Any packing list that doesn't mention region and season is pretty useless.

I have toured with the perfect ultralite set up. ZERO lbs/oz.
That tour went perfectly :rolleyes:

Would I go round-the-world like that? Nope.

I have a lot of good feedback regarding my list. The link is in my signature line.

Also love the gearing! what front rings are you running?

Or, if I were touring by myself, I'd bring a cup, dish/plate, and spoon/knife, just in case ... but there would be no cooking equipment at all. I would buy and eat food that did not require cooking. :D

So, to me the making and refining of lists has become a big part of the joy of touring! Happy New Year!

When evaluating an item -- just a single item at a time -- (for each and every item, evaluating it for inclusion, exclusion, or replacement with a lighter/smaller/better alternative), it helps to very consciously avoid the slippery-slope thinking that goes something like: oh, it won't really matter -- it's just this little difference.....

All those ''little differences'' tend to add up, until -- overall -- they make a very real difference, and add up to *much* more of a difference than this sort of slippery-slope thinking makes you believe.

Eliminating an item is a good option also, in some cases.

If you can learn the art of eating well without cooking, it can save a lot of time, bulk, weight, trouble, and expense.

The ultralight backpacking world has useful tips to offer, tips that apply to cyclopacking as well. There are many good websites and videos.

Right on !
Happy Touring in 2012 !

Hi Staehpj1

Not a good idea to make fun of us newbies...so if I look at the "loaded" bike, I see a pair of shoes, a light blue bag, a darker blue bag in the rear which I am assuming is yr tent?bedroll? a rear seat small bag for tools?, two water bottles!! (I use one of the larger ones from REI in just an hour of riding) and then up front a handle bar bag small odds and ends, maybe your toiletries etc and another blue bag that looks like it might hold hold some wind/rain gear...so where's all the other stuff stored :)

Gary

a perfect anything is doubted.

You can use packing lists of requirements and take the specific item that suites your climate/distance/duration.
I generally group my stuff into
Clothing
Bikewear
Footwear
Bike repair/spares
Utility/Navigation/Entertainment/Power management
Sleeping
Documentation
First Aid
Hygiene
Cooking
Food
Water

One of the heaviest items on a long tour is documentation: maps, guidebooks etc.

I have *zero* personal experience touring, and hope to do my first tour this summer. I do understand the theory of 'ultra-light' touring, but I wonder if some items are missing?

Flashlight
cell phone and charger
reading material / Kindle

I question how you can keep everything dry in case you run into multi-hour rain? None of those bags look water-proof? If you are not sleeping or riding, what are you planning to do? Entertainment of some sort I think is needed to take with? It will be interesting to see what I take on my first tour that I don't want/need, vs what I fail to bring that I wish I had.

Everybody.is different, but after fourty years of camping,backpacking and bike travel I've learned to minimize.Start with the least possible and go from there.

Marc

The stuff I take packs pretty small especially if it is compressed in suitably sized stuff sacks within the main one. The things on the list are all packed in those sacks. It is packed as follows:

Front Bag (S, 8 liter Blue Ultra-Sil Dry Bag) - under front bracketClothing bag (XS, 4 liter Blue)

Camera Bag - on front bracketRear Bag (L, 20 liter Blue Ultra-Sil Dry Bag) - on rear rackTent Bag - on rear rack

Normal amounts of water and food fit in the dry bags. In the case where an unusually large amount is needed it can be on the rack in the backpack or even carried on my back for short distances.

Were you referring to my list and picture? If so...

I usually have carried a little headlamp and seldom use it. I am probably weird in this regard. I mostly just sleep when it is dark and don't mind a bit of stumbling around it the dark. I have actually toyed with leaving all lights home. As an experiment in that direction I am taking only a little zipper pull light. This is an experiment though and if it fails I figure I can always pick up a light. In the past I have carried a Petzl Tikka headlamp.

I do carry a cellphone and charger. It is in the little camera bag.

Reading material... I find I read way less on tour than when at home. I do take audio books in case I want to read. I can play them on my blackberry. Perhaps strangely, I tend to get way behind in my reading when on the road.

The light blue bags are dry bags and inside them things are in sil-nylon stuff sacks or zip lock bags.. The camera bag has a rain cover stowed in a little pocket. The tent requires no rain protection if rolled with the tent bottom on the outside. I have never had trouble keeping stuff dry with whatever gear I used and I don't see why this rig will be an exception.

