Touring Equipment

I have for a long while read and listened to stories of people touring with absolute envy, I have made the decision I am going to go for 2 weeks next summer.
Now I know quite a few people on here have been touring, own touring bikes, or have some experience of self-sufficient, or mostly self-sufficient travelling on a bicycle, and I have managed to pick up a lot of info from reading through the various threads.
What really interests me though is what kit people have gone touring with:

• From the lightweight minimal approach (using accomodation en-route etc)
  
• To fully kitted out with tents, sleeping bags, cooking equipment etc etc.
  I think it'd be really cool if you could post a brief summary of your tour/touring experience, and what kit you used/carried on this trip, I think that could make this a useful resource for other people like myself, looking to do the same.
  
  

Post away!

rucksack by Karrimor
bivvie bag by Terra Nova
sleeping bag by Snugpac
fleece by Lowe Alpine
bike by Cannondale (R500)

are essential

then riding clothes and couple of changes of clothes
and a good book for those summer nights

Journeys made with the above kit
London to Bordeaux
London to Denmark

Dicki was the whole lot stashed in the rucksack, or were there any panniers/bike mounted bags?

Two extremes there ^

I'm trying to get a set of gear together for lightweight 'fast' touring. Two rear panniers and a rack top back. Maybe a saddlebag. The bike will be an audax road bike rather than a dedicated tourer. Essentially a racer with mudguards and a rack. This is largely a practical decision; I need a versatile bike as money and space is limited. I also think that I'll want to enjoy the cycling and don't want be lugging loads of kit around. I'll be running 25mm tyres. However, I think it would be foolish not to take sleeping gear in case one gets caught short.

I anticipate a mixture of camping and hostels, not full-on wilderness survival. I'm interested in seeing architecture and cities, and in having a fun holiday. I don't imagine I'll be too inclined to go away in shitty Winter weather, so I've been looking at two and three season stuff. Early Spring to mid Autumn. The trouble with going as lightweight as possible is that it can get expensive, as you'll see over on the 'Sleeping bags' thread. I've been planning things for a while now to allow me to spread out the cost and also so that I have time to do my obsessive/compulsive product research to avoid making bad purchases. Now that I have the bike taken care of, the bare essential camping gear I'm trying to gather is:

• Lightweight solo tent (<1.5kg)
  
• Lightweight down sleeping bag (<1kg)
  
• Lightweight self-inflating mattress (.5kg)
  
• cup, pan, burner etc. (bare minimum)
  
  

One interesting thing that I've noticed is that most gear is rated primary by weight (after function of course), whereas on the bike the packed size is also key. I envisage fitting most of the above-mentioned kit in an Ortlieb rack pack, allowing me to use my Ortlieb (back roller plus) panniers exclusively for clothes and the usual backpacking stuff.

I'll be arranging a month-long (or thereabouts) trip for late Spring, but I also plan to do a long weekend somewhere in the UK a few weeks beforehand to check that I'm taking the right sort of stuff. I'm not skimping too much on money because the idea is that I'll then be kitted out with good quality equipment for many years' worth of cheap holidays and excursions (I know I sound really middle-aged BTW).

I'm really excited about it.

By the way I read the sleeping bag thread mate, and I used to sell outdoors equipment for 3 years or so part time when I was younger, not just to hikers etc, but to people going on serious expeditions to seriously cold countries where sleeping bags really were a matter of life and death, these people always...and I mean always....were either recommended or told to buy RAB sleeping bags by the people that were leading these trips. They are one of the best out there, and if you're going to invest good money in one, go with a RAB you can't go wrong, plus their down ones pack down really really small, especially if you're only looking for a 2-3 season bag.

This is all good stuff, keep it coming guys :)

Cheers James, I've quoted that across to the sleeping bags thread.

