This weekend, did a two day trip to watch a friend's band in sunny Gippsland, southeastern Australia.

Day 1: Carrying tent, sleeping bag, mat, clothes, the usual junk. ~45km, some elevation gain, including 16km of rail trail (missing two bridges due to bushfire activity - that made it interesting). Frame bag, sleeping bag under seat, tent on handlebars, backpack. All good, arrived very comfortably.
Day 2: Partner is tired, so I take *all* her gear. The rack, the basket, the lot. I now have a tent, two sleeping bags, two mats, two sets of clothes, all the usual junk. It's piled high in a basket over the rear wheel, tent under handlebars. 55km, mostly sealed road, undulating, small elevation loss.

I arrive absolutely knackered at the end of Day 2. Getting that extra weight up hills was pretty hard. Fighting the weight of all that stuff over the rear wheel, especially on some unsealed sections...horrible.

I knew that weight makes a bit of difference, but I was surprised how much.

My decision to move towards ultralight touring seems well justified

My wife and I have been on the road for 8 months and we're both riding bikes that weigh 100lbs+ fully loaded. It takes some time but if you keep riding, it'll become non issue as your muscles grow. You can't expect your body to adjust to lots of extra weight in two days! We rode through the Swiss Alps on our monsters without issue; if we'd tried to do it on day two I'm sure we would have died!

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a self congratulatory post, just trying to say that weight doesn't really matter all that much if you keep riding.

I am curious what you are carry so that two people traveling together are riding bikes that both weigh more than 100 pounds. Let's say your bike weigh a portly 40 pounds, that's 120 pounds of gear between the two of you. Is there one area of your gear that is contributing to all that weight, e.g. cooking gear, clothes, tools, water, etc.?

I don't want to pass judgment on anyone but it seems like you need to consider thinning out your gear and/or looking at lighter equipment.

+1, you can carry as much as you want to if you can make it move; however, I used to live off of the Blue Ridge Parkway and was always amazed at the rigs piled up like the Beverly Hillbillies' truck that I saw lumbering by. Before I did any cyclotouring I was an avid backpacker and one thing I took from that sport is if your gear weighs more than 1/3 of your body weight you are carrying too much. I realize that there are differences (not having to carry the gear on your back, the availability of low gear ratios) but sticking close to this rule has made the miles go by easily for me compared to some of my friends with little sacrifice in camp comfort.

I have to agree that weight really becomes an issue if you try to pack it all on and then go immediately into a tour with defined distances. We also toured fully loaded, very heavy, for 3 years. At the start, 60km a day was plenty. At the end, 100-120km was no problem. We also went up and down mountains, just more slowly than lightly loaded folks. The trade off for our slow speed was the fact that we had everything we needed to keep us happy in all circumstances. We could tent in bad weather and make a meal anywhere, which allowed us to keep the budget under control. The true cost of ultralight touring is the extra expense you will incur. It might still be the best solution for you, but do realise that there's a trade-off.

When we flew from Singapore to Australia, we put our bikes and all our gear (which didn't include food and water because we don't take that on a flight) on a scale and it came out at 92kg.

The bikes are 17kg each, and that leaves about 30kg in gear each, not including the daily essentials. What was in there? Camping gear, cooking gear, water filter, clothes (all seasons as we bought good stuff so we didn't want to throw it out and we didn't want to be bothered mailing it back and forth), laptop, camera, mp3 player. It adds up quickly!

Several times we tried to thin our things out but if you have to carry everything for 3 seasons and for being totally independent (on a budget), then it's hard. I think it's easier if you're doing a shorter tour in one region and one season. I could definitely cut back if I were going touring around Europe for 6 weeks as opposed to around the world.

It truly is a matter of all is well if it works for you, but...

I have found that within reason the less I carry the more pleasant the touring is. I carried a bit over 40 pounds not counting food and water on my first tour (TA) and when I sent a few pounds home the difference was very pleasant and very noticeable. I have since cut back a few times and my packing list now has the load (including panniers) down around 25 pounds for most conditions. I think that for me that is getting pretty close to the sweet spot and I really don't see the need to make major efforts to get much lighter. I might trim back a bit more but the effort will not be high priority and for camping and cooking I doubt that I will get down to 20 pounds.

