Here’s a website of photos of bikes fully loaded on tour.
Plain and simple.
What a feast for the eyes and imagination.
The site has rules. Anyone is free to submit a photo as long as it is shot in hi-rez, from the side, with no people, and is of a fully loaded bike on a real tour. (It used to be called FullyLoadedTouring.com, but is now new and improved.)
There are a few more rules, like what constitutes “fully loaded,” but that’s really about it.
OK, by and large “fully loaded” means a bike with both front and rear panniers.
These are bikes photographed out on trips from everywhere around the world.
It looks like most are out for a month or more. Many look like they could easily stay away for a year.
There are tandems and recumbents and folders, too. A feast, as I said.
Trailers.
I find that I like looking both at very tidy rigs and at the yard-sale rigs mounded so high that you wonder how the rider moves.
My idea of the perfect rig has evolved. I now accept the look of front panniers. I would think that one could tackle most any trip up to a month or so with front and rear pans and a bar bag. That’s it. In my view it seems important and elegant to have nothing on top of the rack in the back. This is so it’s easy to haul your dinner and breakfast fixings with you during the last of your daily ride—a grocery bag can be easily strapped to the top of a rear rack with panniers on each side. But dinner/breakfast become tricky to haul when you have a big bundle on top of your rear rack. See?
These pics get me brainstorming, of course.
In general, I see the sleeping bag and pad going into one main rear pannier space. Tent in the other rear pan space—poles usually need to have extra sockets fitted so they’ll go into a rear pan. Clothes and misc can go into the rear pans and pockets. Day stuff goes into a handlebar bag, so you can get at it while you ride. That’s really all you need for a week’s trip. But if you insist, add front pans.
I also like all bags being the same brand and color…that look good with the bike. It doesn’t seem like too much to ask. Especially from people who spend thousands on bikes and trips and are usually fussy about so much. Why stop there: touring outfits should also look nice. There should be some brightness for traffic safety yet quietness for class. Ya know, I didn’t see even one perfect bike shown…
I wonder if there’s an Ultralight Touring pics website…
And In Between?
I’m starting to think that front pans plus big rear saddlebag are a nice look. But then you miss your bar-bag. And a big bar bag plus front pans will make a bike look or even act too front-heavy with only a saddlebag, so now we’re back into rear-pans territory. I think I like a balanced top/bottom look. So if you have a bar-bag, I suppose a saddlebag is nice. But that makes 6 bags total—and, ya know what?, bag weights really add up! I find that everything that fits into a saddlebag easily goes into pan pockets. Well, it’s all theory, isn’t it. For a real trip, you grab what’s you gots and go.
The Ultralight gang seem to be going for frame bag plus stuffsacks lashed to bar and seat. Since many are mtbikers they also have a light backpack—those folks like packs. I guess handling improves if you keep weight off the bike. They go for 12 lbs or less, like the hikers.
I think I could easily get a comfy tour set-up for up to a week with 15-20 lbs total (incl racks and packs) added to the bike. Fun!
I notice that any more than 15-20 lbs that I start to notice that, HEY!, this bike weighs a lot! I know that people can adapt, and you can just gear down, slow down, but I’ve personally never kept a smile going with over 30 lbs added to a bike.
I think that aerobars and aeropacks would also be a dandy notion and have yet to see that concept realized either.
https://www.loadedtouringbikes.com/
