Thinking of touring
 

I've been thinking about touring the west coast, but have never toured before. Does anyone just take a trailer? What are some of the downsides of that? Also, I'm an avid backpacker and so I have a lot of gear that I think will transfer over well. Things like my tent(REI 2person 5lbs), tarp, stove/fuel/pots, and most importantly, my backpack. I was thinking it might be easier for me to just mount my backpack onto the rear of the bike above the tire on a rack. For going around corners though, it seems like it'd be a better idea to keep an even load F/R. So maybe I could use the BP on the rack in the rear and get some front tire saddlebags to even it out. The backpack is about 5lbs and can hold ~4500cu in. I wonder if I'll need more space than that?

FIRST ... use what you've got, and go for an overnight tour.

Load up your backpack, and go ride. You'll be able to answer your own question about whether or not you need more space than that, and whether or not the backpack will work.

Ultralight style backpacks can fit to a luggage rack but you need to strap them on firmly and possibly add some width to the rack with thin plywood or correx. Larger backpacks may be too big and are better handled in a trailer.
You can just load up the back but it makes the bike a bit "tippy", esp up steep hills. You can distribute the load within your bag so the heavy stuff is nearest the front.
I met a guy doing low budget touring on a discount store MTB with a military kit bag strapped to the rear rack. Its not ideal but he was out touring and having fun.

If you do a search for "trailers" in these forums you'll find a ton of info.

There is a huge range in what folks choose to take, so there is no "one size fits all" answer.

I'd forget the 4500 cubic inch backpack. That is way more than I would want to put on top of the rear rack.

Unless you are willing to go really light, I would recommend getting some panniers. If money is tight (or maybe even if it isn't) Nashbar or Performance waterproofs are inexpensive and work OK.

If you are willing to pack pretty light, you could go with smallish panniers on the front and your tent on the rear rack. I did that on my last trip and it worked very well for a base gear weight of 22 pounds (excluding food, water, and fuel).

If you are carry a moderate load (30-40 pounds) rear only panniers is probably OK.

If carrying a heavy load (>40 pounds) 4 panniers are probably preferred.

If going really light (<20 pounds) you can do well with a large saddle bag (search for Nun's posts) or sil-nylon stuff sacks strapped on the rear rack.

I'd also use a handlebar bag with any of those options.

I am not a trailer fan so I'll let others comment on them.

Also if interesed in going very light check out my article on the crazy guy site.

+1 to all of the suggestions above.

I had a trailer on my trip and loved it. The downside was it made it too easy to take too many things. It didn't take long for me to start sending things home. There are a LOT of great posts on CrazyGuyonaBike.com that you can read to get some ideas, but the one thing you're going to find out is that it doesn't matter how prepared you are, there's no way to know what will pop up until you get on the bike. I became nearly obsessive planning for my trip and one day it suddenly dawned on me that short of falling down a mountain, there wasn't anything so catastrophic that I couldn't handle it.

Get on the bike, practice if you can, and have fun. Everything else will fall into place.

Skip the backpack, get panniers or a trailer. I am a pannier user, some however prefer trailers. I suspect that if you had tried to mount a 4,500 in^3 backpack on top of your rack with a load, that you would not be asking if that will work.

As a backpacker, you have almost all the camping gear and the fitness level you need. But, you need a good bike and a way to haul your gear. Also need some bike tools and spares and the knowledge on how to use them.

+1

I've toured twice with a Bob trailer. It worked great. If a trailer allows you to tour, or is the best option, go for it and don't look back. I prefer racks and panniers, however. I carry a big load and like four panniers and a handlebar bag, with some stuff on top of both racks (I have Jandd in front with a platform.)

If touring is something you'll be doing over and over, buying good equipment makes economic sense, because once you spend the money you'll have the stuff for a long time (a lifetime?) However, if you can't afford the best, or if you're not sure you'll become a lifelong tourer, go ahead and put together the best rig you can with your given budget, and go out and try it. You can always upgrade later if you find yourself hooked, and find yourself coveting better stuff.

Burly Travoy trailer when I saw it, it looked ideal to strap a back country
back pack including your Boots, onto, to ride to lodging near the trailhead then hike.

someone did the ultimate ride, climb to the summit, then ride home, already.

Wow, thanks for all the replies! Here's the background on my biking. I've put about 8k on my bike last year and another 500 on my mt bike. My typical ride is about 20-30 miles 3-4x/week. So, I'm used to slightly longer rides and working with the tools neccessary to fix things. Since I don't know if I'm going touring some more after I get to Seattle, I'd really like to use my backpack instead of panniers. Also, I'll be going to at least half a dozen friends' places along the way with backpacking trips. A Bob looks like the best thing for me. I'd imagine I will want a handlebar bag for quick grab things, so I'll be getting one of those. Also, I have two lights from my previous bike. I have the blaze 1(http://tinyurl.com/6s7ayp7) and blinky 3 for the rear. I can see a good amount ahead of myself, but I wonder if it'll be enough. I plan on strapping one of those reflective vests onto the backpack, too.

