deerhoof

I finished packing all my gear on my bike for a month long off road trip and was suprised by the weight. My front panniers came in at 13 lbs each, plus my sleeping bag on the top plate. I intentionally packed the front with a lot of food because of the remoteness of my first week.

My rear panniers are at about 15 llbs a piece with a 3 lb tent and a 15lb 10 litre (when full) dromedary on top. Im running cold springs racks on the front and the back with a dynamic load rating of 50lbs and plan on hitting some rough terrain. A total weight of 76lbs. Realistically I can probably drop half the water on certain areas and plan on loosing 1/3 of the food in the first week.

So, am i carrying to much weight?

:also, I have a ulock in the back which I am carrying the reciept for so that if its a drag I can drop it off at rei on my way and exchange for a cable lock.

bccycleguy

Your bike looks like it's got a lot of gear on it!

I did a 2-week long, solo Canadian Rockies trip last September (Golden - Jasper return) and my bike (Trek 7500FX) and all the gear, racks, panniers front and back, etc came to exactly 75 lbs including the bike but without consumables (I weighted it the day before I left). Then add 15 lbs. of water, freeze-dried emergency food, fuel and regular food for a total of 90lbs. on the first day. Most of the time it was probably about 85 lbs. I tried to keep as much weight as possible in the front panniers. I used Arkel XM-42's and XM-28's.

I experienced and was prepared for days of rain, some snow and temperatures that dropped to -6 degrees C (21F) one morning. I took 3 complete sets of clothing plus runners and a few town clothes. I was camping (with a 1-man tent), but stayed in Youth Hostels sometimes too.

Can't really comment on your gear without knowing what you've got and what conditions you are going to be traveling in.

The weight is always suprising!

supcom

It seems like a lot of gear, especially for off-road. If you were hiking, you'd surely find a way to cut the weight down. A 50 lb pack would be considered quite heavy these days, including food and water. You have more than that before water. I expect you have a lot of non-essentials that can be left at home. you have 30 lbs of gear in your rear without including the tent, sleeping bag, food, or water!

What do you have in your rear panniers?

deerhoof

I looked over my list and the only things I can find that I think I could do without is the u lock, a full 22 oz fuel bottle and my minidisc player. Other than that I think I need the rest.

I took it for a off road test ride today, other than the dromadary sloshing from side to side and creating a shimmy, it felt pretty good.

This is my first long back country tour, so im sure I over prepared in some areas. I'll try to shed some weight as the trip progreses.

barba

Post your pack list

deerhoof

FRONT LEFT-

small film camera

bunch of food : (as far as the food goes, I have about 8 days worth. I bought way to much initially, and wanted to use it up. the front panniers will probably drop half the weight in a week and then I could move some stuff around.)

map case

RIGHT FRONT-

toilet kit- all the basics plus small saline bottle, toe nail clippers.

bear throw line

bear mace in top pocket

LEFT BACK-

clothing- rain gear, light warm running top and bottom, convertable pants, wool socks, light warm gloves.

cooking-small msr steel pot, whisper light w/ small maint kit, ti spoon and knife, small can opener, coffee stick thing, spare 22oz fuel bottle full w/ 33oz in lower bottle cage, water purifier.

ect- petzl, mini disc w/ 5 discs, wallet, medium size first aid kit, 5 spokes, rain covers for 2 panniers.

RIGHT BACK-

Clothing- extra jersey, t shirt, cycling short underwear thing (so i can use the convertable shorts for a back up), 2 extra socks, 1 pair underwear.

Tools- 1 tube, 3 patch kits, small chain lube, derail and brake cables, disc pads, pressure gauge, super glue, safety pins, long shoe laces. torx, 2 levers, alien tool.

ect- 1.5 in therma rest, onguard bulldog u lock, toilet paper, cotton mummy liner, 1 paper back,



on back - 3 lb tent , ten litre dromedary ( about 15lbs full)

on front- 2lb sleeping bag

thats about except for really light stuff.

sth

Could you ditch the big water pack and fill water bottles on the way? Get an MSR filter if you dont think you will have reliable water.

I am heading out in two weeks for a three week tour. A couple recent weekend trial runs with the new bike and panniers left me rather depressed at the weight of it all. Along the highway one day I stopped at a truck scale and was very disheartened to see that the entire package, me included, was 110 kilos(245lbs). Take away me and the bike and the load was about 32 kilos (70lbs). I have been trying to figure out what can be left behind but it doesnt add up to much.

Guess we just have to grin and bear it.

