Quick overview

For the impatient ones, here is a summary of my current cycling set-up.

• I have an entry-level road bike (weighing a bit less than 10 kg), which has eyelets for rear rack. Tyres are rather narrow, 25-622 to 30-622.
• I use ordinary pedals and light sport shoes (no clipless shoes/pedals nor clips&straps), no second footware.
• I don't use cooking equipment.
• I don't use panniers.
• I carry my stuff in stuff bag on the rear rack and in a little bag (a converted saddle bag) on the handlebar.
• I use light single-skin tent (900 g) and down sleeping bag (600g or 900g, depending on the trip).
• My sleeping pad is a bubble-wrap strip, which I also use as wrapping material to make my stuff bag waterproof.
• Tools: 4,5&6 mm allen keys, pedal spanner (cut in half), 8/10 mm spanner, screwdriver, chain tool, spoke key, pump, tyre levers, (sometimes hypercracker). Separate tools are lighter then multitools.
• Spares: patch kit, 1 or 2 tubes, (sometimes spare tyre), oil, duct tape, (sometimes spare spokes).
• I don't carry (guide)books.
• I stopped using maps. I now navigate by a small distance/directions card which I make before the trip.
• I have a compact ultrazoom digital camera, battery charger with shortened power cable and universal plug-ins.
• I use ordinary 1L or 1.5L plastic water bottles instead of cycling bidons, using ordinary (now carbon-fiber) bottle cages.
• I don't carry food, except some emergency food in extreme cases. I eat cold food bought in supermarkets (in western-type countries) or eat at cheap restaurants and markets in other countries.
• Toiletries: tooth brush and plastic dispensable razor (cut in half). Sometimes even tooth paste.
• I wear: cycling cap, gloves, jersey, shorts, arm warmers, light wind/rain shell, light sport shoes, light socks, (sometimes nylon stockings).
• Additional clothes (in the stuff bag/handlebar bag): light hiking trousers, light fleece top, beanie, spare socks, warm gloves, rain shell gloves, underwear, rain pants, overshoes.
• My touring weight (including everything except the bike, water and food, ie. also shoes, rack, ...) for a camping tour is from 5.5 kg to 7 kg, depending mostly on what kind of weather I expect. That can be reduced by about 300 g by using frame bags instead of rack, but for now I prefer the way I do it - it looks more elegant to me.
• Once you reduce the weight below 8 kg it is the volume and elegance that matters, not the weight.

Kuiseb pass, Namibia, 2010.