You should be doing core strengthening work so include some weights work as you know your target lift.
Does not matter how light the load if you cant lift it.
The only one that has defeated me to date is the bridge crossing over the Alder Burn.
Just couldn't get the bike high enough to clear the lip of the bridge so had to unload.
Stupid design for a bridge with a four foot drop/climb each end.
Did they run out of money?

Re: the Alder Burn bridge

I think the burn has burst its banks at some point and removed whatever was beyond the bridge supports. The usual reason to lift bridges up like that is because they know that there's occasions when the burn gets that high. Quite why they didn't just add a couple of supporting spans either side is anyone's guess. Heading in from the south you drop down to bedrock then have to climb back up to get on the bridge!

I can see a few items you could lose, but depends if your comfortable losing some comfort really.

I'd ditch the change of clothes, some water, and lighten up your sleeping mat, lose the pans and coffee and I love coffee!

Bikepacking kit for winter ride http://imgur.com/gallery/GkgV1

stucowp wrote:lose the coffee

please never utter such blasphemy again! Starbucks Via is decent for instant and is about the weight of a fart.

Thanks for suggestions the thought of no change of clothes fills me with dread - getting into my sleeping bag in sweaty muddy wet clothes no thanks.

Cutting down on the water may work but I returned home empty and apart from muddy puddles I did not see any source to refill on my BAM trip. This is the barren expanses of the Surrey hills remember.

One thought did occur to me as I was taking the lift with the commuter today from the basement cycle store of a clients office - there may lie the problem !

Thanks for the suggestions

Ben

Muddy gear gets taken off and put to the side. Sweaty gear *might* be slept in and will be dry by morning with body heat. Silk liner keeps the skank from getting on your sleeping bag/quilt.

It's the putting on the crap covered wet gear in the morning that really makes life interesting. Nothing that a minute of star jumps won't make you forget.

Greetz

S.

I'm in the "have something to change into" camp as I get cold very quickly, even in summer, if I hang around in damp sweaty kit. However, a change of clothes and thermals? I'd just go with the thermals and have them as my change.

Carrying that much water on the bike is probably the biggest weight saving to be made, I know there's a lot to be said for riding without a sack but in this case it's a lot easier to carry that amount in a Camelbak - instant 2.5Kg (plus the bladder) saving of weight on the bike

My bike (Cotic Solaris) and winter touring* kit probably comes to 18Kg before food and water but some of that like the tarp, poles and pegs is communal gear for my wife and me. 750ml of water and a couple of kg of food so 20-21kg total. On the winter event I had between 2kg and 3kg in a rucksack which brings the weight of the bike back down to the 18kg range.

*For me, touring means being comfortable regardless of season so in this instance sleeping bag and quilt to deal with cooler temps, winter rated sleeping mat, etc. If I'm doing ITTs then I'll go the ascetic monk route.

For 2017 HT550, total weight, on departure, including EVERYTHING - all clothing worn, food, water, etc: 20.77 Kg.

Using the more conventional method (minus food, water and worn clothing), this reduced to 15.74Kg. Not many comforts, apart from the FS bike!

Just got back from cycling Patagonia, due to the conditions and duration bike packing would have been miserable so I toured it. Dry weight was 40kg. Due to 4 days in a desert with no water and food stops it maxed out at 57kg, the hike/bike parts were miserable at best...

rich.mike wrote:Just got back from cycling Patagonia, due to the conditions and duration bike packing would have been miserable so I toured it. Dry weight was 40kg. Due to 4 days in a desert with no water and food stops it maxed out at 57kg, the hike/bike parts were miserable at best...

That sounds like quite an adventure!
Any chance of a report in "trips and adventures" ?? When you`ve recovered!

Jurassic pusher wrote:

rich.mike wrote:Just got back from cycling Patagonia, due to the conditions and duration bike packing would have been miserable so I toured it. Dry weight was 40kg. Due to 4 days in a desert with no water and food stops it maxed out at 57kg, the hike/bike parts were miserable at best...

That sounds like quite an adventure!
Any chance of a report in "trips and adventures" ?? When you`ve recovered!

I'll do a write up on my website at some point, I don't think touring adventures are very popular here

ZeroDarkBivi wrote:For 2017 HT550, total weight, on departure, including EVERYTHING - all clothing worn, food, water, etc: 20.77 Kg.

Using the more conventional method (minus food, water and worn clothing), this reduced to 15.74Kg. Not many comforts, apart from the FS bike!

I'd love to know what you took (or most likely didn't take) to get down to that weight and also what the bike weighs without any kit, i.e. how much of the 15.74 Kg is kit?

My HT550 kit (no water or food) amounted to 5.5kg, the bike was 11.5Kg. Here's a breakdown - http://bobwightman.blogspot.co.uk/2017/ ... l-kit.html

Rough breakdown.

Bivy kit - 900g
Harnesses and bags - 1000g
Electronics & cables - 900g
Spares & tools - 600g
Clothing - 1300g
Sundries - 300g

I wouldn't take the Tyvek again. I'd also take one less pair of socks, the spare gloves, the spare pair of shorts and the spare cycling top.

Sean,

The basic bike weighed 11.2 Kg after a bit of a component diet!

