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@frank9755
@bananaskid - good list
I found my foil blanket useful. Didn't use it for warmth but I spread it out and put all my other stuff on it so I didn't loose anything. They are so small and light that I would always take one.
Also down jacket was useful. Wore it a few times, mostly for sleeping but good to stop me getting cold at other times. Packed to nothing.
Doing without sleeping kit is the gamechanger in terms of luggage and would enable me to ditch the saddlepack. I did enjoy sleeping out, and it was useful as a backup when there were no hotels, or I couldn't find the one that I had booked! However, probably more efficient to go for hotels rather than bivvying. Certainly its possible in Europe.
Head torch was very useful. Not used one before but had a Cateye light bracket on helmet which allowed me to have a pretty useful light. Really handy for descending and seeing through corners, and spotting bivvy sites, as well as off-the-bike stuff.
Proper rain jacket - my Sportful one was shite. Got wet within the first few minutes (probably made worse by the reflective gilet which held water on the surface of it). How do we find such a thing...?
I'd stick with tubeless, despite my issues. It was my worst tubeless puncture in 18 months, so a freak incident that happened to happen on this ride. When I went to a tubed rear tyre, I got two punctures, which tubeless would have coped fine with (one was a snakebite and the other a small, sharp flint).
I guess I just don't get it with discs. Don't see the point. My v-brakes were good enough. Didn't need the spare blocks I took. Easy to take wheel out for punctures, etc. I don't see how disc brakes would get you to Turkey any quicker.