timdow

As well as planning an upcoming bike tour, I am also planning a backpacking trip, and the idea to get lighter has bled-over into bike bike touring setup. While attempting to drop weight in my pack, I created a list for bike touring and weighed and imputed all my bike gear. My setup for past bike tours has included one pair of rear Ortlieb bags, an Ortlieb handlebar bag, and a dry bag on the rear rack, and the weight including food and water came to 49.29 Lbs. I ride fully self-contained intending to mostly camp and cook.

My initial goal was to drop at least 5 Lbs, but after I switched to Arkel Dry-Lites and a Revalate Designs Tangle frame bag, and ditched extra food and gear, I am now at 29.36 Lbs, a difference of about 20 Lbs!. Pretty good considering that the setup includes a 20 degree down bag and Big Agnes Copper Spur 2-person tent.

So I am going to give the lighter setup a try on the CA Coast next month, and continue to lighten the load as I purchase backpacking gear that also can be used for bike touring. I have not sprung for big $$$ on ultralight gear (ZPacks, enlightened Equipment, etc.), and consider my backpack and bike touring gear to be "light."

My question to those who have purchased ultralight gear is what has your experience been using it for bike touring?

Additionally, is there any reasonably priced gear that has lightened you load that has worked well for you?

Edit: Oh yea, forgot to mention that I am currently "road touring," but intend to do some "bikepacking" in the future.

GhostRider62

My three season backpacking base weight is 8-9 pounds (no food or water, all else included). There should be a bicycle touring version of ligherpack.com

I kind of like a bikepack seatbag of about 15L, a handlebar bag of 6L, and a toptube bag. I also have a Tailfin setup that is 20L and with a handlebar bag and the toptube bag, it fits all my needs; however, I have not used the Tailfin on a camping tour although I have used it on a 600km brevet, so, please keep that in mind. A bike and all gear (minus food and water) of under 35 lbs is achievable. Desirable? To each his own. When you backpack, is walking most of your fun or do you enjoy breaking camp at 9 am and setting up the next night's camp at 3 pm? If so, the lightweight approach probably isn't for you. I break camp before sunrise and am on the trail or road at first light or sooner on the bike. Camper vs hiker is a theme for backpackers.

andrewclaus

Twenty years ago, in my late 40s, I started long-distance hiking, starting with a PCT thru-hike, and finishing the Triple Crown a few years later. Prior to that, I'd done some long bike tours, including the TA and Pacific Coat routes, with a 50+ pound load. My weekend backpacking load was in the 40 pound range. The load limited me to long weekends--it was too painful. In order to achieve longer hikes, load lightening was critical. I started the PCT with a sub-20 pound base pack load. By time I finished, it was under 10 pounds, in the UL range.

Then I went back to bike touring. I also got the Arkel Drylites. I not only shed the front panniers and rack, I also ditched the handlebar bag. Adding the tools and bike supplies, my base touring load is about 17 pounds, also self-contained and self-supported, mostly camping, but with 30F quilt. The light load made an incredible difference, and touring became a completely different activity. In my 50s, I started routinely riding centuries with a full touring load, which I'd never done before. I cycled the Northern Tier route easily in 55 days, with 17 centuries, and the granny gear just gathered dust.

The enLightened Equipment quilt is probably the best gear purchase I've ever made. The Tarptent Protrail is by far my favorite shelter ever. Going stoveless was a good move that simplifies many aspects of camping, including pack volume, fuel resupply, amount of water carried and enabling some excellent dry campsites.

Rather than buy expensive gear (other than the quilt), one of the best tips I got was how to pare down clothing. Everything you pack should be able to be worn at the same time as part of a coordinated layering system--no spares. Also, a good way to reduce load is to pack only for the biking (or hiking), not camping. Camp is a place to sleep, not sit around and cook, have hot/alcoholic beverages, play guitar, etc. There's nothing wrong with any of that, but it requires carrying more.

Lightening the load was a sometimes tough, season-long journey for me. Good luck with yours.

str

If we want to go LIGHT we have to learn to leave (our heavy jeans and the whole household at home.
I carry one set of clothing for off the bike and one set for on the bike, that's it.
Plus all I need (minimum) to sleep and eat something outside.

