I just finished packing up all my equipment and it's a bit late to be questioning myself, but I'll do it anyway. My bike has been transformed from it's normal 29er mountain bike self into a touring monster. Racks and fenders, handlebar bag mount, bar end mirror all thrown on. The basic maintenance all checked out fine. 1500 miles from Dallas, PA to Dallas TX is my plan.

First question is do you think I need to carry a spare tire for my Marathon Supreme 28x2.0. In a pinch I know I can swap to 35c or 32c road tires, but would need to acquire tubes as well. I am likely going to carry a pair of mountain bike tires for the first few days where I am taking a stop for some fun in the dirt, but even the low profile knobbies they are aren't exactly good on the road.

My packing actually came in with a lot of room left over and it's getting to my head. Ortlieb front and rear classic rollers and a relatively large handlebar bag for the things I can't stand leaving on the bike. I have all the clothing but rain gear in a front bag which this also includes power chargers and cords. The other front bag has bike repair stuff, rain clothing, and my tarp. This keeps everything I really care about free from the wet items I may have on me. The first rear bag is all my camp sleeping related items, with a little room leftover. The final big bag right now has a jetboil, all my toiletries, and will have food and water. Basically, anything that smells is in this bag. Right now this looks like a ton of room in this one.

The handlebar bag has a bunch of stuff, camera (DSLR so it's not small), my computer which is tiny, a mini tripod, remote for the camera, wallet, keys, and a rechargeable battery pack I can use to power my lights, phone, GPS, and computer. Just about anything I would need right now.

I may end up carrying some water in the leftover space in the camping bag because it's all light but bulky items. The things I am questioning now are do I care for any cold weather clothing headed south in May. Also the spare bike parts have me concerned for the first time now. Why didn't I get some spokes earlier? Disc brake pads aren't much of a concern. I can run any Shimano XT pads in a pinch, although they might wear out faster. Cleats I can't see wearing out. The chain tool thing annoys me, but I don't think there is a very portable chain tool that can break and put back together my chain reliably. So I'll rely on breaking it and adding quick links.

Packing List

Sorry about the poor formatting here. The link above this is better.

Head
Helmet With visor
Balaclava
Sunglasses Multi Lens with mirror and cloth, one lens set has mirror
Bandana


Upper Body
Rain Jacket 1 Waterproof with hood
T Shirts 2 Wool or part wool
Long Sleeve 1 Wool or part wool
Sleep Shirt 1 Wool tights
Bike Glove 1 For warm weather
Rain Glove 1

Lower Body
Bike Baggies 1 Separate Liner
Bike Shorts 2 One liner one standalone
Zip Offs 1 With mesh liner builtin
Rain Pants 1 Goretex
Sleep Pants 1 Wool
Socks 2 1 Full, 1 ¾
Rain Socks 1 Goretex
Sandals 1 SPD
Underwear 1 Mostly for sleeping

Camping

Shelter
Hammock 1
Tarp 1 Speers Winter
Sleeping Bag 1
Sleeping Pad 1 For very cold/ground sleeping
Accessory Rope 1
Stakes 10 Tarp needs 8
Second Tarp 1 Stealthier, also for ground cloth


Human Stuff

Food
Stove 1 Jetboil
Fuel Can 2
Lighter 1
Bowl 1 Orikaso
Utensil 3 Long Handle Spoon, Spork, and Spreader/Knife combo
Can opener 0
Bear Bag 0
Water Filter 1 Steripen
Knife 0 Multitools have knives

Hygiene
Hand Sanatizer
Zip Lock Bags For food items too
Tooth Brush This + Toothpaste in one OHSO
Tooth Paste
Dental Floss
Chap Stick
Nail Clippers
Razor 0 I don't need to shave
Soap Liquid
Towel 1 Rei lite towel
Sun Screen
Chammy cream
Bug repellent
Toilet Paper

Emergency/Utility
Signal Mirror 1
Whistle 1
Fire Starter 2 Spark thrower + tinder
Sewing Kit 1
Water pur tabs 10
First aid kit 1
Compass 1

