I have had an REI down bag for many years. Sub 2 pounds. With a compression sack it gets down small. My REI Quarter Dome tent is 3.25 pounds with two doors. It’s my “flat tour” tent and has served me well for many years of bike touring and car camping. Never understood why they discontinued it. Both were bought on sale.

It’s their big Halloween weekend at the NJ stop. People in one area of the place (It’s really big.) decorate their campsites, and the kids trick-or-treat. Looks like low 50s at night. Then it’s on to DE for three nights. I made my reservation weeks ago. Not that many tent sites were available. That’s how popular the place is. When I went there over Easter weekend I made a reservation in January. The place was nearly booked then. Hoping to view the Orionid meteor shower from the beach while I’m there.

Yep. My girlfriends sleeping bag and tent are both REI. We typically just share my 2 person MSR but she was using her REI tent for years before we met and it still holds up great. Her sleeping bag is also REI, bought about 4-5 years ago and going strong. It is rated for 20 degrees and she has been comfortable (with some light layers on) in as low as 15 with it. Here are some photos of that trip for fun: https://jordansphotostuff.blog/2023/...december-2023/

Both of our day packs and down jackets are REI and we have no complaints for the price. The down jacket model I purchased does not fold into itself in a pocket, but I was willing to lose that feature for the price point. All of this was purchased during their various sales.

On the flipside, I myself bought an REI sleeping bag a few years back and was miserable in temps that I should have been warm enough in. Promptly returned it and spent $100 more on a Mountain Hardwear bag rated for 0 degrees and have been warm and comfortable ever since no matter the conditions outside. But this can happen with any brand, results will vary from model to model, person to person.

I don't think there should be, within reason, a correlation between amount of effort and degree of enjoyment. During my recent trip, on some steep hills even if I had to push the last bit, I was extremely happy that I was out there with the stuff I had and able to keep moving, day after day. But I also learned that there is only so far I can go in a day. It turned out that while I was able to accomplish the planned daily segments, some of them required eight or nine hours of riding and had me arriving at my destination very close to nightfall. The most eventful day had me arriving at dusk, after a 10 hour hard, hilly ride, only to find the campsite I was racing to reach before dark was closed due to unforeseen circumstances. I was initially turned away by the male owner of the place only to be whistled back as I was discouragedly riding away after his angel of a wife learned of the situation and couldn't let me go off into the dark (which was a good thing since I'd not brought my main headlamp, not expecting to ride at night [to save weight ! ]).

So the important thing, for me, is to know how far I can go, with what I have, over the type of terrain I encounter, so as to arrive at an hour that gives me time eat and set up for the night. It's not the other way around where I'd figure what weight I should carry to able to be at a certain place at a certain time. In the same way, I plan to continue to train intensely over the winter to be a lot stronger come spring so that it'll be so much easier to move forward. Again, not by reducing weight, but by being stronger.

I've found that getting older I wish for more comfort, but that is in the opposite direction to less weight (which of course I wouldn't mind). I used to backpack with a 10+ lb Jansport Mountain Dome tent and a several pound Jansport Brass Bed sleeping bag, to then sleep on a 1/2" thick foam pad on solid rock on top of a mountain in the Adirondacks. I couldn't have been happier. Now I struggle on a bike with a 7 lb tent, a 1.5 lb sleeping bag and a 1 lb plush air mattress and inflatable pillow. But I'm very comfortable at night (a bit to my surprise).

I honestly think a few pounds of gear more or less makes way less difference than wind strength or direction: a factor that can rarely be planned for if the goal is a certain distance in a day.

Some days you fly, some days you slog.

For me the biggest factor is getting up and away early in the morning, and getting lots of miles in before lunch break - especially if riding in hot weather. I typically wake up at 6 a.m and am on the road an hour later. I love the early morning hours :)

Off course I look into weight when buying stuff, and when packing for a trip. Not to go faster, not at all. Off road touring is slow, extra slow in general, and that’s nice. To me it still makes a difference if I carry 20kg or 15kg when climbing. I want to control my bike, not the bike me ;)

Yup, on a bike tour where the weight is on my wheels, not on my feet, I am not very careful on weight. Often carry canned foods, etc.

Some days with a tailwind, I reach my planned destination early and then decide to go another 20 miles (~30km). Or days with a strong headwind, will try to get off the road early and wait it out. On my solo trips where the route planning committee consists of only myself, I often change the plan I made only hours earlier. On my longer trips where an airplane ticket dictates when my last day will be, near the end of my route I might be a couple days early where I am adding more sightseeing or intentionally taking shorter days.

For me it is usually two hours between getting out of my sleeping bag and rolling down the road, but that includes making coffee and breakfast.

I am almost never on the road this early, but I wanted to make the first ferry of the day and had to ride for a while to get to it.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5b4ba2f390.jpg

Mosquitos were out early that morning.

Probably true, but it does sound like OP has some quite old and heavy gear. One doesn't need to go extra light, but if you're getting new gear anyways I suppose you may as well cut the weight down (this often, but not always, means quality gear as well).

It helps if you are also into backpacking, but I know many may not do both.

Although it would conflict with your frugality, you can save a lot of weight by leaving the camping and cooking gear home. Ot even more, on routes like the GAP, by using a shuttle. I encountered a group on the GAP, doing exactly that, using a shuttle and staying in B&Bs. Of course, one day they spent 20 miles going the wrong direction which slowed them down to my snail like pace.

Speaking of REI…Store closures.

