Originally Posted by
Rowan
Are you taking into account the number and weight of the containers required for butane and other fuels? Plus the inconvenience of packing an odd-dimensioned containeer that you cannot decant from?
Yes actually I am taking that into account. I have not done the calculation lately because alcohol is the slam dunk winner for both weight and availability on pretty much any bike tour I have done.
Alcohol is also likely to be the weight winner for short backpacking trips, but by a lesser margin. I forget the exact length of time between restock where butane started to have a weight advantage when I last did the calculation, but I think it was at about a week between restocking. Of course that will vary with the particular stoves and fuel containers.
If I go more off of the beaten path for a week or more I'll take butane or white gas, but I usually only do that on wilderness canoe trips.
I do have a planned backpacking trip where I am still undecided on fuel. It is 3-4 weeks long and I am trying to figure out fairly frequent mail drops so I can go light. If the mail drops work out frequently enough I'll go with alcohol.