I've been riding with the same people for 17 years, I think. This is how we've been touring for many years. We have two sag cars to transport luggage, water, and food. We have a half-way picnic out of the sags. The 1500 arrival is not mandatory, but no one wants to miss the beer and chips celebration at the end of each day's ride. And these folks I ride with mostly don't know the meaning of non-competitive riding. It's always fun. 8 lbs. is about right for what we carry on our tandem counting water. Most folks carry less. So this sounds like a very sensible plan to me.

It obviously could be done without the sags, but they are an important safety factor on a fast tour. Sometimes riders fall apart, sometimes things break, and we frequently tour in areas without many amenities, since our chosen route will not depend on them.

My group rides the bike they've been using, mostly Ti or carbon, a few steel. No aluminum that I recall. The newer bikes are all carbon.