three people is a perfect number for economical purchases of food. One loaf of bread, one jar of peanut butter and one jar of honey is about 3500-4000calories.

Lightweight touring:
http://www2.arnes.si/~ikovse/weight.htm

Eating free:
http://freegan.info/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlFP-PMW6E

When I started I was very poor. I went on lots of trips and had a great time. The only mechanical issues I had were a couple of broken spokes. I rode an old Raleigh 10 speed. The low wasn't nearly low enough, but I was young; I seldom had to walk up hills. Instead I'd grunt and groan and make it to the top. I bought some pack cloth from a backpacking store and sewed my own panniers. They weren't great but they worked and I still have them. I designed them with a diagonal cut so my heels (size 13 feet) wouldn't hit. It worked. I had an old, cheap sleeping bag I got for free for attending a presentation on why I should buy a private campsite. (Yeah, right!) I had a cheap, single-wall "pup tent" that worked well enough at keeping me dry. I ate cold food from the grocery store - canned tuna, beef jerky, fruits and vegetables - or heated stuff in a can over a fire - beans, beef stew, canned vegetable. No stove or cookware at that time. I stealth camped 90% of the time. It worked out great, although I much prefer my present means of touring and don't wish to go back.

Since you have steel frames, I say make them work. Make them as comfortable as possible. Consider upgrading to lower gearing, but if you're young and strong you may be able to go with what you have. The first rack I had was a Pletscher from a department store. It always worked and never broke. I carried one spare tube, a set of tire irons, and a floor pump I bought at a thrift store. You should have the ability to fix flats because they'll likely happen. However, you only need one set of tools between the three of you.

Dedicated touring trailers are nice and can solve a lot of problems, but they're also expensive. If you really want to both economize and go the trailer route, consider an old trailer for towing young children around. Lots of parents buy them when their kids are little, then sell them cheaply when their kids outgrow them. A kid trailer is probably wide, which is a bit of an inconvenience, but you're trying to economize, right? I met a dad at a hiker biker site north of San Francisco who was camping with his grownup son. They had taken the boy's old trailer and filled it with camping gear, an ice chest full of beer, and a little barbecue! I also met a homeless couple on the Oregon coast who were riding a couple of really beat up old department store mountain bikes, and pulling their stuff in a little red wagon they had found in a dumpster. They tied the handle of the wagon to the back of their bike somehow. I was dubious, but they said they had already covered over 500 miles!

I'm about 30 years removed from the kid who used to tour on that old Raleigh. Now I've got really good equipment - everything I could want - and I manage to save enough money each year so that I can spend what I want on my summer tours - restaurant food, campgrounds (not stealth camping), even motels if I want. But if you're creative you can tour with much less, and spend much less, and still have a wonderful time, especially if you're young!

Have a great trip.

Yeah, I was half joking about making him carry all the gear. But if he really IS a much stronger cyclist it would work. Alternatively, if two or more riders were approximately the same size, they could swap bikes on the big grades to even up the effort. The trailer's a great idea too but it sounds like this group is planning to travel really light so maybe overkill or maybe not.

But what are the other two guys supposed to eat?

Quoted for truth. If I'm out cycling, I'm going to eat at least 3 peanut butter & banana/honey sammiches at every meal in which we eat them. Preferably with a nice large glass of milk. If that's the route me and 2 friends would go, we better be taking nothing but bread, honey, peanut butter, and bananas. :)

Your description of a floor pump reminds me of the cheap aluminum pump with the small screw in cloth covered hose I used. It was a bear to pump the tires up to 80psi and lose 5-10lbs while unscrewing the hose. The panniers had a wax coated cardboard stiffener on the backing that somehow didn't get folded into the wheels. I thought the set-up was good. 44/48 gearing with 14-36 5spd cog. It was Nishikis base model with aluminum rims. Definately a step up from a 38lb 5spd schwinn I had before. When I set up a BikeFriday with single chainring and Capreo cassette the gearing was almost the same but with a more usable range.

Whatever frame you have is probably fine. Check the wheels, maybe replace the brake cables if it hasn't been done in a while.

Just as an example, I rode a 1000km tour from Vancouver to Kelowna and back on a fixed gear road bike (42x16, old Apollo steel frame, no rear brake) with two medium panniers and a camping hammock (crossing several high mountain passes along the way). I bought food as I went, and made sandwiches. I free-camped the whole way. If you want places to stay, warmshowers is great, but also check out couchsurfing. Plus, my friends who've gone on longer tours said that many times they'd just roll into town and people would see them and just offer them a place to stay and a hot meal. There are plenty of people out there who know what bike touring is all about.

If you want to stealth camp, just remember to cook before you get to your final camp spot, and set up camp late / leave early. When I passed through Osoyoos on that fixie tour, I camped in a Peach orchard one night because everything else was fenced off. The worst that's ever happened is I once had a park ranger come by in the morning when I was waking up, and he said "I'm coming back in an hour, and I'm not going to find any trace of anyone here...hint hint hint."

blaise_f: +1 for the article you mention regarding ultralight touring. I read it earlier in the week after seeing a link to it on another site. The information is excellent.

I also agree whole heartedly with GPSBlake and Peterpan. I have done three tours in the past 15 months including a trip from Hong Kong to Shanghai on a $60 Walmart montain bike. The only trouble I've had has been very minor: a few broken pedals, replacing brake pads, new tyres and general wear-and-tear.

This site offers excellent advice but it would be easy for a new member to assume a tour is absolutely impossible without a Trek 520 or LHT with expensive, lightweight accessories; and specific brands of sleeping/cooking gear. That stuff is great down-the-track, but you don't need it as a touring novice to tour successfully, happily and in reasonable comfort. Part of me would love to rush out and get the brand names recommended online, but another part is enjoying figuring out what works well on-the-cheap and where I need to spend more. For instance, I am prepared to be a cheapskate with my tent, panniers and sleeping pad, but will be buying the best, lightest sleeping bag available (within reason) for my next trip.

All the best for your trip.