I've done short trips (<2000 miles) in the US, and have gotten by with light gear (<25 lbs). However, I would like to take the bike to other countries and continents sometime in the future. So far, everyone who I've met doing something like that have carried a lot of stuff (like >40lbs) for long trips like that. On the other hand, there are countries overseas where your dollar can go a long way. What does a typical touring pack list look like for someone going around Africa, for example?

Here's mine:

I'm wondering what I'm missing..

Complete Bicycle Touring Gear Checklist

Just for reference

I can't answer your question, but I can say that this gal I met at a hiker biker site in Oregon or California had started in South Africa, gone up thru Africa, thru Europe, then to Asia, down to Australia, back up to Asia and Japan, then to Canada and when I met her she was heading south along the Pacific Coast in year seven of a very long trip. She said her bike had over 100,000 km on it and that her front panniers (Ortliebs) were with her since the start of her trip.



She had four panniers, a laptop, digital single lens reflex camera (I was surprised she was taking that heavy of a camera), two person tent (with a couple bent poles), she cooked on a butane mix type stove. Those are the only things I remember about her gear. It was clear that she was replacing things as they wore out, she said her tent was a couple years old.

I looked at her bike closely, she had stickers from all over the world on the frame, I have no idea what brand was under the stickers. One thing that shocked me was that she had an air adjustable front shock. She said that most of the parts on the bike had been replaced a couple of times. Her Tubus front rack had been repaired a few times, she was not replacing the rack since she liked that model and it was a discontinued model.

I think if Matchka does not respond to your post, you should contact her.
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/82...rld-we-go.html

Also, there was a gal named Nancy SV that went for a long trip from Canada to South America with her family of four.
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/73...nds-world.html

Often you hear that you don't need more gear for longer trips. That makes sense to some extent but on a trip of several months or years I would definitely bring some extra comforts. A bigger tent and a chair come to mind, possibly a full-size laptop, a 5 oz electric razor... I still think I could keep it under 40 lbs. On a really long trip you might be doing shorter days so the extra weight might not affect you as much. Most people will also lose weight, which will at least partially offset extra gear weight.

This makes sense... but what about when the trip reaches into places where services and supplies aren't available for long stretches? Bare minimum I would want to have tools and parts that I would not normally bring, and extra food & water. Also probably would be purchasing local clothing for the conditions, and that would not be ultralight stuff.

This is where I am from. if a tire blows 100 miles from the nearest town, and the nearest town is a gas station/feed and grain store, a church, a school, and a handful of houses ... yer skrewed.

I like to bring all the water I will possibly need for drinking and cooking, and enough food, knowing the next town might not have a camping goods store ... or even a grocery store. Water is heavy, but dehydration is a lot harder to ride through than fatigue from extra weight.

I like to bring hot weather-, cold weather-, and rain gear because all of that is important if you are going to be out there for more than a week, or at altitude, or in the desert, or all of the above.

It is possible to skip the tent and sleep wrapped up in a tarp if it rains, but it is nice to have a tent so you can actually get out of the rain and change clothes, go through gear, etc.

Oh, and I forgot a first-aid kit. Almost never need it--until you Really need it.

I also suggest some serious dry bags, because a couple days of riding in rain will soak or leak or condense through just about any "waterproof" pack system. I can usually count on triple-bagging individual items or small bundles in plastic bags, but plastic bags rip easily. Dry bags add weight but they Work. Not needed for everything, but not worthless IMO.

A light pot, a camp stove, a bottle of fuel, a sleeping bag and pad, a second pair of shoes or sandals ... credit card touring is a Lot of fun, but if you aren't going to buy much along the way (or might not have the option of buying much for a week or two,) you have to bring it. A lot of packing lists might be "the stuff I wish I had brought on my last trip."

Check out the packing list machka (see above) uses: Packing List

A few categories to think about:
- Health; look at the CDC travel web site, but one might need a Yellow Fever certificate to enter some borders. Malaria, typhoid medicines, etc as well as making sure routine immunizations are up to date.
- Travel; look up the State Department pages to make sure you know where you need a visa, particularly in advance
- Travel documents; sometimes useful to scan to electronic form and then have available via internet or USB key. Also useful to work out some contact lists in advance
- Language; what level of language proficiency are you looking for

I wouldn't expect the travel on bike list to change much, though depending on the country - it can be a lot more expensive in terms of both $ and time to get something shipped in, so one might plan a bit more around that. If not too much of a specialty item, then depending on country you can pretty much get what you'd get in US - but you might need to travel to do so.

