Originally Posted by
Bacciagalupe
I did a week with a small 1L Camelbak, which I'd guess weighs 4 pounds with a little stuff in it. It worked out OK, but I don't think I would want to tour with a larger, heavier, bulkier backpack.
Using a backpack certainly won't kill you. I'm thinking that you won't want to do it twice.
I agree that weight will be a factor here. When riding around Australia I carried a Camelbak. Typically in the outback I'd have 8L of water including 3L in a Camelbak. Very occasionally on most remote stretches I would carry up to 18L - and this meant have two 3L bladders in the Camelbak pack. So I've carried ~6-12lbs for some extended times and agree if things are light enough that a backpack can be an alternative.
When I've seen this topic come up in this group, it sometimes has been with much bulkier or heavier sized backpacks. For a while, when I didn't have a washer/dryer in my residence I tried the alternative of cycling to laundromat with full frame backpack filled with laundry. The times I did that convinced me that it would be much more comfortable if I moved laundry using a bike trailer than a frame pack - and this was a case where laundromat was only a few miles away. It was also case where full-frame backpack added extra fun...