I did it, gear is under 20lbs
 

I just weighed my new touring set up in its bags and it comes to 18 lbs. I replaced my old tent with a
Tarptent Contrail and got a 1lb summer weight down bag. I'm still using an alcohol pepsi can stove, and a Thermarest pad. I have 2 sets of on bike clothes and one for off the bike. I have everything I need to be comfortable and keep the bike on the road, but by using lightweight materials its pretty easy to make your load lighter.

way to go, nun. I like to tour light, lets you ride further with less effort.

sometimes, i bring more stuff. Last October I took a folding aluminum chair on a four day, cross cascade tour.

What, no list?

+1 List please.

Here's the list, total weight 18.5 lbs.
If I credit card it I simply leave the camping gear at home and the weight comes down to
13.5 lbs.

CAMPING
Tent, Contrail
Summer down Sleeping Bag
Prolite 3, Sleeping Pad
Pepsi can stove, pot, cup
Denatured Alcohol
Ti Spork
BIC Lighter
50' Cord

CLOTHES CARRIED
MTB Shorts
Convertible Long Pants
Wool Long Underwear
Padded cycling Underwear
Wool Short Sleeve T-Shirt
Long Sleeve "Adventure" Shirt
Microporous Rainsuit
2 x Socks
Flip Flops
Gloves
Insulated Primaloft Jacket
Windshirt
Beanie hat

TOILETRIES
Mounthwash
Razors
Skin Cream
Sunscreen
Microfiber Towel
Shampoo
Toothpaste and Brush
DEET
Dental Floss
Toilet Paper

BIKE STUFF
Bike Cable Lock
Multitool
Leatherman, Juice
2 x Kevlar Spokes
Chain Lube
2 x inner tubes
Pump
2 x Patch Kits
Tire boots
2x Powerlink
Brake cable
Gear cable
Brake Pads
Misc Nuts and Bolts
4x AA batteries
Plastic Bags
Duct tape

MISC
Wallet
Map
notebook and pen
First Aid Kit
Sewing kit
small FM radio
Cell phone/camera and charger

CLOTHERS WORN, NOT INCLUDED IN WEIGHT
Padded Underpants
Long Sleeve T-Shirt
Cycling Knickers
Socks
Cycling Shoes
Helmet
Bandana

BAGS
Carradice saddlebag, small handle bar bag and 2x silnylon compression sacks

Seems like a well thought-out list! Enough stuff to enjoy the trip without feeling deprived.

A few questions...

What model Carradice bag are you using? Do you need any extra support for the bag or does it just hang from your saddle? How will you store your food? Is there enough room in your bags to carry a day or two's worth of groceries?

I use a Nelson bag with a support, in one pocket I carry 4 x instant oatmeal packets , 3 x dehydrated soups in plastic bags, honey, beef jerky and tea bags. In my cooking pot I cram the pepsi can stove, stock cubes, and 10 oz of couscous - again in a plastic bag as it can wrap around the stove. In the bar bag I have energy bars and chocolate. If I buy sandwiches or larger food stuff I just extend the "longflap" on the saddle bag to carry it.

Very good job, nun. Could be a bit lighter, though.

Consider leaving the cell phone and charger home. Take a prepaid calling card instead.

If your rain suit is not silnylon, then consider getting one that is. I made a suit from a kit and the jacket and pants come to about 7 oz total. Hard to beat that.

You can probably leave the primaloft jacket behind since you have two long sleeve shirts, one short sleeve shirt, and the rain jacket. Together, they should suffice for anywhere you plan to go with a summer weight bag.

But I'm nit-picking. You've done an admirable job.

I have 2 Tarptents, a floorless rainbow, and the contrail.
GREAT tents. customer service is amazing. If your looking for a new tent...

Thanks for the comments, I agree that I could lose some stuff for summer touring. The list is for 3 season touring. I have the primaloft jacket for cold nights and with the summer bag I'm good down to about 32F. I'd probably leave it at home in high summer along with the windshirt as the rainsuit jacket works quite well as a wind shirt.

The cell phone is also my camera so I like to take it.

The rain suit is a Tyvek like material and weighs 11oz

Great list, Nun. I'm getting pretty close to that...though I'm not quite to the point of a tarp tent yet.

How do you fasten the silnylon compression sacks? Behind the saddlebag and under the handlebar bag?

