Depends on whether you're alone or with someone, where you're riding and whether you're camping.

Can't really tell without knowing those.

When I tour the fire/logging/mining roads of Northern Ontario Canada where I might not see another person/vehicle for days at a time I carry a lot more tools and food than I do if touring on paved roads where I go through a town every day or so.

Cheers

I used to tote metro atlas maps on local rides. Fairly light & the book style made it easy to check route during rides w/o hassle of folding & wind. Sometimes routing is easier with paper maps vs a small-screen device. On an extended tour I'd think about getting a tablet though.

And time.

I have bikes, I have money, but, I don't have enough time to enjoy either.

I have a long tour planned for the summer, but already there are assaults being made on my schedule. I have had to move my tour up by two months because my sister-in-law is going to have a baby. Instead of riding in early autumn, I now have to ride in the summer heat. This also shortens the time I have to prepare, especially after a long time off my bike. I will have just over two months to go from riding ten minutes per day to five hours per day.

Thanks for your reply. The AAA Metropolitan maps I was describing are indeed those typical folding road maps. I am familiar with those AAA map segments complied into a booklet known as a Triptik, and that's a good idea, though as I recall, they are prepared by a service agent in person at a AAA travel office; not for spontaneous rides.

10+ dittoes for paper maps for long distance route planning.

Reading every reply leaves me asking why everyone is so concerned with necessity? You can start at a GPS, go through everyone's specific item or list of items and none of them are wrong, even the GPS. A GPS has got to be near the top of most life saving and convenient toys ever made by mankind, and they just keep getting better. Can you survive without one? Most of the time. Just like you only need a dentist once in a while, but when you do... I agree that you can't take it all. I continue to try to all the time, but you sure as hell don't have to scratch a GPS off a list because of anyone's idea of what a necessity is or isn't. Make a list of everything you can think of that you might want to have while Touring. From a tire patch to a Rum and Coke on ice. From a lifesaving zip tie to portable pressurized shower. Good food and everything necessary to make it. Not just an Altoids can 1st aid kit but one that could save a life in the right hands. Creature comforts to life-saving fire starters. Once you have the list and have actually researched the products to fully understand their function, cost, practicality, durability and weight, then start to prioritize them. Use whatever factors are most important to you, i.e., cost, weight, necessity, cool factor. If you don't have the money for something then you aren't going to buy it, yet, but that doesn't mean it has to come off your list. I have a Rohloff SpeedHub and love it, but it's $1600.00, If you can't afford one now you may in the future. I ride super heavy and pull a trailer. It's not my favorite but I can get most anywhere I want to set up camp and do day rides out of. Anyone of you would load a car and drive somewhere to ride trails for a week. Some... people will fly a bike to the top of a hill to coast back down, future generations be damned. Why stop and sleep in the dirt or ride all day in the rain with no overshoe to keep dry? The more you have with you, the long you can go, the more comfortable you can be, and the more fun you can have. Take all you can (within reason and common sense) and enjoy every bit of it. When you determine the maximum weight you can move getting to base camps you can start working the list to determine necessities for where ever you are going. Do I need snowshoes riding down the gulf coast? If I do something is terribly wrong. Do I need a stainless steel hand operated nose hair trimmer ever couple weeks, yes, yes I do. It's a necessity. Does it have to be electric, not at all. Also, think of it this way. Is insulin a necessity to a non-diabetic? Make your own list through experimentation and experience. What about condoms, hummmmm, but they are really light, it's Always a good idea to have a few, just in case.

Impressive rig, I'm sure the Tout Terrain folks would be happy seeing one of their bikes being put to proper use. BTW once a friend from Mexico was visiting & the one thing he wanted to buy was a cylindrical non-electric nose-hair trimmer for his elderly papa. I remembered those being sold in the old days thru novelty catalogs but we couldn't find any.

All you need is a bike and a sense of adventure. You're overthinking it. Unplug and go outside.

And your sister-in-law will still have a baby when you get back.

I think money and friends are only needed thing.

I think a good cell phone can do many things for you. Navigation, communication, pics and video to document the journey.

- Cpt. Bob

Need web hand holding on real basics? you may not be ready for the problem solving of bike touring..