Also there will be some things that vary depending on the countries you are visiting. For example, for a lot of India or Southeast Asia, one could make a trip w/o a tent but instead stay in guest houses or hotels. I wouldn't do that in western China or a lot of Africa though. Many countries you might find things in the large capital cities (e.g. a Nairobi or Cairo or Santiago or Bangkok) but the trick becomes trying to figure out how to find these places, particularly if you aren't a native speaker. Climate and weather requirements will obviously also vary.

I'll start by saying, I carry less on long tours than I do on short.

The reason for that is because I figure on a short tour, I don't have far to go so I can put the effort in and lug a few extra things with me.

But on a longer tour, do I really want to be slogging up hill after hill with all that weight? Nope. Do I really want to be slinging my bicycle and gear from one train to another with all that weight? No. Do I want to hike up 5 flights of stairs to get to the room in the hostel carrying all my stuff at the end of a long, hard day. Nope. Do I really want to pay quite a bit extra because my things are overweight at the airline check-in desk because that airline has reduced the weight/size/amount limits. Absolutely not ... although this is inevitably going to happen on a long tour that involves a lot of flights.

So I go as light as I can.

Plus I figure I can always pick stuff up along the way.

My setup while cycling around Australia for 3 months in 2004 ...

You can see both my cycling partner and my bicycle in these photos. That's all we had between us for 3 months. We did collect stuff along the way, and mailed packages home a couple times to keep the load light.

This was Rowan and my setup for a 1-month tour in Europe in 2007 ... and no, you're not seeing things. Rowan rode a fixed gear for that whole tour.

On Rowan and my 8-month round the world tour in 2012, we carried a bit more than I usually like to carry, but we knew we were going to pass through several seasons (and it seemed we ended up in a lot of autumns) and a variety of weather conditions. Plus the plan was to cycle as much as possible, and supplement the cycling with planes, trains and automobiles.

In Hong Kong, we just walked and took the trains. In Taiwan, we used trains, shuttle vans, and our bicycles. In Japan, we used our bicycles exclusively. In Europe it was a combination of bicycles, buses, trains and ferries. And when we got to North America, we employed a motor vehicle, but stopped to cycle as often as we could.

But several times along the way, we stopped in one location, left our stuff in the B&B or hotel, and cycled without it all.


Nevertheless, this was our setup. This is taken in the UK ...

Some climates and seasons are highly variable so you may need clothes for hot to freezing. Wet/cold requires far more clothing spares than dry.
My major weight suck is mapping and guidebooks, and the tourist guff I accumulate. How much to take, can you buy locally. Books are another weighty item. Tech may replace paper but adds its own power issues.

For my upcoming, and first, tour I replaced my Whisperlite with a Dragonfly. I love to cook so the option to simmer is great considering you can only eat oatmeal and ramen so many days in a row. I got a basic water filter so that I have the option to go off the beaten path. I'm planning on getting a full sized laptop and an external hard drive since I see myself doing a lot of writing and posting photos and videos. Solar panel with built in battery. Definitely spare tubes and tire and a few more tools. Greater variety of clothing, maybe with less of each type to save on weight, for a variety of weather. Bike computer to help with navigation. Reflective gear for road and night riding. Extra nuts, bolts, zip ties, duct tape. Ointment for saddle sores and baby wipes for swamp ass. Hiking boots and sandles. Note book for writing. Spices. etc........

This is a packing list I used for a recent 2-month trip through 6 European countries, including a couple in eastern Europe. It is essentially the same list l used for a similar 3-month trip a few years ago. It is also the same list I use for most trips longer than 2 weeks. Excel is great. However, it is modified to take into account: location, season(s), anticipated weather, available services and amenities, road or trail conditions (if known), general information about the area, my objectives, and duration of tour.

On this summer's tour, I wish I'd have taken a spare tire. There was a 2-3 week stretch where it would have been a real challenging situation if a tire failed. It was a case where I did not have adequate information, and made the decision not to carry a spare based on saving weight, not on knowledge about the route. A couple of freeze dried dinners, which we often carry for emergencies, would also have come in handy. Again, left out to save a little weight.

We encountered temperatures ranging from the low, wet 40's to the low 100's. We used everything that we had. We also planned on spending time in several larger cities and wanted some "nice" clothes and good walking shoes.

And yet amazingly, I can get most of that into the set-ups I posted pictures of above.