Entertainment... I have taken games, and other stuff on tour and wound up sending them home. The scenery, riding, cooking, eating, sightseeing, taking pictures, doing journal entries, and chatting with local folks and other travelers are the usual entertainment. Once in a while I might listen to a bit of audio book, but in 73 days on the Trans America I think I only made it through two books (paper ones in that case). I read more on the Santa Fe trail and finished two books in ten days (these were audio books on a <1 ounce iPod Shuffle). I don't think I read at all on the Pacific Coast or on our tour in the Sierras.

Kindle has free apps for Iphone, Blackberry and Android devices, so a little weight could be saved by leaving your Kindle behind if you don't mind reading on a small screen.

I carry a petz headlamp and I also have a small lamp on my wind-up radio. On a really dark night, it can be useful to leave the radio lamp on when I leave the tent at night, just so I can find my way back.
I made up a USB phone charging cable (just cut and splice together and old charger and a USB cable). It works for some types of phone inc my old Nokia. I also took a solar charger with a usb input/output so I could recharge AA batts from solar or from a USB source. The USB output was not powerful enough for my phone but better chargers may be up to the task.
USB sources are mostly the front office of a friendly campsite.
I used some fairly cheap nylon drybags for racktop storage of sleeping bag. It works for extended rainfall.

Hi staehpj1

That is some amazing minimalist traveling. I am going to do a mini 2 day trip to test out whether I can handle touring, I'll try yr. model knowing that I can always take a cab back home.

Gary

Sorry for the delay in responding. I didn't see the question until now. It is a 39-26 on a road triple with the big ring left off.

just on the cooking thing why in gods name would you want to leave the stove at home surly this must be rated as one of the most important pieces of kit to pack, jeez i would sooner leave the bike at home than go without me little stove.now if a fella could get the cloths right he could lighten the load and more important the bulk by a fair bit.

http://ronajustine.blogspot.com/p/to...pack-list.html

here's our list. We don't do restaurants but like to cook everywhere we go. Our goal is to have romantic dinners in the evening and do it all as cheap as possible. Be warned, my list reflects that I'm a girlie girl and like real bedding, skirts and dresses. :P As much as I admire ultralight packing, I just can't seem to do it.

thanks Rona

First you must realize that some people don't even cook at home. That being said...

Depending on what the temperatures are, what part of the world you are touring through, how long you are staying on the road, and your sensibilities for eating what is available, leaving the stove at home eliminates: 1. Grocery shopping, 2. Fuel shopping, 3. Weight of said stove and fuel, maybe even a maintenance kit, 4. Stove maintenance, 5. Time spent cooking at a campground or picnic area rain or shine, wind or calm, 6. Time spent cleaning up the mess you made cooking, probably with ice cold water, unless you waste more time and fuel heating water. 7. Attracting bears to your camp in areas with bears. 8. Setting the woods on fire. 9. Setting yourself on fire. Did I forget anything?

I usually carry a Trangia stove and tiny pot as my tours often last six months or more, and I tend to end up in remote locations days away from food stores. One time when I cycled from New Orleans up to Tennessee via the Natchez Trace Parkway I decided to avoid cooking. I still carried the danged stove full of alcohol (no fuel bottle) just in case I changed my mind. I don't like going hungry. Well...it was so easy to just live on food that did not need cooking along with one or two meals each day at a family restaurant, or Subway, or salad bar, pizza joint, bar-b-que - and so much more satisfying, cheaper, and social (I nearly always travel alone) that I loved it. Food at family restaurants, especially the daily specials, were so cheap AND I often made connections for free places to spend the night further saving money and lengthening my trips. Only drawback - if you are a vegan or even vegetarian, family restaurants don't want to hear about it.

Eating breaded pork chops, fried chicken, pizza, and unheated canned goods, crackers, cereal, fruit, and certain uncooked veggies won't clog your arteries in a couple of weeks or even a month (unless you smoke too). I have suffered no ill effects of digestion or energy that I could notice.

Oh...I never even ONCE arrived at a camp and wished I had to cook something. Set up camp, lay in hammock, look at birds or stars. No extra work.