I am inclined to deal with different seasons and regions by mailing stuff to and from home.

I don't find that extra stuff does much to enhance the experience and riding with a lighter load is just so much more pleasant. That said all of my touring is in the US and my longest tour has been 73 days. Touring for years in third world countries is probably a different thing.

Some time I want to try a credit card tour carrying 10 or so pounds of gear and riding a road bike. I have no desire to go heavier than I have up to this point though, and think even for winter touring I can stay below 40 pounds of gear pretty easily and maybe less.

Curious how you measure this weight....is it just the contents of what you are packing or do you include the pannier weight as well? On my last (short) tour my panniers (loaded) weighed in at around 33 pounds and this included food for a couple days, but no water. Subtracting the 8.3 pounds for the panniers, leaves me at around 25 pounds. Is this comparable to your weight?

Maybe the Kazer is a rock collector.

You're such a gentleman.

Hope you're partner is doing the same.

As a first step look at your "big 4"; tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag and cooking equipment. With sensible choices their total weight can come in at under 5lbs maybe even 4lbs if you get aggressive

Hi nun: could you be more specific as to what "big 4" gear would get you under 5 lbs total weight? I'm nowhere near that with my gear. Thanks!

Sure

Tent:
Tarptent Contrail, one person single walled tent 1.5lbs. The hardcore people will take a bivy or just a tarp

Sleeping pad:
Look at the light weight things from Big Agnes and Thermarest. I go for full length pads as I've never been comfortable on a 3/4 length pad. I use a Big Agnes Air Core that weighs 1.5lbs, but I'm looking at the Thermarest Neo Air that is 1lb.
Hardcore you go with bubblewrap

Sleeping bag.
A summer weigh bag or quilt is the way to go. You can be comfortable to 3 season temps by adding layers of clothing.
I use a Jacks R Better Shenandoah quilt that weighs 1lb, but Western Mountaineering makes nice bags if that's what you prefer

Cooking.
Some people just don't carry cooking equipment. I like having the option. Trangia, Pepsi can stove of other lightweight stoves combined with a cooking set are the way to go. I use an antigravity solo cookset and a Trangia Stove and the combo weighs 0.75lb

So my total for the big 4 is 1.5+1.5+1+.75 = 4.75ls.

I also carry 8oz of fuel so the total is 5.25lbs.

In each Big Four category there are significantly lighter alternatives that cut the weight often in half or more:

my Tarptent weighs 20 oz instead of my old 64 oz tent. Easier setup, more room with excellent rain and bug protection.

my down quilt weighs 20 oz instead of 48 oz down sleeping bag for the same temperature rating and it is more compact.

my thermarest pad weighs 12oz instead of 32oz for the old one.

my cooking equipment weighs 16oz instead of the old 32 to 48 oz. An alcohol stove @ 1 oz instead of an MSR gas stove at 18oz helps a lot.

The new weight total is 68 oz instead of the old 192 oz total. Shaving ounces does make a difference in my riding experience without causing hardship. I am still warm, dry, comfortable and well fed and hydrated. Less is more as the cliche goes.

Pannier weight is included as is handlebar bag. The panniers weigh in at 6 pounds 6 ounces total for the 4 bags (according to the manufacturer) and I am not sure what the handlebar bag weighs. I did not include any food though.

I should also say that I have not yet toured with my current packing list, which has been tweaked since my last tour. I was at about 30 pounds last trip, but never touched a fair amount of stuff that I now plan to leave home in the future.

This is an impressive tent and for shorter tours I think it's perfect. I'm not sure I'd favour it over something like the Hilleberg Akto on a longer tour though, when you can't just nip out to the local camping shop in Mongolia and get a replacement. I also wonder if a single-walled tent (not to mention a bivy or a tarp) is going to be as comfortable in cold or nasty weather? The Hilleberg tent, though, is double the weight of the one you describe.