That's it, the lighter the more fun!

timdow

For backpacking, I am attempting to go as light as possible with my backpacking setup while still being fairly comfortable. My backpacking base weight will be 11.24 lbs., assuming I purchase an Enlightened Equipment Enigma quilt, a ZPacks Duplex, and Nemo Tensor Ultralight. I am looking to ramp-up to somewhere around 20 miles a day while through-hiking. This all assumes that I can do the PCT as intended.

timdow

Thanks Andrew I have cut my clothing down a lot already, but still could probably ditch some more. Ditto for food, which I am guilty of overpacking. The Enlightened Equipment Enigma is my next purchase.

indyfabz

This country’s people have become soft. Carried 55 lbs. for a week trip in the back country of Glacier. My guide carried 78 lbs. I wanted to shoulder more of the load, but he wouldn’t let me.

IPassGas

^+1. Several times out of Bishop CA for 2 weeks up onto the Sierra high country granite, my backpack was 65 and wife's was 45 lbs. Loading the bike is inconsequential compare to this. But then, doing centuries on tour is unimportant for us 'cause we don't care to win the tour.

indyfabz

My bike and gear on my first tour tipped the scales at 90 lbs. according to a weigh station, and the bike was a relatively lite Cannondale. I never walked a hill. Wish I were 34 again.

Tourist in MSN

I used to have two neighbors that did the AT. I asked her what her pack weighed at the end. She said - at the start, ... (pause) ... you said at the end? I said yeah, I do not care what it weighed before you started discarding stuff, wanted to know the weight at the end. She said her pack weighed 12 pounds, her husband's pack was 15. I assume that was without food or water. The clothes they wore were it, she said no spare clothes. (I think she carried extra socks, I can't imagine risking your feet that much.) Ditched the tent, had a tarp for the two of them. I do not recall what she said they had for sleeping pad or bags. Did the bare minimum on everything.

Backpacking, I carry a titanium cooking pot and butane stove. Bike touring, I just finished a bike tour, there were two of us. I carried a fry pan, two stainless steel pots and liquid fuel stove. When the weight is on wheels, I carry more weight. When the weight is on my feet, I carry less weight.

That said, I do not get so obsessive that things start breaking or get dysfunctional. Last summer while backpacking I camped a couple nights and hiked one day with a guy that through hiked the AT. He said he bought several water filters on the AT, when it clogged he chucked it and bought another. His filter was so dysfunctional when I met him that I do not know how he got any water out of it. He said he was looking for a new one. To back flush the filter, you use the little syringe that comes with it, the syringe weighs maybe one ounce. But that is one ounce he was unwilling to carry. I think I spent about a half hour trying to fix his filter because unlike him, I was willing to carry maintenance stuff and had my syringe to back flush it. I got it to work a lot better but not as good as new. So, if you really want to go light, just bring nothing to fix your stuff when it breaks and hope for the best. And be ready to keep buying more stuff when you did not want to carry maintenance stuff.

If you are trying to get ready for a long through hike, get your nutrition figured out early. A couple references:

A good discussion of energy sources for different wattage levels. Hiking, bike touring, you are mostly at low wattage and mostly burning fats.
https://www.roadbikerider.com/energy...e-intensities/

You need to think about long term activities, not just a few weeks.
https://www.msrgear.com/blog/nutriti...food-for-fuel/
https://www.msrgear.com/blog/9019/

Don't forget electrolytes.
https://www.roadbikerider.com/what-e...eally-need-d3/

I met a gal while backpacking last summer, we camped together one night. She was saying that on a through hike the previous year she had oriented her meals to have more fats and less carbs to cut weight. That is pretty extreme, but it is effective. A gram of carbs is 4 calories but a gram of fats is 9 calories. Probably the easiest way to boost fats in a meal if you have a one pot meal is to pour in some olive oil.

And do not forget protein, that is needed for muscle recovery. After one of my bike tours, my Dr diagnosed a protein deficiency in me. Now, when I bike tour or am backpacking, I carry a protein bar (20 grams protein) for every day, have it at the end of the ride or hike that day. That is in addition to some more protein with some meat at lunch and again at supper. Usually have a 2 or 2.5 ounce packet of meat with my one pot suppers.

Backpacking, I carry about two pounds of food per day, and run about a 1000 calorie a day deficit. I do not want the deficit to exceed that but I am 69, if you are young you can probably eat a worse diet and not suffer too much.

