Originally Posted by staehpj1

That "percentage of total weight including rider" metric gets used a lot, but I think it is a bad way to look at it. I tend to think of it this way, taking a 21 pound item instead of a 30 pound one is a 30% weight savings for that single item. This also applies to small light items. If you manage to make similar decisions for many items you can save very substantial weight.

Even on items where the difference is small it matters. People will say "That tent is only an extra 8 ounces. That is the weight of a good drink of water". The fallacy is that it is one of many choices. If you err on the heavy side for one choice it may be no big deal, but there are many choices and they add up. Also remember that many of those choices can be to leave things behind altogether. I went from carrying 45-50 pounds of gear to 10-15 pounds of gear by going on the lighter side of small choices over and over again. I still was able to comfortably camp and cook.

On the other hand I do think that camping gear and clothing is a more important place to lose weight that the bike itself, especially if the bike becomes less reliable with the weight reduction. Lighter is better, but only if it remains suitable to the usage and reliable enough.

I think that body weight should be considered but as a separate thing. The best approach there is to just try to maintain a healthy weight for you, not necessarily the lightest possible weight. Some of us could stand to lose a few pounds, but lighter isn't necessarily better there for every one. I actually prefer to start a long tour at a little higher body weight because I tend to lose too much weight on tour for the first few weeks.