And while you are washing that one set you are wearing?...Oh, I really don't want to know....

Hmmm...that picture got me to thinking? I wonder if I could take a weeklong trip with that setup? My biggest carry has always been my tent or hammock, but I am looking into a Bivvy bag. I may try it this weekend (not the Bivvy bag, but just two places to carry stuff - for now will be a larger seat bag and a small backpack that would fit about what you have in that handlbar bag).

I'd like to lighten the load on my touring rig, but I keep coming back to the logic that every item I remove from my panniers adds an additional bit of stress to my trip. If you have the room, pack it. Then take your time getting to where you want to go. You won't be able to do this forever, so be sure to take it all in and to have anything you might need to avoid spoiling a good ride.

Different strokes. I find the opposite. For me less stuff = simpler lifestyle = less stress. Fewer items to dig through and fewer choices to make is part of what makes touring fun.

Why not? I went coast to coast with a similar load and didn't wish I had carried more.

I have dreams of hiking for long trips with just what I have on my back, so I love the idea of less. Great to hear of your trip and the idea of carrying very little. Each time I take a trip my load gets smaller - and I think of things that I did not need to bring. I may head out on a super light trip this weekend to try it out.

Thanks.

How do you wash it if you have one set of clothes? Newspaper on your lap in the laundromat?
i carry three one to wear, one to be drying and a spare just in case and so I don't have to do laundry everyday if I don't feel like it.

I try to avoid taking much of anything "just in case". On the Trans America I had two pairs along (three for part of the trip) and found that I still tended to wear the same pair for a few days anyway, so on subsequent trips I cut back to one pair.

I typically carry a pair of running shorts that I sleep in. They pack small, are light (<4 ounces), and allow me to air out a bit. I find that last important. If I expect to swim much I take a second pair of running shorts.


Since I usually have mountains and the potential for some cold weather when/where I tour, I also have some or all of the following:

• tights
• warm shirt
• wind shirt
• puffy sweater
• extra pair of socks
• wind pants
• cap

Even when I have some cold weather I still manage to hold my packed clothing to a pound and a half or so. I don't count the one shirt, pair of socks, and bike shorts that I wear all the time on the bike as part of that packed clothing weight. I did fine with that much clothing on the ST where there was frost a lot of nights and it got to 18F once.

I find that I my tech tee wrings out dry enough to put right back on. In a pinch I can do the same with the bike shorts, but I let them dry when I can. I don't find putting them on damp to be that big of an issue since I sweat enough that they are typically wet any way. Worst case I could ride with my running shorts for a few hours (or even all day) while they dried. Also I find that turning them inside out and hanging or laying them out in the sun suffices in lieu of washing, at least for a few days. The sun probably kills whatever grows there as or more effectively than washing. So I don't wash them every day unless I happen to be somewhere that it is convenient to wash and drying conditions are good.


That said if my whole trip was in a really humid climate where drying was super slow I might consider a second pair of shorts. The Gulf Coast was kind of like that, but when I did the Southern Tier I just got a room every few days for the portion that was on the gulf coast.

Hmm... Our current setup employs 4 panniers per bike and I don't really think there's anything unneeded in there. Tools take up space, although I do plan on trying to get by with as little tools as I can. The biggest tool that I have is a 12" adjustable wrench but that actually does a lot of stuff such as works as a chain whip, normal wrench, addon tool for pedals/BB's etc. I like to do stuff myself since most bike shops are bad. But now that I think of it, I'm really not going to be taking a BB apart in the wild. I need a shop for that... maybe I'll slim down the tools a bit more... But I do need to get the cassette off somehow in case a spoke breaks...
And the pedal opening tool doesn't work without some sort of wrench (why shimano, why?)
Ehh... It's easy to pack too many but really hard to make up a good set with just the essentials.

Then we have our camping stuff. We could use hammocks but for a couple a tent is just so much nicer. Tent takes up a lot of space but luckily that's outside the panniers. Sleeping bags and pads are quite bulky too and take a lot of pannier space.
Have to have a cooker of some kind since coffee in the morning or a warm meal in the afternoon etc etc is absolutely essential, especially when you don't really know when the next place selling food is going to come up. I won't live without my warm meals... But we're slimming that down to a woodgas stove, one pot and a spare alcohol burner and a little bit of fuel. The woodgas stove is awesome in that it's the perfect platform for marshmallows :D

Rain gear is really, really important but luckily not that bulky.

