Bicycle Touring – Total Bike Weight?
I’ve been doing research while dreaming a little dream…
Ultimately, I’ll be purchasing a touring bike, but as of yet haven’t narrowed down a specific brand. While doing research, I’ve found nothing that indicates what one should use as a maximum weight range for both rider and panniers. I’ve found weight limitations of the bags themselves based on mfg requirements, but at what point does one get too heavy for the bike, rims, tires (Taking the concern a human must be able to propel forward out of the equation)? Also, if one chooses to use a trailer (One or 2 wheels), does that take some pressure off the bike and to what degree does that change the equation?
In my experience anything more than about 30-40 pounds is too much … not because the bike or panniers won’t take it, but because it’s just too much work to pedal. I had about 45 lbs on a tour in New Zealand and after a week I mailed about 15 lbs of stuff home.
That said, I toured with a couple on a tandem who had 90 lbs of gear and had no trouble (other than getting up some 10-12% hills!)
But to give an idea of limits last summer I was on a ride and met a chap riding a mountain bike across Canada with what must have been most of what he owned. He had bags and stuff bungie corded everywhere … so much you could barely see the bike itself. He told me he was carrying 300 lbs overall … including a complete set of regular kitchen pots and pans! In the 3000 km / 2.5 months he had covered up to where I met him he said he had replaced his rear wheel three times and his front one once. The bike was so heavy he could only pedal on relatively flat roads, and walked up hills of more than 2-3%. Nevertheless he was averaging about 60 km/day. Glad it wasn’t me … but I had to admire his stubbornness.
As to using a trailer, it would certainly take pressure off the bike since the trailer wheels now take the majority of the load, but you still have to propel the weight, and now it includes that of the trailer. That said, it’s probably the best and safest way to carry more than 40-50 lbs.
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