Originally Posted by
Appolion
I've been thinking about touring the west coast, but have never toured before. Does anyone just take a trailer? What are some of the downsides of that? Also, I'm an avid backpacker and so I have a lot of gear that I think will transfer over well. Things like my tent(REI 2person 5lbs), tarp, stove/fuel/pots, and most importantly, my backpack. I was thinking it might be easier for me to just mount my backpack onto the rear of the bike above the tire on a rack. For going around corners though, it seems like it'd be a better idea to keep an even load F/R. So maybe I could use the BP on the rack in the rear and get some front tire saddlebags to even it out. The backpack is about 5lbs and can hold ~4500cu in. I wonder if I'll need more space than that?
While panniers are the clear favorite with the touring mob, there are some good reasons to use a trailer.
1. Trailers are good if you don't want to invest in a specially made touring bike. You can attach a trailer to almost any kind of bicycle, put your gear inside the trailer, and pull the thing behind you! Not having to invest in a new touring bike is a big attraction for some people.
2. Trailers are also easier to pack. Typically, trailers have one main compartment and it is easy to just throw your things into the trailer and take off down the road. Packing you panniers is not always as easy.
3. Trailers are great for off-road bicycle tours. Some long-distance cyclists like to ride on narrow trails and bumpy fire roads, and trailers typically outperform panniers in this area.
In most cases however, panniers are probably going to be the ideal way to carry your gear.
1. One of the main reasons panniers are preferred over trailers is that your bike is much more compact when cycling with panniers. As soon as you attach a trailer to your bicycle, you are suddenly twice as long as you normally would be on a regular bike.
2. In most cases the added length of your bicycle and trailer isn't a problem, but when you start riding in traffic and need to navigate your way around small or perilous obstacles, you're really going to have a hard time, and could seriously get injured in the process.
3. Another benefit of using panniers is that you will have fewer wheels touching the ground when you use this method. The drawback of a trailer is that it adds 1 or 2 more wheels to your rig. And the more wheels you have touching the ground, the more traction you are creating and the more you are going to have to work to get your bike and gear up and over the hills you are sure to encounter.
4. Panniers are also easier travel with on trains, planes, boats, and buses, because they can be compacted down and carried in relative ease. Whereas traveling with a trailer is not always so easy due to their size.
If you go the pannier route you'll want to invest in panniers not jerry rig a backpack due to the higher center of gravity that will cause. Here's a large selection of panniers, the best are the Ortliebs but their also the most expensive, however if your going to do a lot of touring then get the best otherwise for just one trip find something less expensive like the Avenir Excursion Large Panniers for the rear that hold up to 1700 cubic inches, it got high reviews but cost little. Add on top of the rear rack your tent, mat, and tarp and strap those down. Then the Avenir Excursion Small pannier for the front which will hold up to 1,464 cubic inches. Then a large handlebar bag with a plastic sleeve on top for maps like the Louis Garneau Box HB 8.5 bag that will hold up to 518 cubic inches. So with all the panniers and handlebar bag you have about 3,682 cubic in of holding space, not including the tent, mat and tarp strapped to the rear rack. That should be plenty of space.
Tip, whether you get a trailer or panniers even with rain covers be sure to put things you don't want to get wet in plastic zip lock bags.
Normally a loaded bike will carry about 50 to 60 pounds of gear, with panniers divided 60% of the weight on the rear and 40% on front. The Avenir's can hold about 1,700 cubic inches on the rear plus the tent, pad, tarps etc rolled up and strapped to the top of the rear rack.
The two person tent you have will be fine to start with. You should have a ground cover for the tent, and either a tarp for the bike or some sort of bike cover if you want to protect it from rain. You didn't mention the campy gear you have so here's some web sites that can assist you further in touring info and what to carry. And I also highly recommend you do a weekend tour to shake down equipment to see what you need or don't need, and to get familiar with the stuff.
http://www.adventurecycling.org/ Great touring maps are available here too if you need them.
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/ Lots of great reading here by an expert in touring.
http://bicycleuniverse.info/touring/ Good general info.
http://www.bicycletouring101.com/TableOfContents.htm Another great resource.
http://www.myra-simon.com/myra/bike/tips.html More great info by another expert in touring.