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).
Good question. FSO (from skin out) is not as well known to most as "base weight," which does not include stuff you always wear including the helmet, and stuff always on the bike like patch kit and pump. I personally never ride naked or without those things on the bike, so I don't consider FSO. Base weight should not include consumables like you said since they're so highly variable.
Though my base weight is around 17 pounds, I'd guess I would be in the same 25 pound FSO weight as you, since the load is hardly noticeable and I also have no front panniers or handlebar bag.
Are you also a hiker? I've met a few hikers who use FSO. There are also hikers who use the metric "with a full load of food and water," mainly on the AT. Well, what does that mean?