Yes, they are for the tent and the sleeping pad

Nun,
I am impressed. Thanks for sharing.

What about food? Or do you just use the stove to keep yourself warm at night? ;)

Personally, while there is a huge benefit in going from 50 lbs of gear to 20 lbs, I'd assume that anything less than that and you're in the Land of Rapidly Diminishing Returns....

I carry 4 x instant oatmeal packets , 3 x dehydrated soups in plastic bags, honey, beef jerky and tea bags. In my cooking pot I cram the pepsi can stove, stock cubes, and 10 oz of couscous - again in a plastic bag as it can wrap around the stove. In the bar bag I have energy bars and chocolate. Total carried food is 2lbs.

I carry 3x waterbottles which is another 4 lbs

So the complete set up including food and water is 24.5 lbs

If I buy sandwiches or larger food stuff to cook at night I just extend the "longflap" on the saddle bag to carry it or strap it on the outside in a plastic bag

+1

Pics!

Very interesting, and thanks for posting your list. I see you note that if you exclude your camping gear, you save 5 lbs. I would be interested in the weights of the other groups of stuff, i.e. total weight toiletries, clothes, bike stuff, etc. from your list. Mostly cause I want to see why my list is so much heavier!

Comparing our respective camping gear, though, it is obvious where the weight is. My tent, for e.g. is almost 5 lbs, my sleeping bag is around 2 lbs, mat is around 1.5 lbs, and maybe another pound for stove and pot. At 9.5lbs, that is twice the weight of your camping gear, and more than half the weight of your total kit!

Not sure if I could go the tarp route, as I like being surrounded. :) Also, not sure if I could go lighter on a bag. My down bag is 950 g and it's not warm enough here for anything lighter. I would love to save some weight, but I am not sure what is left.

The caming gear is where the opportunities for weight saving are the greatest. I've simply replaced some old heavy stuff with ultralight equivalents. My Tarptent Contrail is more tent than tarp

http://www.tarptent.com/contrail.html

My bag is a summer one weighting 1lb so if it gets cold I sleep in a primaloft jacket that weighs 11oz. That is good for spring and fall, but to be comfortable in winter my gear would be too light.

Over the last year or so I've replaced most of my gear with ultralight equivalents and that has got the weight down. Also limiting the volume of my bags made me think about what to carry and my empty bags weigh 2lb as I don't use heavy panniers. I could get lighter by using bags made of lighter material that "cotton duck", and going from wool base layer to synthetic, but I like the way wool performs when wet and the Merino wool shirts feel really good. As far as toiletries go I carry 2 or 4oz bottles of stuff like shampoo and skin cream and a small travel tube of toothpaste. This is enough for a couple of weeks and I replenish at a store or if I stay a night in a motel I take the small bottles of stuff they provide.

Here's the weight of the catagories.

Camping 5lbs
Clothing Carried 5lbs
Toiletries 1lbs
Bike Stuff 3.5 lbs. (mostly made up of lock 1lbs, inner tubes 0.6lbs and multitool 0.5lbs)
Misc Items (wallet, phone/charger etc) 2lbs
Bags 2lbs

Total 18.5lbs


Here is a picture of my setup and a blog from two folks who have a similar approach to touring

http://pompinos.blogspot.com/

I saw that on Cyclofiend and figured it was the same bike. Very good looking set up, Henry Kingman would be proud.

Maybe we need to start a light-weight touring pics page to counter-balance that other fully-loaded panniers touring bike page.

EDIT: Fascinating blog! Looks like it was a great trip.

Agreed, it would be good to have a lightweight section. I'm revisiting my gear list thanks to some comments and
I hope to save a pound or two more by eliminating some clothing items and getting a lighter bike lock.

This happened to a tourer going through my home town:

I'll avoid Denver then

It wasn't Denver. My hometown is a small town in Arizona, and that lock was quite a bit beefier than anything I ever used on my bike. 99% of the time when I went anywhere I didn't even lock up.

Even while touring 'ultralite', i'll always carry a mini-Ulock and keep an almost paranoid view of my bike if I'm otherwise unable to secure it to a secure object. It fits on the bike itself and has become like part of the bike more than 'extra weight'

Its mounted above the front derailluer braced up against the seatstay in the rear triangle.

Nun, thanks for the detail about your kit. Very interesting. Will check out that tent since it's "more tent than tarp". :)