Good luck. And yes, my backpack (below) is really that big that it is about as high as the top of my head because I am not that obsessive about weight. But I was not striving for 20 miles per day backpacking.

imi

I go as light as possible. That said, touring for me is living on the road, not about getting from A to B as effortlessly as possible. Some personal points:

I would much rather carry food and a stove, than just eat cold food or search for more expensive places to drink coffee and eat every day.
Many campsites in Europe will not let you stay unless you have a tent.
I do not buy dune, and am happy with my bulky synthetic sleeping bag.
I play guitar everyday whether at home or on the road. 3/4 size on the road.

veganbikes

I tend to use a lot of lightweight stuff in many cases but not superlight to the point I am trying to be an absolute minimalist, the only time I would do that is while racing which I don't really do. I want good very light gear that is also somewhat durable without being abused but also comfortable to a point. I have a Big Agnes TigerWall 3 bikepacking which replaced the lighter Fly Creek UL2 because I wanted more space and the little added weight is worth it and also the size was a key factor. I also use a lot of Snow Peak Titanium stuff but it is good high quality long lasting stuff that also happens to be lightweight. My Arkel GT-54s are heavy though but durable as hell and not going to let me down. Though yeah I could probably lose the organizational space and lighten up quite a bit with some Ortliebs but I am fine with these.

I guess if I were a lot lighter as a person I would love to build a lighterweight set up but at this point having pretty light gear through a lot of it is fine enough for me.

cyccommute 

When people go on about how they can get their touring weight down below 10 lbs, I can’t figure out how they do it. I don’t usually do packing lists but I did weigh my gear…bags included…for a 2 night trip with one night camping last summer. Bags are all Revelate Design bikepacking bags. The weights shown are loaded weight with the bag included.Bikepacking load 7/10 Weston Pass
YBB weight : 29.2 lb
Harness with sleeping bag and tent: 9.75

Pocket: 1.9

Seat bag: 5.25

Gas tank: 0.75

Frame: 4.4

Camelbak w/o water: 7.5

Total: 56.9

W/100 oz water: 6.25

Total: 63.2


I did another ride that same summer that was 4 days long. I added 3 days of riding clothes instead of 1 and 4 days of food instead of one. I didn’t weigh this bike but the additional weight should have been only 1 to 2 lbs more.




Back in the 80s, I carried probably 20 lbs more. My tent was 7 lbs (my current tent is 2), my sleeping bag was 5, my pad was 3 lbs (my current sleeping bag and pad are 4.7), and I was carrying a cook set that was regular pots with the handles removed (3qt aluminum pot, 2qt aluminum pot, and 8” frying pan). And the bike was a steel tank.




My touring weight has dropped over the years significantly…by about 30 lbs…but I just don’t see how to drop another 10 to 20 lbs. Nothing I carry now is particularly heavy.

staehpj1

I don't think that carrying more or less makes you soft or not.

I carry big loads when I was young and didn't know any other way. I think the most was a winter backpacking trip where my pack was 80# at the start and we wound up splitting one guys gear because be was having difficulty so I took on a bit more weight. I don't think my hardass card got revoked when I learned to pack light and later ultralight.

You can carry a lot and do easy terrain and short mileage days. You can also do death march trips carrying a featherlight load.

balto charlie

The only reason I went back into backpacking was the recent surge of ultralight gear. Huge difference.

It seems you have gear whittled down. I use tarp, bivy, quilt, pocket rocket stove, titanium pot.

Food and clothes are the final frontier Wool doesn't stink so no need to carry a lot but does not dry as quickly as synthetics. If my trips are long I use synthetics, easier to wash. I pack my own food, buy some bulk freezed dried foods and make packs at home. I do this mostly for space, store bought freeze dried food is bulky. Good recipes on the internet.

Then there is water: Sawyer filter

Tourist in MSN

One more quick note, you asked about light stuff that works. Gauvins on this forum was experimenting with stove and pot combinations looking for very light and fuel efficient cooking gear. You might want to look at some of his comments on that, I think those forum posts were last fall.

The pots that have heat exchangers and stove pot combinations can be very effective for a rapid water boil with minimal fuel usage. I see through hikers often using them if they are trying to use the add-boiling-water-to-the-pouch type meals, etc.

