Good ideas---Thanks for sharing.

The only rule-of-thumb that I have heard of was from Machka-- I believe she said her goal was to keep the weight of the loaded bike less than half her body weight. Maybe she'll join in and correct/expand.

Interestingly enough, that is about where is about where my wife and I both started our last tour at, by using our packing lists that have gone through numerous iterations. I weighed about 150lbs. before the tour and my bike is about 26 lbs ( with pump etc) and panniers and gear was right at 40 lbs. I could have lightened it a little, but I used everything that I had except the spare tire. However, I'm glad I had it just for the peace of mind. My wife's bike and gear came in at about the same ratio. Our packing list is the results of over a dozen multi-week tours with a couple of multi-month ones thrown in. We think we have it dialed pretty good for us. However I know there is still room for improvement!