I’ve bought fuel at the SoHo store twice while in NYC shortly before September trips.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/2025/10/po...outputType=amp

OP here. The weight reduction adventure came about from trying to lift the fully loaded rig and really straining. Then, unfortunately, I decided to weigh the sleeping bag and realized everything I own, including my bikes and my cars, is old. Some of it really, really old, and heavy. I imagined the amount of energy used up by excessively heavy stuff and decided to do something about it.
Some practical things such as not toting a cook kit saved a pound. I don't cook anyway and just brought it along for the idea of self-sufficiency. Other items such as the Buck Knife 110 are replaced with other smaller and lighter replacements.
As it is, I am keeping a vigilant watch for sales on lighter quilts in the extra long variety. Not many of them available in the 87-90 inch length.

I also reluctantly dropped my kitchen and saved several pounds. The hardest is the lack of coffee in the morning. Now I only carry a small plastic bowl, some cutlery and one of those tiny folding can openers. Eat everything cold, but I don't mind.

Paul P, I normally eat my food cold at home, won't be any different for me on the road. Don't drink coffee or tea, just water and a RC Cola once in a while when in need of quick sugar. I forgot about the weight of fuel for the stove. Although it isn't much as it is an alcohol burner, it is weight I don't need to carry.

If you’re eliminating the fuel I recommend eliminating the stove as well. And definitely eliminate the fuel if you have eliminated the stove. Just some thoughts.

Most of my meals on a bike tour are in a campsite, so for me the cook kit and stove is a must. I used to mostly rely on liquid fuel stoves, but for bike tours I am slowly switching to butane mix type stoves. If I need more fuel, liquid fuel is typically sold in gallon cans, I would much rather buy only the amount I need in the smaller butane canisters. And to make things a little heavier, I am using my old stainless pots more and titanium cooking pot less for bike tours. The titanium is being saved for backpacking trips where weight is more important.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ebf3ee34ef.jpg

That said, where I can get a good restaurant meal, I certainly take advantage of that.

Stove fuel, depending on type of trip or type of stove, I plan on 35 to 55 grams of fuel per day per person. (That is fuel only, not weight of containers.) But more restaurant meals means less fuel use.

Reducing Weight
 

I've read a lot of the postings regarding gear weight on ******'s sub****** ultralightweight as well as the bikepacking and bicycle touring sub******s. The biggest changes I've made: 1) Got a quilt, ditched the sleeping bag; 2) Got a lightweight, but high R-value pad; 3) Went to a lightweight, 2P, 3 season tent with packable poles; 4) Reduced cooking gear to a minimum - just a MSR Pocket Rocket, some gas - to boil water and rehydrate meals, just to name a few of the changes I've made. My goal is NOT to go as light as possible as I feel what I would gain in weight reduction I lose in comfort.

Total gear weight + panniers' weight was 43 lbs for 23 day, 1,227 mile trip.

I bigger challenge, I've found, is not reducing weight, but reducing bulk of the gear.

When I run with 2 rear panniers only, (which is most of the time) I agree that bulk is more of a problem for me vs. weight, but when I add 2 front panniers then weight is more the consideration.

I bought an air mattress for my second bike tour. The self inflating pad that I used on my first tour was too big. Even though my new air mattress weighed more than the old pad, I have stuck with air mattresses since for bike touring because they pack down much smaller.

Sometimes on a bike tour where I know in advance that I will be far from grocery stores, I might have over 20 liters of food. My Iceland trip, I think I had over 30 liters of food when I went into the interior, had two and a half weeks of food.

Indyfabz, I got a chuckle from your post. To eliminate one without eliminating the other is rather silly. Ditch them both at the same time. I suppose if you rode for the state, then doing one without doing the other makes some kind of sense to a bureaucrat.

I'm going to treat myself to a luxury starting this week. It's a Red Cross solar powered combination flashlight and lantern a friend gave me. Only 9.14 oz. Weight is offset, at least in part, by a smaller than fuel bottle (with fuel in it) and less coffee, since the trip is relatively short. Might come in handy with the short days.

Good luck with that. I prefer light producing devices that I can change the batteries when I need to. I would hate to run out of power and have to wait for the sun to rise to charge my device.

I use a PFD (or life jacket) light for my tent light, two AAA batteries. Not the strobe, the constant on version.
https://www.westmarine.com/acr-elect...-17623695.html

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...15187a9474.jpg

And a headlamp powered by AA or AAA batteries. Thrunite TH20, older style that is no longer made. (They have a new version now.) Uses single AA battery that is adjustable for light output. This uses one AA battery. It can use a Lithium Ion battery instead, but I am sticking with AA batteries.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1aac5b821b.png

I have a headlamp. Want to see how useful the lantern is while doing things like making breakfast in the dark. The lantern can also be charged without solar power. And I might have to walk for a distance at midnight to try to view the Orionids. At 9 ounces on a short, mostly flat tour, I don’t think it will be an issue.

as an aside, with a headlamp or flashlight, one can make an effective light diffuser using some opaque white packing foam type stuff and an elastic to hold it in place. Make a sort of dome shape over the light source and or including a piece of white paper as a reflector and while not perfect, its fairly easy to get a nice diffused light source for inside a tent or at a picnic table.

The bigger the "dome" or thereabouts shape, means a larger diffuse lighting source.

both foam packing and paper and elastic don't really weigh anything, so worth playing around with trying it out at home.
I used to work doing photography lighting, so specifically thinking all the time about how to modify light, and this is a pretty effective way to diffuse a directional harsh beam.

Or, <insert drum roll to build suspense>, use a piece of Scotch tape over the lens.

The PFD light I use has no focusing lens, emits light over a hemisphere shaped area.

Play around and try different things. I've even used a Kleenex held on with an elastic band, puffed up, on a flashlight hanging from a cord going across top of tent, just makes a more diffused light.
But I tend not to leave a light on for a long time, so whatever works is fine by me.