Bags came in at 0.75 Kg (frame, front roll, 3 x feedbags, small saddle bag)

Kit Carried = 3.95 Kg, including:
Sleeping system: 1.07 Kg
Electrics: 0.99Kg (including my iPhone and a spare GPS)
Spare parts, tools, first aid, bladder, spare socks, etc.

Kit / Clothing Worn = 2.36 Kg. This includes stuff like waterproof/warm layers that were often carried.

Things I didn't use included most of the maintenance spares (backup GPS, tubes, brake pads, etc - although I did use my pump) spare warm gloves and some spare batteries, all of which may have been required with a little less luck.

Thanks guys my bare bike is about 12.2 kg, or 27 lb in old money. It was dirty when I weighed it so maybe a touch less

It gives me an idea of what sort of weight I should be aiming for.

There's no right/target weight, just the best weight for what you need to take. If two items perform equally take the lighter but if the lighter one isn't up to the job then it might not be worth it.

I could have knocked a kilogramme off my bike weight by swapping to a carbon fibre frame but ...

whitestone wrote:There's no right/target weight, just the best weight for what you need to take. If two items perform equally take the lighter but if the lighter one isn't up to the job then it might not be worth it.

I could have knocked a kilogramme off my bike weight by swapping to a carbon fibre frame but ...

And think about speed of deployment too. Shelter systems, water filters, pumps etc. Jackets vs smocks. Not always worth saving a little weight for something you use a little t.

ianfitz wrote:Jackets vs smocks.

That's a good point as well. On the Braunton I took my Inov8 waterproof smock, only weighs 150g but I have to take my helmet off to put it on/ take it off. I now use an Alpkit waterproof, it weighs 20g more but is a jacket so easier and quicker to put on. I can also leave it on for longer without overheating once it stops raining in showery weather as I can vent it more.

Perhaps a full 'marginal gains' review of my kit is in order, although without a Team Sky budget most gains will be via TLS

Sean, if you are SS, then your bike should be easier to drop some weight. My SS is around 9.5kg, and it was built from good 2nd parts, is durable and fun.

My Setup for the Tuscany trail in 2016 was 14kg without water, and for the HT550 last year was 15kg inc water. Didn't take a tarp or tent though, and would have been miserable if it was wet and cold...

Steve, my 27 lb does seem a lot for a fully rigid SS so I knocked up a spreadsheet with all the component weights The bike spec is as below

Frame, 2570g, Genesis Latitude with new BB shell welded in for the EBB
Fork, 640g, Travers Prong
Front wheel, 1134g, Stans Arch EX 650B,PD8X dyno hub, DT Competition spokes
Rear wheel, 964g, Stans Arch EX 650B, Hope Pro 2, DT Competition spokes
Tyres, 1378g, Maxxis Forekaster 650B x 2.35
Bars, 516g, Jones H Bar Loop, 710mm wide Ali
Grips, 80g, ESI Extra Chunky
Bar Tape, 60g*, Planet X
Stem, 141g, Thomson X4 70mm 10 deg
Headset, 100g*, Hope pick and mix, internal upper, external lower for tapered fork in 44mm headtube
EBB, 149g, Bushnell
BB, 110g, Hope HTII
Seatpost, 308g, Brand X 31.6mm
Saddle, 405g, Brooks C15
Brakes, 544g, Hope Race Evo X2
Rear Disc, 138g, Shimano XT
Front Disc, 170g*, Shimano XT 180
Cranks, 800g*, Shimano XT HTII 170mm
Chainring, 44g, Absolute Black 34T oval
Chain, 350g*, KMC Z610
Cassette Cog, 75g*, Surley
Pedals, 343g, Shimano XT

weights with a * are where I've had to make an estimate. All the other weights are either from the manufacturers or where I had already weighed stuff, e.g. the wheels which I weighed as soon as I'd finished building them. The total of that lot is only 10.68kg (23.54lb) so that is a difference of 3.5lb from the last time I weighed the bike? I think I need to check my scales and then check the weights of some of the bits of the bike. Of course it wont actually make it any easier to pedal as it weighs what it weights. And as can be seen form the spec, there's not much I'd change anyway. I could replace the bars with the carbon versions but I've only had the ali ones for a few weeks. I did think about a Thomson seatpost but it would only save 10g or so.

I bet your stem weighs more than 14g.

Thomson stuff isn't particularly light BTW

Ooops typo, the stem is 141g. I've noticed that Thomson stuff is particularity light, so I could save a bit with another stem, but there's just something about it which makes it nice to look at

TBH Sean, the only weight that jumps out is the front wheel but then it's a dynamo hub.

A steel frame is, well a steel frame. A top end steel frame like the Solaris comes out at 2.22kg so you'd only save 300g.

For a cheap steel frame mine is not too heavy. I wonder what a Ti equivalent would weigh? There does seem to be a big gap between the calculated weight and the weight on my scales. I'll have the wheels out tonight anyway so I'll weigh them as a check. I also wonder if the frame is full of damp mud which has found it's way in? It's surprising how much that weighs.

I know a bloke who used to race off road in France (4x4's and Specials) and his car was roughly land rover sized but a buggy. They weighed the cars there at one event to check they complied with a minimum weight limit. From before the start to when it was weighed again after the event (covered in mud) it gained over 200kg

A quick look round and something like the Lynskey mt27.5 frame is around 1.5kg. Carbon fibre might get you under 1kg.

Currently your frame is around 20% of the total weight, going to titanium would make it 13% of the new total weight.