pathdoc

If you are touring on your tandem, do you have any pics of you bike fully loaded? I am interested in seeing how much stuff you can reasonably carry on a tandem tour.

phoran

i have a devil of a time uploading pics here. But we are setting off on GOBA (great ohio bike adventure) on Father's day. like last year, the burley will carry a handlebar pack, rack trunk and rear panniers. Wayne at thetouringstore.com set me up with a matching set in blue!

pathdoc

Sounds cool.

phoran

i don't have front racks, but that setup carries a lot of stuff. and it seems to help with the unequal weight distribution on the bike (capt 245#, stoker 75#).

Ritterview

There must be a big difference in load depending on whether the riders are camping or staying in motels. Tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cookset, etc. Is there a different designation for touring styles?

phoran

oh, i don't haul all that stuff! i think it would be tricky to carry everything for tent camping. credit card touring, or supported tours like GOBA are easy.

pathdoc

I was thinking of the cheap touring from campsite to campsite requiring you to bring a tent. Just wondering where and how to pack all of the required items.

phoran

for all that stuff, you would definitely need the space in the front panniers.

prathmann

Don't have any pictures, but on our first tour on our tandem we only had a rear rack so everything had to go back there. Also didn't have the best gear for compact and lightweight camping so it was quite a load with a 4-man tent, non-compressing K-Mart sleeping bags, assorted kitchen pots/pans and a Coleman gasoline stove, etc. Bike plus gear weighed in at 100 lbs. with most of that in the rear panniers and on top of the rack. At least one plus was that cars gave us some extra room due to the sleeping bags sticking way out to the sides.

Later got a front rack and a second set of full-size panniers to even out the load.

yeamac 

Yes, let's see the eye candy. Pretty please?

I dream of doing some credit card touring with my wife once the kids get a little older and we end up buying a road tandem. I've only been tandeming for a month but like to live vicariously through the rest of you and daydream when my wife and I can do this ourselves.

duppie

Staying in motels is usually referred to as "credit-card touring"; camping is referred to as "self-supported touring" unless a SAG wagon carries your belongings in which case it is called "supported touring".

Sofar we have done one "credit-card tour" (i.e. staying in hotels) We went from Springfield, IL to Joliet, IL following the Route 66 Bicycle Trail (most of it is actually on-road riding). This is what we looked like:



It was a 4 day, 3 night tour and obviously we packed too much stuff. But we still did better than our friends who had 2 similar panniers each loaded to the nines.
The panniers are Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus on a cheap Performance rack. I intend to replace the rack someday with a Tubus Cargo Rack
The front rack is a Tubus Tara (and we have Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus panniers to go with them)
Panniers and front rack were purchased from Wayne @ TheTouringStore.com. He has excellent customer service, competitive pricing and free shipping. He says he is the largest Ortlieb dealer in the US.

We plan to do our first self-supported tour next month in Northern Michigan, but we won't be bringing cooking gear

We have done two fully loaded test rides (40 and 60 miles). We just packed the panniers with dirty laundry and books. I strongly suggest you do that as well before you go out on your first trip, because the handling is quite different. It is harder to start and stop with the extra weight and it appears to be more straight tracking, meaning making turns was a little harder to do

Duppie

andydreisch

Loads and loads of journals accompanied by pix of weighed-down tandems located here.

Andy

duppie

If you are into loaded touring visit this website. Some of the finest bike-porn available anywhere!
My personal favorite:

That picture makes me want to leave work now, go home, pack my bags, and leave...
Duppie

phoran

duppie,
Are you planning your ride in the northern LP, or the UP of Michigan? there are some fun hills up there!

Ritterview

Geez, a lot of those bikes look like their riders need to spend some time at the Backpacking Light forum. Touring by road bike, since there is access to convenience stores, should involve less load than backpacking in the wilderness. Yet many of the bikes depicted are 'fully loaded' then some.

Here's my 18 lb. pack, during a 4 night backpacking trip last summer.




Here is one of those 'fully loaded' tandems. I'd having everything for two in the two rear panniers, and that's it.

yeamac 

Hmmm, looks to me like you are traveling pretty light. I don't know how we'll ever do it because my wife packs more stuff than that for just a one night stay! I guess, like the suitcase, she'll get half my side of the pannier, too.

duppie

LP. We plan to go from Muskegon north to Manistee, then East into the the Manistee National Forest and South from there back to Muskegon. Four or five days.
Are you familiar in the Manistee National Forest? It's unclear from Google sattelite view whether the roads in the forest are paved or wether they are packed dirt. I want to avoid having to purchase a gazillion detailed topographic maps, and it appears that Michigan does not have bike specific maps covering the entire state (like Illinois has).
Duppie

tandem rider

To see pictures of tandems on loaded tours go to www.crazyguyonabike.com and look at the tandem section.

Sheldon and Martha Hall
Greenfield, IN

rosiewoodboat

There are a bunch of photos from our week long camping honeymoon of Nova Scotia from last summer on our website. Here is an example shot showing the tandem and the BOB trailer. The BOB was packed a bit better after this photo was taken. One big change we've made since last summer was replace our old large thermarests with new ones that actually pack small.

https://honeycycle.com/picsengine/#album=2/photo=48

masiman

Would a GPS be worthwhile for your needs?

phoran

i would be surprised if the roads in the manistee forest are paved. it's pretty wild in there.

mibike

If you go to https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,...223---,00.html there is options to download or order different maps. The ones I like are under the "Regional Bike Maps" link. You can download pdf files or order a paper copy. They show unpaved, paved, paved with paved shoulder and traffic volume.

Dave

duppie

mibike,
Thanks for that link. I had been there before but had not found the area we needed. Looking at it again more closely it turns out to be there, at least partially.
Thanks again.
Duppie

zonatandem

Have done credit card and supported tours for years.
On short (3 to 4 days) credit card tours we have the weight whittled down to 22 lbs in trunk rack/rear panniers.That means minimal gear. Wash out cycling clothes in motel.
Suppported tours you only need a trunk bag for gear (like arm/leg warmers, tyvek jacket, snacks, etc.).
If you treally want to carry a big load, get a trailer + front and rear panniers. But be prepared to be stuggling up the hillls and with such a load at slowspeeds you'll be a bit wobbly.
Toured the UP in Michigan back in mid-70s. Drummond Island was a great place to ride but Mackinac Island was a real zoo . . . no cars, but cyclists all over the place that had no clue on what they were doing . . . like half dozen of them congregated in the middle of the road. And, oh yes, watch out for all that horse manure!
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

zonatandem

Duppie: Love your retro jersey with the Belgian national colors!