Water
Flexi Canteen 1 97 oz nalgene
Hydration Bladder 1 72 oz Polar
Water Bottle 2

Bike Stuff

Tools
Multitool Park MTB-7
Fender Wrench 0 In both multitool and chain tool
Adjustable Wrench 0
Chain Tool 1 Chain too big, but refuse to carry shop tool
Tire Lever 1 1 telescoping, 2 in multitool
Spoke tool 0 In multi
Lubricant 1 Small Bottle of Prolink, dry lube might be smarter though
Patch Kit 2 2 glueless, 1 real one
Tire Boot 1 One pack of 3 from Park
Leatherman mini 1 Needlenose pliers, wire cutter, knife, Phillips screwdriver
Pump 1 Morph pump with gauge, most cute features broken, but pumps well

Spares
Brake Pads 2 One set of ceramic disc pads, last LONG time
Tubes 3
Kevlar Spoke 1
Proper Spokes 0 Rear wheel is dishless
Rack/Fender Nut bolt 3
SPD Cleats 0
MTB Tire 2 For a little while anyway
Chain Links 4 KMC Z610 chain, this thing could stop bullets
Quick Links 2
Zip Ties 10
Duct Tape Yes please


Electronics
Camera
Camera Remote
Mini Tripod
Lens
Flashlight 2
Flashlight mount 1
Diffuser 1 Makes flashlight into area lantern
Bike Light 1
Blinkie 2
AA Battery 12 4 Camera, 4 Flashlight, 4 bike light
AAA Battery 4 In Blinkies
AA Charger 1
Laptop
Cables 1 Charger for both laptop and battery pack, Bike Light Connector,
GPS
Memory Cards 3 1 Camera, 1 GPS, 1 Spare
Phone
GPS Cable 1 Also charges phone
GPS/Phone charger 1

Bike
Bike
Front Rack
Rear Rack
Fenders
Seat Cover 1 I'll go with a shopping bag
Panniers
Bar Bag
Mirror
Lock
Bottle Cages 2

Stupid People Stuff
Wallet
Monies
ID
Medical Card
State maps 1 Get along the way
Notepad 2
Pens 3 1 marker/highlighter combo
Business Card Mostly as a link to my website

Sounds good! Lots of stuff. Nice list also. I think youll be fine but i am not a expert.( At all ( I mtb mostly))

Cool man, you're planning on just picking up state maps along the way and playing your route by ear? That is what I was thinking of doing.

I am going to get at least a reasonable route planned on my GPS / Computer before I leave. The state maps I am only going to have as I need them. I expect to change up the route as I go for various reasons. At worst I'll point my compass south southwest, and ride.

What, no kitchen sink?

The Ortlieb panniers are water tight, so I would just grab the 3 or 4 bags my clothes are split up into out of them, and I am good to go. Of course I am bringing a kitchen sink.

I have found a small wooden spoon good for stirring while cooking and a small square bit cut from a plastic cutting board very useful when I am cooking while camping.

Also, don't forget a measuring cup.

Ray

What is the weight of all your gear and panniers?

Looks good.

I bring more clothes than that - a down jacket and at least one more warm long sleeved shirt, to wear in camp if your other long sleeve gets wet while riding. Also I really like arm and leg warmers. Clothes is where I overpack the most, though.

This multitool is the one I use and it has a chainbreaker (no idea if it's a good one, haven't had to use it yet.)

And I really like having a separate knife for cooking, just a little utility knife - sucks to get peanutbutter on your multitool.

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the ideas everyone.

Raybo - The stirring spoon, cutting board, measuring cup are all multiuse items so should be covered. The long handed spoon should be plenty for any stirring while cooking. The Orikaso bowl when unfolded is a fine cutting board, and the bottom cover of the Jetboil is a measuring cup.

Steve - I have no idea on the weight really. My camping and clothing are both fairly light, but I know I get killed on electronics. My bike is on the heavy side and the panniers aren't light for sure.

