Originally Posted by nun
Its possible to tour for extended periods with full camping gear, 2 days or food and 3 water bottles and only put
an extra 20 to 25 lbs on the bike. If your road bike has clearance for 28 or 32 mm tyres its possible to tour on it if you keep the weight of gear down to below 25lbs. If your kit is, say 40lbs, it would be a disaster.
When I say road bike I don't mean a carbon fiber speed machine with 5 spokes per wheel, but some Al,Ti or CrMo
machine
Good post, and a great point for anyone looking to camp on a modest racing bike rather than a TdF machine.
Light camping with only 20 pounds and even a good deal less is quite possible in today's world of 2-pound backpacker tents. There is again a law of diminishing returns for dealing with every circumstance the lighter you wish to go, but depending on your trip and where it is, this is an extremely variable problem. I wouldn't attempt a tour in Vietnam with such a set-up, but in the US? Why not? As long as the thing was comfortable enough to carry me the distances I intend for any given day and can carry the absolute essentials, it seems quite possible considering that most "disasters" could be rectified in the next town on the map.