Kit 'base weights' ... anyone SUL?

[Bearbonesnorm]

It's fair to say that the more your gear weighs the harder your loaded bike will be to to get up hills, etc. The backpacking world seems to work on 'base weights' which include everything except food and water. Your 'base weight' determines which camp you fall into.

General backpacking = over 20lb
Lightweight backpacking = sub 20lb
Ultralight backpacking = sub 10lb
Super Ultralight (SUL) = sub 5lb

The base weights include your packs/luggage too ... as I say everything you're carrying.

Just wondering if the same breakdown of weights work with bikepacking? I really don't see that sub 20lb is very hard to achieve but sub 5lb is going to be quite a struggle in anything except perfect conditions and a single night.

[FLV]

I would say, including bike tools and spare tubes etc. sleeping bag and bivi kit and a jacket, and my new 10g stove I might just get into ultralight 10lb, although it might be 11lbs.

For winter I add about 4 to 6 lbs of gear, substituting bigger sleeping bag, downmatt, bigger jacket, maybe a tent.
So in winter im lightweight

[Anthony]

In the perfect conditions I don't think it's 'that' hard to achieve.

Sleeping bag and bivvy bag 1lb
Luggage to inc water containers 1lb
Tools/tubes/spares/pump 1lb
Cooking kit inc meths for 1 night sub 1lb
Sundries 1lb

Sadly in the UK the 'perfect conditions' never happen and its quite a risk. A 5lb base weight must rely on quite a few presumptions about weather/route. It's also not likely to be that comfortable unless you find a nice soft springy moss patch to lie in!

[slarge]

Not sure if it counts, but sub 5lb is possible - I did the BB200 with under 5lb of kit (silnylon tarp, Rab TopBag, alpkit drysack, small toolkit, waterproof and spare base layer). Wouldn't have liked to sleep out with that kit though as it was quite cold that night!

On a warm night it is more feasible - you can lose warm clothing and potentially cooking gear, but it kind of gets away from the "bikepacking" theme and moves more towards the "sleeping is for the soft" mentality.

[jameso]

DSCN9122 by james-o, on Flickr

6-7lbs on a 23-24lb bike for a September 'probably the last bivi of the year' ride. 5lbs could be done in summer but I'm in favour of taking an extra pound or 2 of added comforts / faff-reducers!
Generally 14-16lbs w/o food+water for extended trips this year. 10-11lbs is as light as I think I could go for 'proper' rides and still sleep ok, be prepared for varied weather, etc.

[Ian]

As others have said, depends on the duration and time of year.

For the BB200 I packed 4.92lbs of gear, before food and water. But that with no stove, no sleeping mat, a thin sleeping bag, minimal spare clothes etc. Basically, I wasn't planning of stopping for a sleep.

http://www.geargrams.com/list?id=9770

A more standard kit list for several nights, with provision for cooking and varied weatehr conditions looks something like this at just under 10 lbs:

http://www.geargrams.com/list?id=9769