This is a good thread and I too have bicycle touring envy. Summer 2010 will definitely be featuring some sort of touring.

just a rucksack i prefer to keep the weight where it can be manouvered more easily

i don't really like the idea of panniers all that solid weight changing the balance of the bike

Why carry the weight yourself when your bike can? Panniers keep the weight lower down = lower centre of gravity than a rucksack. You probably have more experienced than me but just a thought.

lightweight / fast / credit card touring:
ortleibs (front bags on the rear)

• bar bag
  cable lock
  
  

summer (uk) / full touring kit
lightweight tent
sleeping bags
front ortliebs on the rear
bob yak with a 90L north-face bag in

hasn't there been a thread about this before?

There's been threads which cover general touring, advice on how to set your bike up, what panniers etc, but not one for touring set-ups (so to speak).
In terms of everyone giving a list of what actual gear they have used, I think its also useful to know because we can see how different people have done similar milage trips with either a lightweight/heavily equipped set-up, whats durable/worth purchasing, and what won't stand up to heavy milage.

I used to cycle tour but haven't done it for a few years now. Some things I learnt;

• you'll take more stuff than you need the first couple of times. Paring your kit back to the bare essentials is an art you perfect over time.
  
• merino wool clothing is superb for touring as you can wear it on and off the bike.
  
• depending on where and when you're riding, you'll probably only need two lots of clothing, one being worn and one that's been washed and is drying. A lightweight washing line is worth it's weight in gold.
  
• if you are going in a group then agree a tools list and who is bringing what.
  
• bicycle shops are never too far away in most European countries so you can normally make a temporary repair that'll get you to the next shop
  
  

I've only toured and camped once and I'd never do it again. I was in the Pyrenees, it rained a lot and I spent three days and nights either soaked to the skin or damp. It was horrible. Good waterproofs only keep you dry for so long.

My normal set up was a Condor light weight touring/audax bike (a forerunner to the Fratello), a Blackburn rack and Altura rear panniers.

I find the ortlieb back roller plus to be far too big and just go with two front ortleibs (15 litre each i think) on the back. I use a north face tadpole tent which is packed into a dry back and bungeed onto a nitto mini front rack. Poles are wrapped in karrimat and strapped to rear rack. I might get a bar bag for bits & bobs but at the mo these are stuffed wherever they fit (passport, wallet, phone etc.
With this setup I have done a long tour (london to istanbul) and several small tours (london to paris, tour of kent etc).

list:

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread17964.html#post568543

Front Ortliebs on the rear? This is interesting. I just thought that if I were camping I'd need the larger (20l each) ones.

If you pick a tent up from the likes of terranova you can get something that packs down to around, costs a fecking fortune, but weighs nothing for its size, and they pack down really small: http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Product_Type/Tents/Superlite_Tents/Laser_Green.html

Or even lighter (but smaller)

http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/Product_Type/Tents/Superlite_Tents/Laser_Competition_GREEN.html?view=specification

...I've only toured and camped once and I'd never do it again. I was in the Pyrenees, it rained a lot and I spent three days and nights either soaked to the skin or damp. It was horrible. Good waterproofs only keep you dry for so long. ...

I'm cold just thinking about that.

+1, sounds like a nightmare.

If you/re touring through the middle of nowhere I fully recommend working out exactly what tools and spares you may need for absolutely everything. Remember a snapped spoke on a tour is a total bitch.
Tape some spares of the correct length to your seat/top/downtube. Saved me a real headache a number of times.

If you/re touring through the middle of nowhere I fully recommend working out exactly what tools and spares you may need for absolutely everything. Remember a snapped spoke on a tour is a total bitch.
Tape some spares of the correct length to your seat/top/downtube. Saved me a real headache a number of times.

Good tips, keep em coming people :)

Cassette removal tool is fairly important safeguard if you're doing long distance, as well as the means to use it i.e. 6" wide-mouth adjustable wrench. On a panniered bike the spokes most likely to break are those on the rear drive-side, inaccessible with the sprockets still on. Crank removal tool is fairly important too - with all this and a multitool you're fairly sorted.
I take either a bivvy or a expedition hammock, with every 5th day in a b&b to have a good wash. You don't necessarily need to cook on the road in Europe as you can eat out very well for not much money.

all you need :)

Is that available in baby blue?

How about Fire Orange to match my Deep V's Yo.