My touring experience has been with rear panniers or front+rear combo when we travel with our kids.

This spring we (my wife and I) will probably be trying to ride with front panniers only. These would be Ortlieb classic/Tubus Tara, at 25L/pair (vs 40L for a pair of rear classic).

I think that we can manage on 50L between the both of us, for a self supported tour (i.e. camping+cooking) It'll simply be a matter of trying to fit everything in at home and adjusting our packing list until everything fits with room to spare.

This being said, two questions: 1. 25L per person is not much. Even backpacking we'd hike with 34L backpacks. Are there larger options available? 2. Anything else worth knowing beforehand?