Essential spare parts such as a few extra spokes, nipples, nuts/bolts/washers, bag of ball bearings, grease, chain oil, a set of the more rare cartridge hub bearings,

a piece of rope or string and gorilla tape

And depending whether I'll go with an insulin pump or just needles I may need a whole 33l bag for the pump supplies or just a smaller 10l bag for the needle supplies. And I need to think of a system to transport the insulin as well, although I'll just carry a month supply at a time.

Aaaw yisss the first aid kit! Having a doctor SO is a real bonus here since we can take with us a good set on antibiotics, sticthing supplies (since we have someone who can do stitches), pain meds, hydrocortizone, etc etc. I wonder if she could score us some stimulants in case we need to ride through the night... Or we'll get those when we ride through amsterdam :D

Stuff that we could reduce from is clothes and ride dirtier,
Food between towns maybe and try to eat in restaurants more.
less water although the water is mostly in the frame
No spare tire, although if a tire goes the trip stops until someone gives you a ride.
cameras and extra electronics (we don't have too many of those yet)
less spare tubes and rely more on patch kits
no ethanol and rely purely on nature biomass
smaller tire pump, although I really like the mini tower pump we currently have. I'm doing the pumping anyway so I'll keep that.

I have to say we really are not very minimalistic... But I like to be self reliant so I won't have to worry about the trip ending prematurely.

I have to ask when the last time a spoke broke? I added a set of spare spokes to my Blackburn rack in 1979 when I left Florida for Savanna, GA. They are still taped to that rack (bike long gone though). In over 150,000 miles I have never broken a spoke. I have a friend who did once (on a bike that was 40 years old and was also ridden over 50,000 miles).

Same goes for a chain (and the chain tool, chain whip, cluster tool, and crescent wrench). I could see maybe bringing a rivet tool and master link, but I probably won't even do that.

A pedal tool on a trip?

You've been lucky. How much do you weigh?
Spoke breaking is a remote possibility but a possibility nonetheless. With my wheels the only possibilities are an accident (more likely) or a defective spoke (less likely).

A chain isn't an issue and I'll take a few quicklinks for the very remote possiblity that it does break. They take up no space and weigh basically nothing.
A cassette needs to come off for spoke breakages depending where the spoke breaks but you don't need to do anything to the chain then.

Weird thing, but Shimano pedals always start clicking at some point pretty soon in their lifetime. It has happened to every shimano pedal set I've owned (maybe 10 pairs) and to every non shimano pedal pair I've owned (don't know how many). The solution is always to take the pedal apart, wiggle some stuff in the inside, maybe add some grease on top of the clean plentiful grease already on the inside and then reassemble.
Our touring bike pedals have yet to develop that click and I'm not sure I can be pre-emptive about the issue.

There's also the issue of river crossings. If the bearings go under water they need to be opened and regreased. Pedals are most likely to get dunked

I guess that need is a relative term, but I'd wager that there is a lot more in your panniers than I consider necessary. I met a guy who was happily carrying what must have been 150 pounds and he said he didn't have anything he didn't need. It worked for him so it was all good, but it was certainly not all necessary. I went coast to coast camping and cooking with 14 pounds of bags and gear and still had some unnecessary items and some heavier than necessary items.

Don't get me wrong, I think that folks should carry what makes them happy, but surprisingly little is actually necessary.

A Unior Cassette C.r.a.c.k.e.r weighs about 1/2 ounce while a 12" Crescent wrench weighs over a pound. In the unlikely event that you ever need a 12" Crescent wrench you can typically limp along to somewhere that you can borrow one. Worst case hitch a ride.

^ very true about the crescent wrench.

Now that I think about it I can probably ghetto the cassette off with the bike and chain themselves. Still need a tool for using the lockring remover but I can just get a small 1/2" ratchet arm. That'll work with a lot of the other tools as well. Or a smaller 8" adjustable wrench.

I apologize if I came across as judgemental (not that you took offence - thank you), but I do see many tools taken by others that in my experience have never been necessary. However, if the S***t hits the fan on my next trip I hope I'm riding with you and you only go so far as to say "I told you so" and then you hand over the tools I need to fix my bike :thumb:

Wearing and sweating all day in the same shorts for a few days isn't a vacation, it's more like a survival situation. I could do it, I guess, but it's kinda gross.
ill stick with three pairs.