Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - I'm an Athena. My bike is a Clyde.

Getting ready for a tour next week, hoping to ride the P'tit Train du Nord trail up in Quebec. So I'm looking over my bike, making sure that I give it all the little upgrades that I need to for the ride.

Start with a Cannondale Adventure 400: hybrid/city bike with a front suspension fork. Add a rear rack and a front bag for riding around town. Add some fenders for commuting along an unpaved MUP. Don't forget the lights. And because I live in Philadelphia, give it a hefty U-lock, as well. (I have the Adventure 400 after I learned the hard way that the lock I used to have wasn't good enough for Philly!)

Then get it ready for the tour. Get the front rack out of storage, and add it to the bike. Track down a nifty set of water bottle mounting brackets and a side-entry bottle holder, so that I can (finally!) carry two bottles of water on my almost-mixty frame.

Now: no panniers, yet. The water bottles haven't been filled. The tent and the sleeping bag haven't been strapped to the rack. Just the bike (OK, the bike & the fenders & the racks & the lock -- but I think of it as just the bike).

Forty pounds.

No wonder I don't like hills!

My goal is for me, the bike, and the luggage to weigh less than just I did this time two years ago. I'll keep you posted.

I always wondered how people manged to trudge along mile and mile with the loaded bikes. It looks so hard to me.

i changed bikes earlier this year. Went from 37# to 25#. It is stunning what i can do now compared to the old beast. I am climbing hills where my back is slipping. Before I would have been walking.

That said, I should have lost the weight, but this was much easier :rolleyes:

That said, I should have lost the weight, but this was much easier :rolleyes:

It made no sense to me to spend the money to get a new, lighter bike when I knew that I'd have a new, lighter engine (ie, me) in just a few weeks.

I've got some serious day-dreaming and window-shopping to do!

My bike is about 18 pounds with lights and pedals.

Are you really going to be carrying four water bottles? I got one of these a couple years ago, mainly for hiking, and it's starting to come on mountain rides with me. The first one I did this year, I had misplaced my purifier and had to turn back when I ran out of water. Lesson learned.

http://www.gadgetsandgizmos.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/steripen.jpg

Are you really going to be carrying four water bottles?


I'm happy that I now have the capability to carry two water bottles. The Adventure 400, size medium, comes with just one place to mount a water bottle holder. I just got a gadget that looks sort of like purpose-made tie wraps with knobs to mount a water bottle on ("Elite VIP bottlecage clips"); that, plus a side-entry bottle, lets me mount a 2nd bottle on the frame.

I'll also carry some bleach tablets for decontamination if I need to use roadside streams, etc.

Not hard to find a 2-bottle rack that mounts under your saddle. Roadies use them all the time.

Not hard to find a 2-bottle rack that mounts under your saddle. Roadies use them all the time.

Profile design makes one that mounts to the seat and another that mounts to the seatpost, but the problem with this is that water bottles in that location tend to be in the way of the items packed on top of the rear rack. If I need more water bottles while touring I just throw them in the panniers.

OP I have the same problem with my touring bike, it weighs 23 lbs without any racks or bags. I'm near 30 lbs with just the racks on the bike. I have never weighed my touring gear but it feels like a ton.

Have a great trip, and I hope your smaller motor makes the difference!

We've seen cyclists riding along the Pacific coast roads all summer, and I'm super impressed with their ability to pack SO MUCH STUFF on a bike, and to proceed to ride really far (up and down hills) on it. I aspire to one day ride for a couple days along the coast, but am probably not the hardy type to do it for much longer. Plus, the state parks aren't really clustered close enough together for my liking. ;)