Ive got both the BOB and Burly trailers - toured once with the Burly and use the BOB around town. For long tours, I prefer panniers. In your case you could buy a used trailer and sell it if touring's not to your liking. You woudn't be out much money.
I would not strap your backpack on your rear rack. Instead make use of your numerous stuff sacks. Many ultralite tourers travel this way. One, or more on top of, and maybe strapped to each side of your rear rack; another strapped to your handlebars. Maybe buy or make a framefit pack.

backpacks belong on backs, they are too big to load onto a bicycle and handle well once you get above a daypack sized load. That's why you wear a backpack and not panniers on your back and why people use panniers and not backpacks on bicycles. Once you go to a trailer you've added the weight of nearly half the entire contents of a medium sized backpack load, 8-13lbs. Trailers can make a lot of sense for very heavy loads, heavy loads that can't fit on some bikes, or off road and saving rear wheel. But if you're simply touring around with a back pack load and want to go hiking later consider a set of panniers with your backpack rolled up flat(softpack?) and layed on the rack lengthwise.
The cost of a Bob trailer is going to be a lot more than the lowest cost set of panniers and rack.
Reflective vests will work better on your torso than the back of the bike.

Most important though is what kind of bikes do you have?

bingo!!!!!

I have been thinking of doing a small "weekend" get away too. I have never done it before and was wondering were do you set up your tent? I would be going from city to city around the Gulf Coast area. Are you guys going to camp grounds and renting a space? Or are there free areas in most citys? I don't know, thats why I'm asking. Thanks for your insight.

Have you never gone camping before?

Yes ... you go to a campground and "get a campsite" (not "rent a space"). No, chances are there won't be any free areas in any cities.

My preference is for mostly avoiding cities when on tour. Camping arrangements can be very different depending on both preferences and locale. In some areas like Oregon and California there are lots of nice state parks often with cheap hiker biker sites. On BLM land and much National Forest land you can do dispersed camping. In many small towns in places like Kansas, Oklahoma, and similar areas camping in small town park's picnic areas is usually fine (and free). I try to avoid private campgrounds, especially the ones that cater mostly to RVs, but once in a while use them as well.

While panniers are the clear favorite with the touring mob, there are some good reasons to use a trailer.

1. Trailers are good if you don't want to invest in a specially made touring bike. You can attach a trailer to almost any kind of bicycle, put your gear inside the trailer, and pull the thing behind you! Not having to invest in a new touring bike is a big attraction for some people.

2. Trailers are also easier to pack. Typically, trailers have one main compartment and it is easy to just throw your things into the trailer and take off down the road. Packing you panniers is not always as easy.

3. Trailers are great for off-road bicycle tours. Some long-distance cyclists like to ride on narrow trails and bumpy fire roads, and trailers typically outperform panniers in this area.

In most cases however, panniers are probably going to be the ideal way to carry your gear.

1. One of the main reasons panniers are preferred over trailers is that your bike is much more compact when cycling with panniers. As soon as you attach a trailer to your bicycle, you are suddenly twice as long as you normally would be on a regular bike.

2. In most cases the added length of your bicycle and trailer isn't a problem, but when you start riding in traffic and need to navigate your way around small or perilous obstacles, you're really going to have a hard time, and could seriously get injured in the process.

3. Another benefit of using panniers is that you will have fewer wheels touching the ground when you use this method. The drawback of a trailer is that it adds 1 or 2 more wheels to your rig. And the more wheels you have touching the ground, the more traction you are creating and the more you are going to have to work to get your bike and gear up and over the hills you are sure to encounter.

4. Panniers are also easier travel with on trains, planes, boats, and buses, because they can be compacted down and carried in relative ease. Whereas traveling with a trailer is not always so easy due to their size.

If you go the pannier route you'll want to invest in panniers not jerry rig a backpack due to the higher center of gravity that will cause. Here's a large selection of panniers, the best are the Ortliebs but their also the most expensive, however if your going to do a lot of touring then get the best otherwise for just one trip find something less expensive like the Avenir Excursion Large Panniers for the rear that hold up to 1700 cubic inches, it got high reviews but cost little. Add on top of the rear rack your tent, mat, and tarp and strap those down. Then the Avenir Excursion Small pannier for the front which will hold up to 1,464 cubic inches. Then a large handlebar bag with a plastic sleeve on top for maps like the Louis Garneau Box HB 8.5 bag that will hold up to 518 cubic inches. So with all the panniers and handlebar bag you have about 3,682 cubic in of holding space, not including the tent, mat and tarp strapped to the rear rack. That should be plenty of space.

Tip, whether you get a trailer or panniers even with rain covers be sure to put things you don't want to get wet in plastic zip lock bags.