That does vary from trip to trip depending on where I'm going ... and it may be a situation of, "I can wait until I get there to buy that".

For example, we did that with our current tent. In 2007, Rowan lived in Australia and I lived in Canada. Rather than trying to go tent shopping online, and rather than carrying a tent to Europe with us, what with baggage restrictions and all, we met in London, cycled down to Dunkerque, stopped in at a Decathlon and bought a tent there. Then, IIRC, it came home with me because I had the better baggage allowances.

I also mention jerseys on there, but I've got them greyed out. I used to bring 1 or 2 jerseys, but I don't anymore. It's lighter and more versatile to bring wicking Ts instead. I'll do a rotation of 3 wicking Ts. One on me while I'm cycling, one for after the ride, and a clean one in the bag. I might wear that 2-3 days in a row, then the one I'm wearing while cycling becomes laundry, the one I wear after the ride becomes my ride T, and the clean one is the one I wear after the ride. 2-3 days like that, and the one I'm wearing while cycling becomes laundry, the one I'm wearing after the ride becomes my ride T, and I'm looking for a laundry at some point that day.

+1

And currency/exchange rates ... which might vary from day to day, but it can be helpful to get an idea ahead of time.

Before we travelled, we made a spreadsheet of all these things.


[HR][/HR]
For reference ...

Packing List
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/17...king-list.html

Holidays, Weather, and other Useful Info
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/81...eful-info.html

Carrying Medication on Tour
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/82...tion-tour.html

Your Touring Paperwork
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/16...g-country.html

Websites for Travellers
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/14...ravellers.html

One piece of clothing on our world trip that ended up being as valuable as anything else in our panniers was a down jacket. Sounds odd, but as has been pointed out, if you are going to travel extensively in one period, that time is going to include cold weather somewhere, even in the middle of summer.

Those down jackets were mighty useful on numerous parts of our travels, among them being a trip up Mont Blanc, in Scotland, in parts of France, and of course, in North America.

A down jacket can be packed down to a small, light size, but the trade-off is that you need to protect it from rain with another waterproof jacket over the top (we had one each anyway), and cycling in them can be a bit dicey because of the sweat absorption.

But if we were to travel like that again, the down jacket would be one item on the list.

Having said that, others' observations about taking less than you would on a short tour works to a certain extent.

Spectastic, seeing you have done some cycle-touring now, just what do you think you would need to take extra that you don't already have? The list you posted gave some options for what you already have, but appear to be upgrades with perhaps weight penalties. There are some things on your list that I wouldn't bother taking with me, but that's all down to personal preference.

To explain a few more things. The panniers on the fixed gear bike illustrated by Machka were actually smaller than the ones on the RTW trip. And the RTW panniers weren't packed to the gills until some way into the trip as we bought clothing (we love shopping at the French Decathlon stores) and odd things such as a beach paddle-and-ball set, and a frisbee.

I think the red lock on the back of my bike in the RTW picture was bought when arrived at our first destination. It's something that is quite a high priority after our experience with a bike theft.

Finally, one of the incentives for travelling as light as possible is the weight restriction that an airline might impose. You also have to take into account the box or case or bag that you use to pack the bike. I try very hard to take all my clothing in a backpack or very lightweight carry-on stuff-away bag (Sea to Summit) that will come in at the 7kg carry-on weight limit; I also fudge through the handlebar bag as my "man purse" and it does contain all my documentation and electronic valuables.

I have Excel spreadsheets, too, and I weigh everything I am taking with me and put them in three columns -- bike box, carry-on, and on-me*. That way I can play around with the weight figures until I find a combination that works. I've done that now for five or six international trips, and quite a few within Australia.

* It's not unheard of for people to unpack their clothing and layer it on so they board the plane with just about all their clothes on themselves, so they can come in under the airline's luggage weight limit. I've considered doing it myself, especially with the extra clothes on the RTW trip, but haven't actually had to do so... yet.

I was thinking about a setup with the sleeping stuff strapped to the handlebar, a frame bag to handle the clothes, a camelbak thing for the water (like 2.5L), and a carradice camper for everything else. maybe throw in there a fanny pack that can double up as a handlebar bag strapped to the stem - simple solution for easy food/money access.

I'm not inclined to camp out below 40F with my bicycle, so I think it will work out


so what's the deal with the medical kit? I have personally never had to use it. If I'm stranded, I'd make a phone call. If I'm in a town, I'd limp to the nearest stop where they have bandages and rubbing alcohol. why carry that extra weight? i know, there are the whatifs. but has anyone actually had to use it for emergency purposes?

