So, some idle thoughts here but not really having any basis for it I thought I'd see what people think-

basically, how heavy a load do you think is the heaviest you can get away with before it starts to significantly curtail your ability to ride your bike in a 'normal' or enjoyable way, either from crippling the handling, sheer effort/exhaustion over any reasonable distance or some other reason I haven't thought of?

I imagine this is a very subjective question, the same as 'how little kit is enough', but I wondered if people had a nominal limit beyond which they wouldn't really go? Interested in reasoning as well as numbers!

My personal opinion is that once you start to go above 50lb to 55lb all in, then the effort required to propel the thing forwards and especially upwards, rises considerably. However, sheer bulk can be just as bad with regard to how the thing rides and whether you can continue to ride it 'normally'.

These figures tend to prove themselves when you check off the weigh in figures at the WRT against the state of the returning riders

Summer overnight setup can be 35lbs
Winter overnight setup has been ~60lbs

Winter bivi's have been training rides for me, so carry more than I'll ever need (better for training?). Still have hike-a-biked with this setup and the bike feels very stable off road too (mainly due to the 4inch tyres...). Sure it's heavy but when I can put slippers in and fresh clothes on in the birth, then who cares...

I can't really go past 55lbs without hills becoming basically un-climbable. That's basically where I max out for training rides (and I wouldn't generally choose to go that heavy on any actual ride).

I imagine bigger guys would be able to handle heavier bikes / loads.

70lbs is how i roll on owd Fatty ... but im from Wigan (hence a lil bit Thick)

you men need to MTFU a bit

I'd hazzard a guess at 50lbs.
As the weigh in man at WRT, there's a lot of people with a lot of luxuries who'll have a content night in the hills but will be slow and have to curtail their ambitions of distance once started.
I can't remember the year but I met the years "heaviest rider" less than 20k out from BB towers when we were on our return leg. I was surprised he'd/they'd got that far. He/they seemed to be having fun though. Although there seemed to be a bit of resentment about who was carrying what.
The following year he'd shed approx 50lbs.

Lawmanmx wrote:you men need to MTFU a bit

Not all of us have muscles on our muscles.

I find much over 5kg affects how well I can ride the bike - harder to get it over roots or through dips at speed with ~4kg on the front 1/2 of the bike, the 1 - 2kg in the seat pack makes little difference.
I'm not sure training with a heavier load is that beneficial, it does build some strength (perhaps more mental than physical?) but so would using a gear or 2 higher. These days I'd go lighter and faster for training and enjoy it more. Saves my knees for the SS, and saves my rims from botched attempts at 'lines' at any speed!

I think my first road tours were done with ~8kg, then the next one with 6kg in a small rucsac. So no experience of riding with much over 8-9kg. Remembering that bikepacking was originally about extending your rides w/o affecting how much fun you had riding, I'd say more than 6-7kg is 'too heavy' but that's not to say you can't have a great off-road trip with 20kg. I expect Cass Gilbert's bike is well over 55lbs and it's all justified.

One thing I don't worry about is the weight of my bike, it's 'about 28lb' with little unnecessary weight in that and feels fine to me. What I do notice is how much I strap onto it. If I had a 20lb bike I expect I'd still feel that over 5kg or so affects how I handle the bike, it's about what I'm used to riding day to day vs the loaded ride feel - the balance and weight distribution that's so vital to bike control, much more than just the total weight. As part of the power to weight ratio thing I expect a few kg isn't hugely significant over a long day.

On the first YD300 my bike and kit probably came to at least 23Kg, it was my first ITT and I was still thinking "touring" rather than "racing". This year's YD300 the bike and kit came to 14Kg, think I was a bit lighter on the BB200.

I could possibly have an extra 5Kg on the heaviest of those weights *If I had to* and the terrain wasn't too technical. Not sure what the weights will be at the Rovaniemi, the bike weighs 14.5Kg and there's 3Kg of sleeping kit to start with. Full on winter kit weighs so it will possibly come out around 23Kg again.

I have no idea how much my bikes weigh!

My kit generally ranges from 5 to 7 kilos depending on the trip

There is a rule of hiking/backpacking that I remember: for an average male, you can add up to 7kg weight in a rucksack and it won't have much effect on your progress (adventure racers will probably beg to differ.)
I suppose there may be a similar extrapolation you can do with bikes ...