Just a thought...




..

Here ya go! https://www.ebay.com/p/?iid=222435211508&&&chn=ps


Try and make it out of your State without a GPS, let alone Across the States!

Are you being serious? You do realize that GPS has only existed for a few decades and people have been traveling for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years, right?

Yeah, stumbling around in the dark for many hundreds of thousands of year, thanks for making my point. Now, something the size of a pocket watch can let you know where you are anywhere on this planet within seconds. Soon the moon and within a decade Mars too. Amazing toy, for someone that actually uses them daily. I mean we all use them daily. You wouldn't have cable TV or your precious internet connection if GPS didn't exist. But, yes I meant a handheld device for bike touring. I'm not saying you couldn't get out of your state with just a compass, another fantastic little toy by the way. With a GPS you can easily get to any point that you want. Pretty slick trick, yeah I'm serious.

Actually, my wife and I rode across the U.S. without a GPS and without a compass. We had a cell phone, but it definitely was not smart!

I used a GPS unit in my work, for personal use, and in search and rescue activities. They are great tools, but we did not feel the need for a GPS unit on a straight forward trip like getting from one side of the country to the other side. Paper maps worked fine. In large cities, we would stop in at the Chamber or a bike shop and pick up a cycling guide or at least a city map.

Yes, we do use our smart phones, but it is not an absolute necessity. I've only used my GPS unit in Europe. It did do a good job of navigating through large cities. Since smart phones came out their is no need for the hand held GPS on most bike trips.

I was a military pilot before the advent of GPS, and some of the other more sophisticated navigation aids, and managed to get where I wanted— well, most of the time:)

way back when, a friend successfully navigated from california to texas using only a world globe.
his thinking....the interstates are shown, why waste good beer money on unnecessary maps?

I have an old AA battery Garmin: light, compact & low battery drain, nice emergency backup for phone and/or maps, esp since I don't have a dyno hub.

Stumbling around in the dark? Tell that to the Pre-Harappan Indus Valley Civilization who by 5000 BCE had developed the science of navigation. Or tell that to the Phoenicians, who by 1200 BCE had established a vast maritime trading network across the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and spanning all of North Africa, Southern Europe, and Central Asia. We do not need GPS to travel.

We take a Garmin eTrex 20x backpacking as a backup to paper maps. For $200, especially if you see any off-trail adventures in your future, it's nice to have for the peace of mind. Even if you never used it, it's smaller than a deck of cards, so why not bring it if you have one?

I have been fine with paper maps, but IT workers seem to not be able to take a vacation from technology..



:50:

Cable TV (~late 1940s) predates the GPS system (1st launch 1978 IIRC). Most WANs aren't dependent on satellites either.

I don't think that anyone is saying that GPS units are not handy, but the question was about being absolutely necessary.

Astoria Had about the 1st cable system in the US, a hilltop antenna to pick up over the air signals From Portland,
because line of sight analog signal reception was impossible because of that terrain.

You are not at Sea , you are on land, and can always ask the locals , questions.

Let'a drop this GPS nonsense (I crossed the U.S. with paper maps and got off course maybe three or four times) and get back to reality: Corkscrew. Don't leave home without it or you will die. I mean really DIE. I charge mine with my dyno hub.

How far do you think any of them would have gotten without "the science of Navigation"? The Phoenicians followed coastlines when they could and used Ursa Minor constellation, called by ancient writers the “Phoenician Star” and now known as Polaris or the North Star when they wandered away from shore. I agree that early humans traveled the planet and bet that they would have agreed with me on the marvel of GPS. Do you think mankind didn't need an Astrolabe back in "the good old days" or it's big brother a Sextant either? The early astrolabe was invented in the Hellenistic world by Apollonius of Perga, around 220 BC or in 150 BC and is often attributed to Hipparchus and they weren't the first tools invented by man to help him "stumble around in the dark". But then in this environment, if I were to proclaim toilet paper to be a great achievement of man someone here would scoff and boast how they use "reusable" corncobs.

Additionally to all you that point out that a cell phone is all you need, or "good enough", it has at least one GPS also.