8bit

The whisperlite/fuel combo is heavy. Have you considered either a stove that runs off gasoline or an alcohol stove? I assume that you're not melting snow for water, which is what the whisperlite is really made for. Hell, you could cook with esbit tabs- they just take a little longer. It's just a thought since you're carrying a 1 pound stove AND 55 fl. oz. of fuel.

Also, are you touring in places where there are no water sources like rivers or creeks? It sounds like you'll be carrying 2 or more gallons of water at times. Try some Aqua Mira - the drops weigh next to nothing and the water is near-city quality. You can run it though a bandana first as a pre-filter if you don't want particulate in your water.

Machka 

What is your body weight?

Your bicycle, plus all your gear should weigh half your body weight, or less.


At least, that is what works for me. Any more than that, and I have trouble getting up even small hills, it's difficult to haul all that weight up to the 7th floor in the hostel, and it is difficult to maneuver the bicycle.

deerhoof

The first part of my trip crosses the cascades through backroads (the leg im hauling all the food for), but there will be water, so I guess I can ditch most of the water. Later though im going through east oregon where water is more scarce, but I wont be hauling quite as much food. As for the fuel, im just playing it safe in not knowing what the terrain is like in the cascades.

I guess this solves most of my weight problems. I guess in all the prep I got unrealistic about what i need.

deerhoof

I weighed 150, but in training the last month I droped down to 137. Im sure that dead weight would get old fast.

deerhoof

were you running liquid fuel or canisters for that trip? havent taken the time to do the math as far as space / weight ratio on these.

NoReg

Well I don't think your stuff is all that heavy, unless you have more food than you need.

The stuff I would pitch is the stove, pot and fuel, the cotton liner for your bag, camera, bear mace (if you can carry it in a panier, then it's just a security blanket, you probably can't get to it 90% of the itme), toenail clippers (unless you are going for months, heck a nail file weighs less. I include a small piece of sandpaper glue to something), Wallet. I carry a lock, but in the backcountry, maybe you don't need it? petzl(I just use the headlight for everything), mini disc w/ 5 discs. Sounds like you have two pants. Pressure gage, therma rest (half foam pad). Sounds like you have a lot of clothes but mountains can bring that on.

I would take all the stuff I mentioned out, then ride your bike, if it seems no big difference just add it back to taste.

Machka 

Well, if I were you, I wouldn't go with any more than 70 lbs of stuff (bicycle + gear). So if your bicycle weighs 30 lbs, your gear shouldn't weigh more than 40 lbs.

You mention that your trip will be off-road. Does that mean mtn biking trails where you'll be up and over logs and things, negotiating steep sections of trail, and fording small streams, etc.? If so, then you will want to go as light as possible ...... otherwise you might find yourself making several trips across every obstruction you encounter because you'll have to take the panniers etc. off to carry the bicycle through. If you go light enough so that you can carry it all, that would make your trip that much easier and more enjoyable.

Are you carrying 8 days worth of food because you figure you won't encounter any civilization for 8 days? If there's any chance at all that you'll come across a grocery store every day or every other day, I'd reduce that amount down to about 2 days worth of food and maybe a few extra snacks.

supcom

Definitely lose the mini disc player. It's hard to see how your front pannier with toiletries and bear mace would come to 13 lbs. Bear mace must be pretty heavy stuff. If you really need it where you are going, that's fine, but otherwise, I'd ditch it. For toiletries, don't take more than you need. Travel sized items are better than full sized containers and can save significant weight.

I definitely think you have far too much fuel for 8 days. One 22 oz is probably enough. you could probably go lighter with an alcohol stove, but you'd have to do the analysis for your type of cooking. There's usually a break even point where gas stoves plus fuel are lighter than alcohol plus fuel since alcohol has less energy per ounce. If you replace the steel pot with aluminum (or Ti) you may save a few oz.

I'd ditch the padded underwear (and regular underwear) in favor of two pair of lycra shorts. The lycra shorts can double as regular underwear underneath your convertable pants.

The derail and brake cables, disc pads, and pressure gauge are all unneccessary. Put the new cables and disk pads on the bike before you go. You surely won;t have problems with them within a month. The pressure gague isn't critical for offroad use. If you really feel the need for one, get a pump with the gague built in.

The Ulock definitely should be left at home.

bccycleguy

I was using a Snow Peak Gigapower butane stove and a MSR butane/propane 100 gram canister (net). I was able to get about 3 days out a 100 gr. canister by being careful and only boiling water for coffee, soup, dinner and hot chocolate. Dinners were hot water based e.g. couscous, etc. Total weight of kitchen stuff about 500 gr. consisting of stove 90g, canister ~210g, titanium pot & lid 125g, spoon, knife, windscreen, lighter, etc. 75g. I bought new canisters a couple of times when passing through towns.