Thinking outside the panniers

[davidbonn]

Broke out the scale (I had to go buy 9v lithium batteries to power it, $25 for a pair!) and weighed all of my stuff up for a summer touring configuration and it weighs in at 22 pounds.  Not bad.

That is "dry" weight and does not include food, water, and fuel.

Spring or fall or cooler weather probably kicks the weight up very slightly by a pound or two, mostly in additional clothing and most of the weight would get added to the front.

Front carry is approximately ten pounds and rear carry is twelve, which is a reasonable weight distribution. 

[davidbonn]

After a couple of recent short trips (3-4 days each) I'm going to do a slight reorganization.

The large front rando bag is great but storing tools and spare parts in it usually means they are all at the bottom of the bag and hard to get to quickly.  So I'm going to install a half frame bag and remove the top tube bag.  The half frame bag can easily carry all of the tools and the small items that are in the top tube bag.

Also the half frame bag will be a better place to put a power bank that can be charged by the generator hub than in the top tube bag.

The space freed up in the rando bag will be used to mostly carry food.  In some cases I might also carry layers (usually a wind shell or a rain parka) or the cookpot and stove.  But usually food.

This isn't a case about needing the extra carry space, it is more about making things better organized and easier to access when I want them.

I have an Ojeva Negra frame bag on the way and hopefully it fits okay and still leaves adequate clearance for the water bottles in the frame triangle.  I did measure stuff carefully but you only know for sure when you put it all together.

Update:  picked up the bag at the post office today and it fits my frame!  So I'm going to do a frame wrap to protect the frame where the velcro attaches and set it all up this week.