Lightweight Touring on a Singlespeed

Please tell me you hasn't finish adjusting the handlebar.

I concur with this sentiment. The lever positions look well off on the bars unless your wrists are magic.

I am building a singlespeed bicycle [nearly finished] : http://buildingabicycle.tumblr.com/

I would like to do a cycle tour at some point and I was wondering what the lightest kit list you could take would be...

Like :

Bicycle <<< bottles, lights, tubes, pump, patches, tyre levers, allen key/multitool, plus a cog on the other side of the hub for when that freewheel breaks!
Tent
Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Mat
Camping Stove
Pan
Cutlery

2 cycling jerseys 1 will do, or just a merino tshirt that you can wear in the evening without looking like a cyclist!

2 cycling short (plus a pair of off-the-bike shorts)
7 socks 3 pairs should do it. Wash your kit each day when you shower.
7 underwear As above. Don't wear any on the bike.
Shoes
Waterproof gear jacket, cap/headgear, some arm warmers, maybe knee warmers too (they're super small/light to pack)

Phone, iPod, Tablet computer. <<< if you must. I certainly wouldn't. A phone does the lot.

And the other essentials like wallet <<<<< plastic ziplock bag or similar.

Plus: buy/steal some real maps, take plasters/bandage/antiseptic/drugs, sunglasses, credit card for when it all goes wrong.

My 2p.

I'll concur, however two pair would be fine, wash them, hang them on the bicycle to dry as you cycle.

two pairs of what Ed?

You could also add a mid layer bit of clothing like a shirt.

my mistake, sock.

usually a pair of everything is enough providing you wash them regularly and dry them on the move/evening.

Extra pair is just for hiding the weed tho.

:P

make sure you are very fit and are riding the right gearing to tackle lots of hills if you wanna do it singlespeed with all of that gear. or go to holland.

or less gear inches, seriously that's all there to it.

If you're really worried about space just take a hexie stove and a metal mug... one with the removable plastic rim so you don't burn your lips when you're having a brew. Never mind all that cooking stuff either - get some boil in the bags from an army surplus store.

^ army rations is an interesting idea. You can get 24-hour ration packs for about £8 per day, I imagine they have a hell of a lot of calories in them too.

Might be a bit heavy carrying 14 MREs in your panniers though.

EDIT - Yeah, they weigh about 2kg each... you could probably reduce the weight by removing the chemical heaters from each packet, but you're still carrying a lot of weight and they're still an expensive way of eating - perhaps keep one 'just in case', or just get the separate main meals rather than the 24-hour ones.

^^^You have to strip them down - sachets of rolled oats mixed with the drinking chocolate for breakfast, boil in the bag for lunch, maybe not if you're stopping off for lunch, and a boil in the bag for your main meal. Two boil in the bags and a couple of sachets per day. There's all sorts of other shit in the 24 hour ration pack that you won't use. Also, you can get commercial boil in the bags from most camping shops or online. Depends how adventurous you want to be with your cooking.

My favourite aspect of touring/traveling is the food. ^ this sounds more suited for wilderness survival, and a bit grim.

Nah the French army rations sound great - salt pork with lentils, cassoulet, sauteed rabbit, duck mousse... I mean, I know it's tinned, but both tinned salt pork and tinned cassoulet are delicious!

I have been backpacking a lot, and eating local food is the ideal situation - but if you don't want to carry a stove and you don't have a lot of money, you end up eating sandwiches for weeks. Taking a few ration meals with you with the chemical heater would ensure you get at least a few hot meals - much better for your morale. You can buy individual meals off of ebay with chemical heaters that don't weigh a lot and don't take up much space.

It'd be interesting to see how hot the chemical heaters get - presumably they are hot enough to make the tea and coffee supplied with the rations. Perhaps a lightweight alternative to a stove? Not for actually cooking things, just for warming them up. Buying local tinned foods and heating them is a reasonable way of living... especially if you can find tinned cassoulet.

I remember having them army rations before - miles better than I though, especially the casserole and dumpling

^^^^ yes
I survived off expired ration packs for 2-3months (using them in the more remote corners of Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia), took about 12 packs thrown into one big cardboard box. half of them 'HC' high calorie packs (6000cal instead of 4500) which have 2 kendal mintcakes, an extra energy sugar drink thing (horrible, but good for re-hydrating when locked up in the desert) and other things too.
Used to have an utter disgust for baked beans, like, if they had been on the same counter as my food I wouldn't be able to stomach it. But faced with Iranian village truckstock BBQ'd roadkill, starvation or MOD baked beans & bacon; there was no choice, starvation it was ;)

If anyone gets the packs and decides they do not like biscuits, I will happily come and dispose of the 'Oatmeal' blocks, the ones in the green foil. They are like concentrated hobnobs.

But if you just want boil in the bag/ real food in a packet stuff. Sainsburies & co-op often have 'Heinz' meal pots, cost about £1 - £1.50 each and you often get casseroles and chilli's,and they are ACTUALLY good! Take a while to 'boil in the pot' so just turn them out into a tiny pan and take about 2minutes of heating. Decent camping shops also have bag type meals for £3-5 each (pricey, unless you start buying them in bulk, 20packs at a time from the wholesalers).

Most places in the world you can get 'random meat in a tin', and when boiled up it can be quite tasty with some bread. Sometimes it tastes horrific, like various russian 'random meaty fish in essence of fuel oil sauce in a can' are borderline inedible. but contain essential nutrients (the heavy fuel oil) to sustain you, but costs little and keeps you from starving, or those truck stop sandwichs.

MREs / ratpacks are not lightweight, and as miro_o suggests, a bizzare choice for touring in remotely civilised country.

If you want to got on an expedition type tour, or just want to be self sufficient in the home counties for the hardcore points, look at the sort of food Appalachian Trail thru hikers take, for instance. The core idea is that water contains no calories, so dehydrated is good. Also fat contains 2.2 times the calories carbohydrates and protein do.

http://karenberger.suite101.com/planning-food-for-an-appalachian-trail-thruhike-a99402

Oatmeal blocks are Gods way of telling you he loves man.