Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
No insulated bubble for me, I tour between 2 and 4 months per year and have opted for a very lightweight setup no regrets. If you want to play silly bugger and ask me to show you weight comparisons for all the equipment used it can easily be done and available and I am sure your are well aware of the lighter replacements. You keep asking what’s new but the real question is what’s readily available and that’s obvious if you choose to look. Yes there is a diminishing contingent of the fully loaded touring individuals mostly encountered on the well established routes such as Eurovelo and a large number riding e-bikes. It’s all good and if you chose to pack chinos and garden furniture that’s fine.
See now you're shifting the goalposts. It's no longer modern innovation, but rather what's available. But even that's untrue. There's a more competition in the bikepacking market, but getting a framebag or a large capacity saddle bag etc. has been possible for 20 years now for those who had the motivation for it. A host of small bags strapped around a bike frame were't cheap then and they aren't cheap now. But each to their own. Bad sleep, crotch "cooked" meals and stinking like a horse isn't really my jam when I'm taking my vacay.
What you're probably seeing on eurovelos etc. is newbies. It's fashionable nowdays to ride gravel bikes with lotsa small bags. But they'll learn. Or quit. And I'll continue to help them when their streamlining leaves them stranded.