Originally Posted by
BlarneyHammer
When y'all say x pounds, what exactly do you mean?
Do you count food? Water? Your helmet? The clothes you're wearing? The panniers? The racks?
I use skin-out base weight: Everything minus my naked self, the bike, food, and water. Racks, panniers, helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, water bottles all count, even if they don't go in the panniers, because you still gotta push 'em up the hill. Food and water don't count because sometimes you're not carrying any, or very little.
Using this metric, I've only gotten as low as 25 pounds, and I feel like I'm packing light (no front panniers or handlebar bag).
For me, full skin out:
13 BPW - single pannier, full camping gear, gadgets, clothing, rain gear, good to ~40F
5 - worn clothing, pocket EDC
5 - consumables - 2 lbs (days) food, 3lbs water
32 - loaded bike, fenders, racks, tools, tube, cable lock, lights, helmet, 1lbs water
60lbs Max weight start of trip/after re-supply, from birthday suit, and can still shave weight (too much emergency use gear that never gets used).