My first tour
 

I left Monday morning and headed south 21 miles to a campgrounds. My first outing with a bicycle loaded with camping gear. I had 47 pounds of gear on the bike. It felt and handled horribly. The front end wouldn't stop wobbling until I got up to 12mph or faster.

I know I have to work on cutting some weight off the load. I was using the gear we used to use on our canoe camping trips. I'll have to get a one man tent and a lighter weight sleeping bag. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

I look at the pics of your loaded bikes and the respective weights and can't even imagine where I'll be able to cut that much weight.

Any help would be helpful.

Tony

Here's a pic of my bike with load.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1501625966

Tony,
One thing I see is your front panniers are a bit on the high side. I use Tubus low rider racks and it gets the load / weight down lower.

Thanks Tom, good suggestion, something I've never noticed on other pics I've looked at. But, I still need to get that weight down. What does your total weights come to.

Tony

Also, try and get the front weight as far back as possible...you may need to swap the racks around or fiddle with the mount. I don't like what Surly have done with the lower front rack mounts, being forward of and quite high up the forks to clear the disc brake calipers.

When I'm carrying beer, BBQ and ice my total load can get up around 30kg- 66#, on my Troll. It does get a tiny weave at a certain speed, mostly because of the front pannier position.

Try using the smaller panniers on the front and moving heavier items to the rear. If you have too much weight on the front, and in particular, forward of the axle, the load will be less stable. Same goes for putting too much of your load behind the rear axle, which will cause the rear to sway.

Trev, I'll have to take a serious look at the front rack and what, if anything, I'll be able to do with it.

Thanks Tony

Alan, It's sounding like load placement is the key to my problem...not the weight of the load. The bags all weighed pretty much the same. I'm researching tents and bags now. Maybe I'll drop some of the items I'm presently hauling too. The bike lock and cables weigh 4 pounds alone. But I hate to leave them home.

Thanks for your suggestions, Tony

What is your weight distribution?

Lots of weight high on the front will cause wobbles at lower speeds.

There many lists of gear lists on the crazy guy on a bike website. Personally, I like to just have a combo cable lock when touring, I do not tour in super crime infested areas. Idea; Camp gear (tent sleeping bag, tent) under eight pounds. Clothing; under five pounds. Hi-gene kit under two pounds. Cooking gear under 3 pounds. Should not add up to too much. Have fun

I forgot; You need the post ride evaluation: Of the stuff that you brought, how much of it did you actually use, I suspect that you will find that you did not use most of it.

I am guessing the comments that you have received about weight distribution will be very helpful.

You do not say how long your tour will be but if it is for the summer, it would seem you are carrying a lot of weight. Perhaps, if you are carrying summer and cold weather gear, you are in the ballpark of the expected weight.

Since you're posting this on August 1, I suspect this was just a one-night excursion? 47 lbs of gear (not including a bicycle's weight, I assume) is A LOT for a one night campout; all those panniers and accessory bags almost screams 'too much weight!' It'd be nice to see your gear list.

FWIW: I did something similar a few weeks ago, an overnighter to a campground 35 miles from my house. I'm coming from a backpacking/mountain climbing background, so was able to keep the gear down to about 20lbs - two small panniers up front, a handlebar bag, a large under-seat accessory bag, and tent & sleeping bag on a rear rack. Just try and focus on getting fed, dressing comfortably, a good night's sleep, and a few repair tools for the bicycle; everything else is just extra weight and should be left at home unless absolutely necessary. Example: no raingear in this kit since the weather report showed it was going to be sunny and dry (which it was).

Bear canister seems overkill for a shorter duration outing, unless it's legally required for the area, like some national parks. A bear bag should be fine. A good way to get the load down is to force yourself. Try getting rid of your large panniers in the rear and throwing just your smaller panniers on the back. The more storage you have, the more stuff you'll take. If you really restrict yourself, you'll be forced to examine what's absolutely necessary and make the tough choices. Give yourself a couple of luxury items (I take a chair--a tiny 1-lb chair, but still, totally unnecessary!--and a book). But try to be ruthless with rest of your gear.

raria,

The 4 paniers, trunk bag and olive barrel each weigh in at almost 8# each. The six compartments come in at 47# total. I never gave gear placement a thought but now I see that placement is the big problem for me...but I still want to pare down the weight some.

Thanks, Tony

Brian,

My tent and sleeping bag and pad are well over 8#. They come in at 16#. Clothing is under 5#. my cook gear is also under 3#. What about food? And trail snacks?

Tony

Brian,

You're correct...I didn't use all the "stuff" I took. But I did take everything I thought I might use on a week long tour. Once I get my gear weight and placement where I want it I plan on biking across Ohio and then next spring am planning on biking across Pa. So the battery pack and assorted cables will be going with me. These are the only items I can think of that were "just extras" on this trip. I'm just plain over sized on my gear I guess.

Then there's the books and crossword puzzles I carry. But you have to be able to do something when you finally reach camp for the night.

Tony

Ditto. For two nights / three days I think I was at 35lb: CLICK ME ~ that included clothes for cool evenings that never happened.
I think my one night kit clocks in at 25lbs, and that included a way to heavy military MRE.

debade,

This time it was an overnight trip, in the summer.

Tony

You may also want to look at the journals posted on crazyguyonabike. Touring cyclist provide some great (and not so great), tips about everything touring. It might be worth some time and perhaps you will want to journal too

skidder,

good sound advice. I'm from a canoe camping background. So we were always able to enjoy a few creature comforts. Yes, this was an overnighter. That's what scares me...what will it look like when I plan a week tour?

Tony

Mtroup,

At first I didn't know what you meant by "bear canister." Then I realized you meant my olive barrel. We did use these for packing our foods on our canoe trips, water tight and bear resistant. lol

I only chose that for gear because it nestled nicely between my rear paniers. But it was quite full. Canoe camping kinda spoiled me for gear and will have to cut back a lot here.

Thanks for your help, Tony

Mark,

Nice pic. Was that a 3 day set-up?

3 days and 35#...WOW. I have a lot of work to do. Nice job.

Thanks Tony

debade,

I looked at the "crazyguyonabike" site. WOW. It's huge. I book marked and will get back to it and read in segments. There has to be some info to help me there. I suppose if I decide to journal this would be the time to do it seeing that I'm just getting started. I suppose there would be a laugh for the readers. lol

Thanks for the help, Tony

When looking for ways to get your gear base weight down, I find it much more helpful to look at the ultralght thru-hiking world for ideas than at bike touring packlists (which are often comically heavy by comparison). There are a ton of good ideas and gear advice over at whiteblaze.net. Also check out youtube thru-hiker darwinonthetrail. He has a couple of videos on good budget solutions for UL that could absolutely slash your weight without destroying your bank account.

Hehe, I was wondering what brand it was!