent poles on top of rear rack. The panniers add up to 65 liters.




This is a gal I met two years ago, she had already traveled over a thousand miles with this setup and it was adequate for her. Rear panniers and a handlebar harness.



I am guessing her panniers were in the 40 liter range for both. Handlebar harness, maybe 10 liters.

But the photo below, I had a couple weeks of food and enough gear to last quite a while without any support.



Front panniers, 25 liter, rear panniers were 40, the rack top bag (yellow) was 31 liters, the blue drybag behind the seatpost was overflow, maybe 10 liters. And handlebar bag.

My point is you need to figure out where you are in the range from minimalist to heavy packer.
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