If you're carrying extra layers, doesn't that offset any weight saved in the choice of bag?

I agree that not cooking is surprisingly feasible, especially if you're in a country with a good choice of supermarkets, farmers markets and delis. And you're not addicted to your own cup of coffee early in the morning... we like the flexibility that a stove and cooking gear gives us.

I don't carry extra clothing just to sleep in. Most nights I sleep in Tshirt and underwear underneath my quilt. When it gets down to 50F or 40F I might put on an extra shirt or my long underwear. When it's at 32F I'll be wearing my wool beanie, socks, trousers and jacket too.

They make some pretty tough single walled tents, check out some of the MSR and Black Diamond designs, the problem is you have to be careful with condensation getting all over your gear in cold weather. I use a tarp and hammock set up almost exclusively Spring through Fall and actually enjoy the extra dry space it gives you for gear storage, cooking, lounging around and shielding the bicycle during inclement weather; the Achilles' heel of the tarp is cold windy weather as you get very little wind protection.

dang it! now there's another bunch of stuff I want to buy!

Weight matters and LESS IS better. However, for me the tour determines the how much I carry. I have two gear lists one is my ultralight (base weight = 14.38 lbs) and the other my full-on long tour list (base = 35.52 lbs). My ultralight is for tours of a few days with temps down to 50F. The long tour is for 1 month or longer and can handle down to 20F degrees. I tweek the list based on the particular circumstance.

Base Weight = All gear including panniers. IT EXCLUDES the one set of clothes I generally ride in (shorts/t-shirt/sandals/helmet) , food and water.

When I tour it's for at least 6 weeks and could span 20F to 100+F. My current big 4:

Tent: Hilleberg Allak 123oz including footprint
Bag: Feathered Friends Merlin 32 oz
Pad: Thermorest Neoair 19 oz
Stove: MSR XGK-EX 25 oz

Total 199 oz.

Grand total, same basis as above, including bear cannister, bear spray, polyethylene hammer, spare tire, baby wipes, handlebar bag, and chair is 48 lbs.

*shrug* Everyone has their own way to travel. Touring does not have to be about "going fast" or covering a huge number of miles from day to day. (It can be, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't have to be that way.)

Ultralight has some benefits, but some drawbacks as well. The equipment tends to be more expensive and less robust. You may be happy one minute that you didn't bring that rain jacket, and miserable the next because it's pouring out. Leaving stuff behind may make you feel like things are simpler, or may deprive you of a creature comfort that can lift your spirits at a critical moment.

Also, while piling on an extra 50 or 40 pounds will make a profound difference, 5-10 pounds isn't even noticeable. I mean, really, you're on a bicycle, not mountaineering.....

I'm trying to get my stuff as light as possible for my upcoming pan am trip. I think I am going to do a test soon with two small front panniers, a small handlebar bag and a carradice saddle bag. No rear rack. I can't get it down much smaller, since I need some cold weather gear, and I'll be cooking and camping.

Lightweight and riding fast don't necessarily go together, but cutting down the weight will make your cycling more enjoyable however fast you decide to travel. My bags and gear weigh 20lbs and I think I have most 3 season touring situations covered. I have a rain jacket and an umbrella

Well obviously weight matters, you get reminded of that every time you go up a hill, especially a steep one. So how to determine the trade-off between weight and utility? This is all about the type of touring you're doing. Andrew and Friedel (Avatarworf) are way too savvy to carry more than is appropriate on their tours but they carry more than most of us -- because the touring they've been doing all these years is what might be called expedition touring. If they were on a weekend tour like the OP describes, I guess they'd go a lot lighter. Ditto a month riding around Holland.

The right weight is what suits a particular tourer on a particular tour. As you get fitter, the 'cost' of carrying a few more luxuries diminishes -- shifting the trade-off. As the tour gets longer (eg. from three seasons to four), some of the luxuries become necessities. There seem to be a lot of criticisms on this forum of tourers carrying too much or too little -- usually without taking into account the specifics of the tour or the tourer.