Originally Posted by
staehpj1
I have taken either a 10 ounce REI Flash 18 or a 2.4 ounce Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil one and been happy with them. Initially I took one to use for carry extra stuff on those few days where I needed more than a day of water or something
I was wondering about those sea to summit ones. I thought about picking one up for grocery runs late at night. I typically carry very little food, then when I'm preparing to camp I'll stop by a grocery store and pick up a fruit smoothie, foot long sub, or whatever else looks good for dinner. Some sort of backpack with a minimal weight penalty would be nice for that.
Originally Posted by
reppans
Great stuff guys...
I have a CX bike that I'm looking to rig bike-packing style for longer rides and unpaved rail-trail touring that will probably take me into @
nun 's ~37 lbs / 30 liter range. I too am opting for a tent (double-wall), some cooking gear, and a change of clothing or two - can't seem to get much below 15 lbs on the gear and bags half.
At the moment, I'm currently short-touring with ~43 lbs / 30Ls, and while it's neither particular lightweight nor fast, I have a feeling it might be the most "compact" rig here -
clicky 
.
I've used tents in the past with under 10lb setups. I did a 1400 mile 2 week tour with a Eureka Solitaire. You can definitely find lighter tents but for the price to weight ratio its hard to beat.
Also your folding bike setup is awesome! That looks perfect for people that enjoy visiting various attractions like your photo shows. I can definitely see the appeal of that!
Originally Posted by
Will Wheeler
I tried one of those proper bikepacking saddle bags last fall but I didn't like ii. Now it's for sale. Too much swaying for my taste
That can definitely be an issue with packs like the Viscacha. On that tent tour I just mentioned I carried all my gear in a Viscacha except for a small top tube pouch for my phone and wallet. It swayed a lot. Another thing I've learned is pack the heaviest items closest to the seatpost.
I bought the Tangle frame bag so I could spread the weight out more and utilize that wasted space in my frame to avoid this issue.
Originally Posted by andrewclaus
At some point you get light enough and it's not fun or worthwhile getting lighter.
True. I've added a few minor things that I could definitely do without. I don't need a pillow, in the past I just used my spare clothing as one. But I decided 2.5oz is worth the comfort increase. I could also leave my bluetooth speaker at home, but riding to some acoustic folk music as you're soloing through the mountains puts a smile on my face
Originally Posted by
BigAura
I like your video. Nice work! Looks like you enjoyed a great adventure.
Personal Comment: Your experience should be a cautionary-tale for those who want to believe that ultralight rigs are a direct replacement for more robust riggings, as espoused by myself and others
Thanks! I'm not sure what you mean about robustness though? I had the same number of flats on my last trip as I did on my first with that wide tired MTB. Same number as my first road bike tour where I ran gatorskins. I've had two racing bike tours with no flats (1400 miles on 25mm gatorskins & 800 miles on specialized roubaix pro 23/25mm). Those 24 spoke wheels supported around 230lbs without issue as well.
Originally Posted by
BigAura
I'm all for a carbon-touring-bike, but I haven't seen anything that hits the nail on the head. Repurposing racing-bikes for touring doesn't cut it as it once did. To replace the steel-touring-bike we're gonna need a purpose-built carbon-touring-bike, IMO.
What needs of yours do they not that the steel framed touring built ones do? Maybe you do more off-roading than I do, or ride in snowy weather? I'd use a CX bike with much wider tires if In conditions like that, but for road touring my Emonda meets my needs. Of course everyone wants something different from a tour, which is why I ask
Originally Posted by
DXchulo
Interesting. I'm debating panniers vs. bikepacking bags right now. My main tour in 2017 will be credit card style, so I won't be camping and can go very light. My only issue is there are some days where there's a long distance between water spots, so I'll be carrying a heavy load of water.
I already have the rack and panniers and old habits are hard to break.
Personally after being comfortable in cold weather with 10lbs of gear on a camping tour with no credit card, I'd feel like panniers are overkill. If I were credit card touring I could use this same setup with no trunk bag and attach another water bottle cage behind the seat. I've run this same frame bag on other road bikes and carried two water bottles. With two bottles and my 2.5L bladder I could go 80-100 miles without needing to stop for water, assuming I'm not somewhere ridiculously hot / humid. Here's a photo of a setup with the frame bag and two water bottles I used for the Blue Ridge Parkway:
Of course an argument can be made to use panniers, since you already own them