Im trying to get my touring bike set up for this, and i was wondering if anyone does the same thing, and had any advice. the bike is an old centurion Lemans 12 (steel lugged, 62cm). i bought the bike with most of the stuff on it, and the only things i've personally added have been fenders, lights, and the GPS mount for my garmin geko. the bike has a very comfy salsa bell-lap bar, suntour bar-end shifters, a brooks titanium B17 saddle, and some very nice 35cc tires on 36-spoke shimano rims. The gearing is currently a 12-speed, but i can make it a 18 speed if i add a 28 tooth front sprocket for climbing. What i don't like is the very aged rear derailleur and cables (im planning on replacing these). it also has some very weak side-pull brakes that i don't really like, but im not sure about how i would upgrade these beyond getting new pads.

The trips will range from 100 miles for weekend trips to 300-400 miles possibly, where i'll be doing ~40-50 miles a day. there might be some leveled dirt roads, but nothing beyond that.

what i have planned to do is add a rear rack (which may be interesting since i only have the lower eyelets) so that i can mount my saddlebags. my plan is to stuff most of my stuff into my saddlebags while touring and leaving my golite pinnacle backpacking backpack strapped to the top of the rack, and then whenever i get to where im going, i can just unload the saddlebags into my pack and leave them mostly empty (leaving only cycling specific stuff behind), then find a spot off trail, waypoint it on my GPS, and lock it up to a tree. i pack very light as my baseweight for two week backpacking trip (not including food and water) is around 13lbs including my tent.

so, here are some pictures (kinda large to show detail). any advice on things to look for or things i may want to add or change would be appreciated.

https://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...7/IMGP1815.jpg
https://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...7/IMGP1818.jpg
https://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...7/IMGP1819.jpg
https://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...7/IMGP1820.jpg

13lbs for 2weeks? Supported or un-supported? how many pounds of food do you carry?

Generally baseweight doesn't include food, yes?

Mounting the rear rack should be easy with a pair of plastic coated p-clips, available at most bike shops.

New pads, and clean rims, help with the braking, but it is hard to beat a long reach dual pivot brake, at least up front. (That's the arrangement I had on my Centurion Elite RS.)

P-clips are a good way to mount a rack, but here's another way to carry your gear:
https://www.rivbike.com/products/show...k-large/20-133
or
https://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php...&product_id=35
There are online shops that import Carradice bags, but they all seem to have trouble keeping them in stock. Ordering direct from the manufacturer or from www.wiggle.co.uk seems to be the way to go.

Like SteakKnifeSally said, long reach dual pivot brakes are the way to go: https://www.rivbike.com/products/show...idepull/15-026

They offer a couple other, cheaper brakes, too.

Adding a third chainring/front sprocket will require a longer bottom bracket spindle and possibly a new front derailleur and shift lever. You might be better off upgrading to a modern cartridge bottom bracket if you want to do this.

13 lbs for two weeks unsupported, not including food or water. it helps that i have a tarptent cloudburst and a very light sleeping bag, pad, and backpack.

P-clips are a great idea. That will make everything so simple.

would a set of modern "long" road brakes like this work for upgrading the braking power?
https://www.treefortbikes.com/107_333...r-55-73mm.html

I tour with a Golite Jam2 on a modified back rack, no panniers. One bit of advice: set your groundcloth between the pack and the rack to prevent road jostling from wearing on your backpack.

You may want to see how your bike handles with all the weight on just the rear rack. I have to divide the weight between the front and rear panniers to keep my bike from wobbling all over the road when going down hills. Performance has a low rider front rack that sells for about $20 and works pretty good. I use it with some cheap bags from a military surplus store bags for panniers.

If it was me I wouldn't put a lot of money into this rig. I'd do what I could with it, take it on tour, have a lot of fun, and start saving my money for a "real" touring bike. I started touring on an old 10-speed in the 70's and had a ton of fun, and fell in love with bike touring. The bike wasn't really set up for touring, but I made it work. When I got a real touring bike the difference was significant.

would a set of modern "long" road brakes like this work for upgrading the braking power?
https://www.treefortbikes.com/107_333...r-55-73mm.html[/QUOTE]

I used an Ultegra front brake on my Elite with the Original Dia Compe in the rear and think it worked great. If anyone looks at you strange, tell them you copied the single pivot rear/dual pivot front idea from Campy's new brakes.