Touring bike weight

desweller

OK, so I realise that it's not that important in the sense of 'touring-ain't-for-weight-weenies', but for getting all your kit under the weight allowance on a plane it could be critical!

How heavy is your touring bike 'dry', i.e. with racks and lights etc. but without panniers, tents, sleeping bags?

I've just weighed mine at 16kg, which is a wee bit disappointing, particularly as it means I've got only 7kg checked and 7kg cabin to play with for the rest of the kit. I don't yet know how tricky that's going to be.

Ber Nard

Mine comes in at about 15kgs. For a full touring set up rather than an Audax type bike, I don't think you'll get it significantly lighter.

Rob

desweller

Thanks Rob. I can't really see many ways to lighten mine either. Maybe a lighter rim at the front (Rigida Sputnik) and a lighter rear tyre (Micheling World Tour - the cheapest tyre I've ever bought ha ha!) would bring me down a few hundred.

I've just calculated my all-up weight limit and realised that it's below the weight of a fat guy I know at work; he's 121kg and my all-up limit is 117kg (I'm 86kg). Maybe I can point to a fat guy at check-in and suggest a little additional allowance.

Mad_Malx

Obviously depends on where you are going, how much you need in spares and season, but 7+7 kg is a fair amount of kit.
Tent 3Kg, sleeping bag & mat 3k, stove & pots 2 kg, spare socks & pants 6kg?

desweller

That's about right, so it's gonna be close.

Unsupported solo tour in South America, so you're right; there's tools and spare parts to consider. It's not all cycling, so I will have to be careful about the non-cycling stuff too. I'm going to pack my ideal selection and cart it down to the local airport to verify; I don't trust my kitchen scales.

MichaelW

15kg is about right for a med size touring bike.

For my solo gear which is not ultralight:
Solo tent 1500g , bag + Mat 2000g, Trangia 27 stove : 720g

Bags can take up lots of weight.
I suggest you wear most of your clothes, carry a jacket with big pockets and fill them with heavy stuff that is cabin-legal.

Hoopdriver

And don't forget that out of that 14kg you will beed to deduct the weight of whatever case or box you use to ship the bike...

desweller

Yep. I'm vacillating between a CTC bike bag, which is transparent, cheap and probably fairly light, and a Duffbag Monster, which is huge (and heavy; ~2kg). I like the idea of the CTC bag as the baggage handlers are probably less likely to chuck the bike around with such abandon if they can see what it is! The Duffbag is impressively tough though.

desweller

So, it transpires that the Lufthansa website is not quite right and the original information my travel agent gave me is also not quite right. But, for once, things have turned out better than expected; Lufthansa tell me that, as I am paying a flat fee for the bike as a piece of sporting equipment, it does not count against my free baggage allowance. So I have 23kg checked + 8kg cabin + 17kg bike = 48kg - far more than I need!

Bonza.

nigglenoo

Coincidentally weighed my touring bike yesterday, out of curiosity more than anything. My selection of rather average components on a small size CB Dalesman 2008 frame (631 main tubes) with Tubus front and rear racks, no lights = 14.4kg

cycladelic

Lufthansa seems to be a good deal. I flew with KLM last year and paid about 100 euros for a second bag (each way) - which was my bike, but that didn't include any extra weight allowance.

WhenIi flew home, I used a couple of rolls of clingfilm to wrap the bike. It worked OK. The brake levers and main bits of the frame had some cardboard taped on before, just to give some additional protection.

bigjim

My 90s Raleigh Royal touring bike weighs 12kg. My loaded camping touring kit weighs about 8kg tops. I've never figured out how people carry so much more weight.
I could probably get away with using an even lighter bike but I do enjoy the Royal and I only ride steel.

desweller

bigjim wrote:

My 90s Raleigh Royal touring bike weighs 12kg. My loaded camping touring kit weighs about 8kg tops. I've never figured out how people carry so much more weight.
I could probably get away with using an even lighter bike but I do enjoy the Royal and I only ride steel.

That's pretty impressive. Is that bare bones? Mine's aluminium and I've got no chance of getting it down to that weight without replacing most of the parts!

bigjim

It's a 25" frame so will be on the heavy side, but it's 531 steel throughout. I don't think modern steel or even ally bikes are any lighter than older equivilents.
That said I may be cheating as I don't have mudguards fitted, plus DT shifters that are lighter than STIs. Modern light saddle as well. Just rear rack, no front.

desweller

Pretty skinny tyres too. That's road-only I imagine, or do you take it down tracks? I have a dirty great Rigida Sputnik on the front and a Mavic A719 on the back; I don't think I can even get 25mm tyres to stay on the rims!

ETA: That's a nice bike by the way - big frame though, you must be pretty tall.

bigjim

That will go down tracks no problem, but mostly road. Mavic 36 spoke touring rear wheel with 28c on the rear. 25c on the front. Just come down the Midi canal the day that picture had been took.
I'm 6'2".