Normally a loaded bike will carry about 50 to 60 pounds of gear, with panniers divided 60% of the weight on the rear and 40% on front. The Avenir's can hold about 1,700 cubic inches on the rear plus the tent, pad, tarps etc rolled up and strapped to the top of the rear rack.

The two person tent you have will be fine to start with. You should have a ground cover for the tent, and either a tarp for the bike or some sort of bike cover if you want to protect it from rain. You didn't mention the campy gear you have so here's some web sites that can assist you further in touring info and what to carry. And I also highly recommend you do a weekend tour to shake down equipment to see what you need or don't need, and to get familiar with the stuff.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/ Great touring maps are available here too if you need them.
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/ Lots of great reading here by an expert in touring.
http://bicycleuniverse.info/touring/ Good general info.
http://www.bicycletouring101.com/TableOfContents.htm Another great resource.
http://www.myra-simon.com/myra/bike/tips.html More great info by another expert in touring.

I started touring in the Seattle area. I lived in Bellingham. I rode back and forth between Seattle and B'ham a few times. I took two week-long tours in the San Juan Islands. You're going to have lots of great options. Also, my first "big" tour was down the coast, from Seattle to Santa Cruz, CA. It was awesome!

I would agree that touring while wearing a big backpack is a bad idea. Carrying it in a Bob sounds like a pretty good idea. You'd be able to take some nice hikes along the way.

I met Christof while riding on just north of Naselle in Southern Washington. He was carrying his backpack because he wanted to ride and hike. While his attachment system was homemade, he said it worked well.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-G...0/DSCN3668.JPG

+1...
But the Bob probably isn't the cheapest way to go. It will be more than 3 times as much as 2 inexpensive panniers and a rack. Even if you went for 4 panniers and a front and rear rack you can get by much cheaper than a Bob. So if price is the driving issue, you might rethink that.

Alternately you could get a pair of Nashbar or Performance panniers and a rear rack along the lines of the Blackburn EX-1. Maybe $100, less if you catch a sale (they are frequent). Then strap the empty backpack on top of the load.

BTW if you plan to just do overnight or two night backpack trips, it isn't hard to get down to a little 30 liter or so ultralight pack. I have found that, when using a bivy and not needing a bear canister, I can even get my gear and food for 3 days and 2 nights into my 18 liter pack (it weighs a whopping 10 ounces empty). The 30 liter one will (barely) let me take a one person tent and bear canister (The 30 liter pack weighs 1.5 pounds empty).

After a bit more research, I decided a good set of F/R panniers and a handlebar bag is the way to go. I have an eVent bag and can just strap that and my tent/pad and a few other things to the rear rack. I won't be able to roll up my backpacking backpack, but I can with my day pack. I've also decided to just use the lights I have, but not plan on riding at night unless I have to. I've been reading the Sierra Club book on bike touring, which has been a great reference. Now I just need to make a preliminary route. Thanks for all the help so far.

Also: Would there be any difference going south to north between the coastal trail and the cascades trail. I know there is typically a headwind going north, but would it be better to go the cascades route?

What I would do is find a patch of woods or land that showed no signs of being used, and camp out of sight. One of the things I always did also is listen for dogs barking before setting up camp. If you can hear a dog barking, they can hear you camping. And search for a campsite at least an hour or more before sunset, that way your not stuck taking a poor spot.

Stealth camping always starts a lively debate here.

For a newbie, I'd recommend camping in official campgrounds the first few times ... to get used to the camping experience and being outdoors.

Make your own thread. It's really easy to do. Thanks

I did my first tours last year here in Sweden and LOVED it! Hoping I can do more this year.

I'm not a light tourer though I am trying to pare down. Plans for this winter are to replace my sleeping bag and pad for smaller/lighter which, thanks to advances in technology since my ancient sleeping arrangements were made, will be much more comfortable as well. I used a Burley Cargo trailer and will probably use it again. I only notice it when the hill gets over a 12% grade and I'm exhausted.

"Make your own thread. It's really easy to do. Thanks "

No problem, but the name of this thread is " Thinking of touring "...so I felt I posted in the correct spot. Didn't mean to step on your toes.

Welcome here and ...

Don't worry about it. :) The OP is new and probably doesn't realise that threads go every which way on this forum ... and with a subject line as vague and general as "Thinking of touring", the thread is open for anyone who is thinking of touring to post.

Wasn't trying to be harsh. Most forums I frequent have rules against that.

Lots of good info here:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/features/howto.cfm

I prefer to use panniers for bike touring, but I have carried a backpack strapped on top of my rear rack before when bicycling to a trailhead for a backpack trip. Since the OP plans to be backpacking along the way this seems like a reasonable way for him to carry his gear. A trailer would add 10 lbs. or more compared to just using a rear rack. But I'd make sure the rack is a particularly sturdy one. There'll be a greater tendency to sway with all of the load strapped to the top instead of the more usual arrangement with most of the weight in panniers along the sides.