That's all very well and good if you are able to use your phone. But there are a lot of places that don't have coverage, and when we've travelled overseas, we've opted not to get whatever you need to be able to make calls when in another country ... mostly because of the cost.

And again, that's all very well and good if you've got a town that has supplies nearby. But there are some very remote places.


I crashed on a gravel road in Queensland and tore my left knee open (still have the scars 11 years later). I made it to the campground, but there were no chemists or anything, I had to use my own supplies to clean it up and dress it. Then we had to cycle 100 miles out to civilisation. We did it in 2 days, and I was in agony pretty much the whole time. My Ozonol was the only thing that helped ... it partially numbed the pain. That night, after the first 50 miles, we camped in a remote jungle campground with no running water and only a long-drop for facilities. Finally at the end of the second day, we arrived in a town with a chemist and I was able to properly take care of the knee. I was also able to catch a bus and took about a 3-day break while my cycling partner kept cycling.

So yes, I have used my first aid stuff.

It's handy to have stuff to cover accidental cuts and abrasions. Band-Aids, and certainly an antiseptic cream. Maybe some aspirin or ibuprofen. Even a wide bandage to act as a compression bandage (I was going to say perhaps even a tourniquet, but by asking the question about the need for a first aid kit, you probably wouldn't know how to use one properly.

Something to stem a serious cut can be accommodated by clothing. But really, a nice little first aid kit won't cost much nor will it take up much space. And it's really good to be able to say you have one when someone else needs it.

Ultimately, you should take at least a basic first aid course that includes CPR.

Be careful about relying on a phone if you are in places even such as Europe. I know that for Australian phones used to roam in Europe. you can be up for a literal fortune in charges if you don't manage things properly. And if you think getting a phone when you arrive there is a cinch, that's not the case, either, especially in countries such as Germany.

And even if you do get a phone, and you get stranded in Europe, Africa, or even Australia, who are you going to call? Legitimate question. I know the public backlash here in Australia is increasing for frivolous, and even more serious although not dire, calls for rescue by overseas (and interstate) visitors, and there have been calls for those responsible to repay the costs of those rescues (ie, many tens of thousands of dollars).

I don't think trip length is typically much of a factor. I know that I carry pretty much the same stuff on a 10 day trip as on a multi-month one. Trip location on the other hand may be a bigger factor, particularly if you will be in third world countries.

Just to add to the stuff you should pack as essential... a travel insurance policy. It might cost a bit, doesn't take up much space, but might be worth its weight in gold if you need it.

As an ultralighter, would greater comfort and convenience enter the equation at any point on a much longer trip? Let's say a two-year RTW? I am thinking of things like panniers since you'd be packing and unpacking more than 700 times. If you were camping roughly the same number of times would you bring a tent instead of bivy and tarp? A stuffed pillow? Electronics (kindle or tablet)? Wider tires for bad roads?

Agree in general with usefulness of first aid essentials in contrast with phone.

As far as phone overseas goes, I end up with one to get local SIM card, particularly if traveling with more than one person. This came in part when I cycled across Russia with one other person and we accidentally lost each other and ended up cycling independently for 10 days. In that instance, an ability to sync up via text message would have helped. Later on the trip, my brother cycled with us for a bit and brought a phone. We'd use twitter to send out an encoded version of our GPS coordinates and my parents could place a pin on the map. This was in remote parts of Siberia and there wasn't phone service every day, but we were following the railroad and at least every other day we'd come through town with cell service.

In Africa, cycled through 10 countries and ended up getting 10 SIM cards. Procedures are different everywhere but was able to sort through the right bureaucracy. In general, I avoid remote roaming as well as most calling in favor of local SIM cards and quick text messages, so it doesn't really serve that "emergency" type need - but still a useful communications tool even when you don't (yet) know anyone in the country.


As an aside, in Australia, it was a while ago - so there it was those orange Telstra pay phones and PocketMail device that worked surprisingly well...not emergency communications but a low cost, quick "I'm here" communication.

My bike packed for a year on the road: 002 (two months USA, eight months Australia, a month New Zealand and a month India).

In general, I don't pack much differently for two weeks than for a year. Location does matter in both cases. Also in the longest trips, I'm more likely to carry some things that might wear out, e.g. started across Russia with two spare folding tires. In many places, you can also fix or replace things that are broken/lost/worn out.