I do not mind being stuck in the past with my titanium pot and butane stove that might burn more fuel, but it is a lot easier to stir a viscous soup or stew in a real pot. But my goals are to enjoy the trip, not score mileage counts. So, I will bring the pepper grinder.

The pot in the photo is stainless, not titanium, but the photo is from a canoe trip where weight is much less important.

indyfabz

Two stinky men out of the woods. My guide (in the hat) was a beast, but even he wouldn't bathe in the lakes are streams we camped along. I learned why the first day. Brrrr!

staehpj1

That is always the rub for some potential trips. Filters are great and I rely on them but, where there isn't water to filter or a way to cache there just isn't a way to have a light load if you have to go days between resupply. That has been my reason for skipping some trips both backpacking and MTB backcountry bikepacking I'd like to do. I am just no longer willing to be a pack mule. Okay so maybe I am getting soft in my old age I will still do long hard days though.

Tourist in MSN

That is another topic I differ with the ultra light crowd. They will stand there squeezing water through a bladder for 20 minutes to get some water through their filter.

But I carry a second bladder and some tubing from the hardware store (a few more ounces), and use a gravity system. I am happy to carry some extra ounces to save the time of trying to use muscle power to squeeze water through a bladder when gravity will do it for me. My Sawyer filter (below) is the double threaded version of their mini filter.



Most stores do not carry the double threaded version, I got it from Amazon.

It also helps for campsites that have no water where you need to carry water several miles to the camp, having a second two liter bladder helps simplify getting enough water into your pack to bring to that campsite without risking dehydration.

Chuck Naill

I've hiked a lot. What one needs is directly proportional to the elements and personal physiology. Then, there is the concern for the ones with which you are hiking. Do they have enough to stay alive?

Calsun

My first tour of 1000 miles my bike and gear weighed about 50 lbs with half of that weight being my gear. Not a problem on flat terrain but not ideal when going up long uphill grades. My second tour was with my kit reduced to 15 lbs in total.

It helps if there are two people as they can share the weight of a ground cloth or camp stove and pot and fuel bottle and bike repair tools. On the first trip my buddy and I took a tent but it turned out to be a complete waste as we did not want to take the time to set it up in the dark and we did not want to lose time hitting the road the next day. Not using a tent made us less conspicuous when spending the night on private lands or in a cemetary.

We started using only a ground cloth. If morning dew put moisture on our down sleeping bags we would let them dry out in the sun on our lunch stop or if going through a town we would look for a laundromat and put our bags in one of the large dryers.

staehpj1

I count ounces obsessively, but I agree that using gravity is worth a few ounces to avoid the hassle of squeezing bags. At least it is in places where you are getting a lot of water that way. If the filter is a back up or once in a while thing maybe not.

Tourist in MSN

Agree 100 percent. The OP is talking about biking where I suspect frequent treatment is not in question, but also backpacking where daily filtering is likely needed. My photo of the gravity system is from my backpacking trip last summer. I filtered two liters every day, the bladders were two liter size each. Did not bother to filter the water that I boiled, which was maybe another 1.5 liters per day.

One bike tour I did, I did not want to carry much weight in treatment stuff in the unlikely event that I might have to treat water, but I wanted to be prepared in case I did have to treat. I bought a Steripen for that trip, weighed 75 grams, volume was minimal. Never needed it, but having it gave me the confidence that I did not need to obsess about my water supply.

zandoval 

I no longer hike and my Medic days are over... But still I, like so very many others, am always interested in lightening my load. Sure, allot of the gadgets and gizmos now days are laughable. But I am always looking. So how about that 8" cast Iron Skillet? No, No way...

Till ya need it.
Going lighter on any tour is a never ending challenge. Bravo!

indyfabz

Several years ago I gave a lot of advice to a local couple who was planning to ride from the east coast to SoCal in connection with a move. I almost gasped when I saw the early entries of their CGOB journal. They were carrying, among other things, a full sized, cast iron skillet and a Park Tools floor pump. And the wife kept mentioning packing up her books. Plural. From what I could tell, she had over a half dozen.

Needless to say, they were constantly complaining about ever little hill. I sent them messages like lose the floor pump for something like a Road Morph, but it was no use. I’m OK they got a ride to somewhere in TX and abandoned.