Last but not least valygrl - I have two long sleeve shirts at the moment, the riding/general wear one, and a sleeping shirt that can be used for layering. If it were cooler, I would add fleece jacket I would think. The chaintool thing is because this is a heavy duty chain, most single purpose chaintools (I've tried two so far) can't easily fit the chain with how the plates are slightly wider than a normal chain.

The knife thing I am leaning toward adding a true knife now. The utensils I have for eating are these plus a long handled spoon. The knife/speader combo thing I have nicknamed the peanut butter shovel because it really shines for that purpose. Leg warmers I don't think are going to really matter to me, but if I get annoyed by not having arm warmers I may pick some up along the way.

The handlebar bag will need to be tilted up a bit, and possibly lightened up too.
https://chriffer.com/gallery/d/798-1/imgp2343.jpg

Orange Ortliebs -- Hawt!

Looking at your list I'd be inclined to add an additional set of riding clothes so you don't have to wash them as often and are better able to handle consecutive days of wet weather. OTOH, I'd be inclined to cut down on the electronics and on some of the redundancy (filtration plus steripen plus tablets - won't you be likely to have potable water throughout the trip?; 2 flashlights + bike light?).

I probably wouldn't bother carrying a spare tire. So far I've always been able to patch/boot a tire well enough to make it to the nearest place that carries a serviceable replacement. I'd also see if the road tires wouldn't be sufficient for the offroad riding you plan to do early in the trip (but then I also take my crit race bike on single track from time to time).

BTW, I used a marker pen to indicate levels in the Oricasa bowl at 0.5 cup intervals - it's sometimes handy to have a second measuring cup.

I'd go with the one multi-tool and one swiss army knife that doesn't give you redundancy and has a can opener. One metal spoon makes any meal elegant and is sanitized in the process of searching for the last bit of repast.

Rules are the only spoke that will break will require a cluster tool. Depending on your hub type, do you need a cluster tool to replace a broken spoke? Can you tighten your crank? Definitely test all your tools and make sure nothing on your bike is frozen or torqued tighter than you can deal with with your road tools.

Do you need spares? Inner tubes, patch kit and maybe a spare tire if you are solo but brake pads? 2 AA and 2 AAA spares should cover and skip the charger? You can buy more on the road. A gadget geek myself, I am intrigued with a solar charger on top of the rear rack.

I skip the water purifiers and in lieu of bladders and canteens, use one, two or three recycled soda bottles for spare water from the last good source. The number depends on the distance and weather until the next safe destination.

I wash hands, dishes, body and hair with the same bar of soap.

Only used the hammock a couple of times the first two weeks then shipped it back. I used one tarp to wrap around my sleeping bag in rain. A piece of bug repellant soaked mosquito nettting was great.
One pair of nylon pants with zipp off legs served for rain and cold weather, dress up and a break from bike shorts. No down jacket or sleeping bag that won't dry out.

I traded the weight and space used by stove and fuel for extra food from the last grocery store. The miles fly under my wheels to the next town when I crave a hot meal.

I decided to add a bit more clothing to make myself feel safer. Added another pair of bike shorts, and the cool weather jacket and tights. The mountain bike tires are only coming with me for the first 3 days, then I stop at a mountain bike event and will send them home with someone I know (or that's the plan anyway).

Ok I kicked the water treatment off the team. I'll have a few tablets in the emergency kit. Tools for taking apart the bike are fine. A few things need a torx T20 or T15 that I won't carry, but they aren't things that will stop me. For me I'd rather carry a charger than spend on Lithium AAs. Alkalines won't get me too far. I'm with you on one kind of soap, but it's Dr Bonners liquid for me.

At 1 pound and a maybe another half for fuel I am going to stick with the stove. I may still ditch it later on depending on how much I use it. I am not a coffee drinker so I would get by easier than some with no stove. Looking at the forecast for me first week, every day has a 40% or more chance of rain so I will stick with true waterproof stuff and keep the rain pants. If there were a zipoff waterproof breathable rain pant, that would be a tempting option.