Originally Posted by
Rowan
I have made my point about the bike being included in weight, but to ram it home a little:
To discount the bike is like saying an UL backpacker can pack light... into an eight-pound, heavy-duty, galvanised-steel-tube-framed, canvas pack... and still be walking UL.
C'mon, the bike is an essential part of the whole touring package here. Without it, there is no touring, let alone L, UL or SUL touring.
That's where I'd disagree.... a person sleeping under a tarp, making popcan stoves as needed and foregoing extra shoes is riding SUL, even if their bicycle is a Trek520 or a LHT or an ordinary.
Correspondingly, a rider on a Cannondale CAAD 6 is NOT riding SUL if they're carrying a pair of jeans and a kindle, but still under some arbitrary weight limit.
a bicycle is part of the base of the equation of bicycle touring, not a variable. each person has to ride exactly 1 bike.
Some of the more analytical types will want to include discrete values for all this stuff. And, weight weenies by definition look to shave ounces in a competition with themselves or others.
UL touring is a mindset and gear philosophy, not a weight off a scale IMO.