Gear weight

[staehpj1]

It bothers me that water is not included, also food, fuel, etc. For me, weight carried is everything included ready to roll. I start with the same number of bottles, filled, for trips lasting weeks, months.

Different strokes.  Folks can list or not count consumables in their gear totals as they see fit, but if they do count them I find it helpful if they state what and how much in the way of consumables they are carrying so I can work backwards to get a gear total without consumables.

As far as always starting with the same number of bottles...  I have definitely not found that to be the case from day to day or even for at the start of various tours.  On road tours I may be where I can resupply multiple times throughout the day and I may be where I need to carry 24 hours worth of water.  I also may be somewhere cool and wet or I may be in a hot desert.

If we were to include off road tours I might need to have multiple days worth of consumables or I might have caches or other resupply points daily.

I'd be hard pressed to say what consumables I usually carry since the number would include a very wide range of possibilities.  On a road tour my total consumables carried can range from 12+ pounds to just two small water bottles and a power bar.  At 12+ pounds my consumables could sometimes be heavier than the rest of my gear in total.  If we include off road tours the count could go a good bit higher.

[RussSeaton]

Front left (rain/warm clothing) 5.6 lbs
Front right (tools/medical) 9 lbs
handlebar bag 4.8 lbs
seat bag 1lb
Rear left (stickers/cards/maps/books,clothing)  12.4 lbs
Rear right (clothing, power pack) 10.6 lbs
Luggage bag (camping) 11.6 lbs
Water (three 1 liter bottles)/lock 6 lbs

Move your front panniers to the rear.  And the rear panniers to the front.  The weight will be much better balanced and the bike will handle so much better.  For some reason many people do not know how panniers, specifically low mount front, work.  You want all or most of the weight in the front down low.  Handling is superior over a heavily overloaded arse end.

[hikerjer]

"Handling is superior over a heavily overloaded arse end." ---   Same as with the  human anatomy,  huh?

[Inge]

Same here - though the variables I have are food and amount of fuel.

[RussSeaton]

"Handling is superior over a heavily overloaded arse end." ---   Same as with the  human anatomy,  huh?

Apparently you have never ridden a bike in your life.  Its about balance.  Your big, heavy arse is on the rear of the bike.  Its weight is on the rear wheel.  So you have a light unloaded front wheel.  Putting all the panniers on the front balances the bike so an equal amount of weight is on both wheels.  Of course equal does not happen.  You still end up with 60% weight on the rear and 40% on the front even if you only have front panniers and no rear panniers.  Because your big, heavy arse is so huge and cannot be overcome with pannier contents.  Just reduced.  But still much better balanced than your scenario of putting 90% weight on the rear wheel only.  Bad handling.

[DaveB]

Russ... It was a joke.

[hikerjer]

I tend to agree with staephpj1.  While it's probably a minor thing, having a standard equation to list weight would help.  After all, water weight can vary significantly from person to person based on number of bottles, size of bottles,  whether they are are full or not, whether they contain dehydrated water or not, etc.  With food,  it's an even greater variable.  I'd say weight is just easier to understand if it includes just gear not including the weight of the bicycle and racks. Significantly, I think gear weight weight should include the weight of the panniers.  Just my two cents worth.

[hikerjer]

Russ... It was a joke.

Really it was.  Jeeze, some people have no sense of humor.