My kit list is getting out of hand!!!

As per usual I start by thinking uber-minimal and slowly but inevitably add more and more 'just in case' and 'you never know' items until I'm carrying more than is reasonable.

Here it is:

Bar bag:

- Tent (1000g)
- Mat (300g)
- Quilt (460g)

Seat bag:

- Down jacket
- Down trousers
- Pants
- Socks
- Gloves
- T-shirt
- Shorts
- Buff

Frame bag:

- Waterproof
- Foldable rucksack
- Drybag (passport, cards, cash)
- Food
- Batteries
- Powerbank
- Headtorch
- Cables (phone, headtorch)

Fuel cells (x 2):

- Water (500ml each)

Top tube bag 01:

Tools.....

- Pump
- Pads
- Chain tool
- Spoke key
- Tape
- Tie-wraps
- Multi-tool
- Tube

Top tube bag 02:

- Snacks

Seems like I've got too much luggage, no?

No rucksack which is good but I'd also hoped to do without the frame bag but as it's predominantly overflow and food for upcoming meals in there it'll spend a lot of time mostly empty (and therefore light). This system worked well in Tuscany this year.

I like the water in the feed bags next to the snacks for easy refueling on the move.

Too much clothing you think? I'm taking the summer quilt so the additional down camp gear will double up on any cold nights to keep me alive. I could take the new super-warm quilt as it's only 200g heavier but it's a lot bulkier (even when compressed) and I'd still need something warm for camp-wear, no?

Any thoughts?

I seem to have got all my kit a happy home without using a seatpack (or rucksack / bumbag) and a half frame bag but I can't see that I'm a lot taking less than you. I don't have a tent as I'll be sheltering under my poly tarp but otherwise it looks similar.

What the hell???

I'm going to re-pack and re-think my life.....

Bearbonesnorm wrote:I seem to have got all my kit a happy home without using a seatpack (or rucksack / bumbag) and a half frame bag but I can't see that I'm a lot taking less than you. I don't have a tent as I'll be sheltering under my poly tarp but otherwise it looks similar.

Is that the Poly tarp with added free holes from the baggage chimps at the airport?
Which airport you flying from?

Which airport you flying from?

Manchester ... and I have armed myself with

I'm hoping the tape is for waxing your arms??

Bearbonesnorm wrote:

Which airport you flying from?

Manchester ... and I have armed myself with

What flight are you on? I'm leaving Manchester around 10am Monday morning I think.

What flight are you on? I'm leaving Manchester around 10am Monday morning I think.

We're flying out to Milan on Sun Tom.

Ah, I shall see you in Torino then

gairym wrote:...Any thoughts?

You're missing the uber useful Bearbones towel. It's a luxury item for sure, but great to wipe off trail grime or dry yourself prior to climbing in the pit of an evening.
You should always know where your towel is

Greetz

S.

I'm packing my trunks, ever the optimist.

Scattamah wrote:

gairym wrote:...Any thoughts?

You're missing the uber useful Bearbones towel. It's a luxury item for sure, but great to wipe off trail grime or dry yourself prior to climbing in the pit of an evening.
You should always know where your towel is

Greetz

S.

Well reminded! Now where did I put it.....

Scattamah wrote:

gairym wrote:...Any thoughts?

You're missing the uber useful Bearbones towel. It's a luxury item for sure, but great to wipe off trail grime or dry yourself prior to climbing in the pit of an evening.
You should always know where your towel is

Greetz

S.

Hey, you sass that hoopy Gairy? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is.

Nerds!

(love those books!)

Don't take too much ul not need it I didn't take much too tuscany and still had stuff I didn't need.
Have fun over there guys look forward to reading about the route n trip.

Back when we cycled across Canada, we had out sub zero night in the rockies and then realised we wouldn't need our fleecy stuff for the rest of the trip so bundled them up with a few other extraneous bits and posted them home. Always a handy reminder that you don't have to keep carrying it with you.

Down trousers and jacket???

Have I missed something????? Is it supposed to get cold? I had ditched the thought of thermals due to current temperatures.

I may have to reconsider.

rufus748 wrote:Have I missed something?

It may be pleasantly warm down in the valleys, but if you're up high its going to be cold, and theres a few sections where we'll be at altitude for quite a while.

If you apply the usual 1 degree reduction per 100m rule, nighttime up high could be around zero.

Personally wont be bringing down jacket and trousers, but definitely a fleece and hat.

Might fit the down jacket in if I can find a bit of space but mostly I'll be camping lower down so hopefully won't find myself short on appropriate clothing. There will be a selection of other appropiate layers. Mainly concerned about any long descents into headwinds for getting cold. Alas with disc brakes I can no longer rely on the old trick of stopping to warm my hands up on heated rims.

Chew, I'm not planning to stop up high, I'd rather drop down to the warmth.
However, Best laid plans and all that....

Well, I've just wasted two hours trying to get a 42t cassette to play nicely with everything else ... ah well, I'm sure there'll be nothing too steep

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Well, I've just wasted two hours trying to get a 42t cassette to play nicely with everything else ... ah well, I'm sure there'll be nothing too steep

What's your lowest?

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Well, I've just wasted two hours trying to get a 42t cassette to play nicely with everything else ... ah well, I'm sure there'll be nothing too steep

Do I remember correctly that you're on a 1x Arkose? FWIW, I've got a Sunrace 11-42 on the back of mine. It's not quite perfect, in that I can index things sweetly at the top end or at the low end, but not both. But it's useable. Don't know if that's sufficient encouragement to persevere, but mentioning just in case.

What's your lowest?

and

Do I remember correctly that you're on a 1x Arkose?

26/36 which should be plenty (hopefully).

Luckily two rings up front. The problem is slightly odd and appears to be the barend shifters (friction, no indexing) not liking the Sunrace cassette. They'll shift on any smaller 10sp cassette nicely but not this one. I've tried 3 different mechs, some of which were fitted to bikes with 42t cassettes on. New cables and lots of precision fiddling got me as far as 9 gears.

So maybe just slightly too much resistance getting the mech up to the 42t position?

Makes sense as even some of my indexed ones seem to struggle slightly.

Sure you'll not need the extra range anyway