***This post may contain affiliate links.***

We went on a beautiful tandem bike tour from Lijiang to Chengdu over 1200 km of open countryside.  To facilitate such a trip we had an abundance of gear for every possibility. As I grew up in the Boy Scouts, I follow the Boy Scout motto “Be prepared”. This led to our detailed gear list for our 2016 Himalayan bike tour. Our trip was only 2 weeks in duration, however, this gear list could be used for extended traveling with no time limit. All gear weights are in grams as we now live in the “enlightened” world of the metric system.  There will be future posts to review our individual pieces of gear more in depth, but for now, enjoy.

Bike and bike gear (27.8 kg)

The bike worked like a champ. Since it is coupled we were able to hitchhike with our tandem over an especially terrible section of road. We had a lot of new gear in this department for this trip and I was pretty happy with the performance overall. The LKLM front rack was very nice and sturdy for the LKLM bags that we had hanging on them. My Brooks B17 saddle was wearing out and did not seem too comfortable over the trip duration, however, Cara’s Brooks B17S worked perfectly for her. I probably just need to get a new one. We need to get a headlight and taillight that are mounted to the bike with a single switch to turn them on/off for the numerous tunnels in China. The Vaude Aqua Back Plus 50L panniers were spectacular regardless of their weight. It was very convenient to have the outside pocket full of food for snacking on the go. The LKLM rear rack bag worked well. The bad part of the bike was the LKLM handlebar bag which was hard to open and close due to the waterproof design and the mount would not keep it upright on the bar. It kept tilting forward until the edge hit the front rack. By the end of the trip the mount had started failing and we are glad it got us back before it failed completely. Overall the bike worked without any large issues.

Camping Gear (7.8 kg)

Our camping gear was very nice and convenient. I have had the Primus Omnifuel stove for 7 years now, but have used it sparingly. It worked very well running on high grade unleaded gasoline. As long as you can source gasoline, you do not need an alcohol stove backup for the omnifuel. Switching to alcohol could significantly lower the kitchen weight, however, the gasoline is very convenient for 3rd world countries and also allows for better cooking control and speed. Our new larger 1.8L titanium pot was nice to use for dinner and was able to fill us both up. There was also one extra knife included to cut up food, but it was extra and will be left at home next time along with the extra 4L water storage. We used the 10L water storage bag one time and it was definitely worth it to camp in the most beautiful spot of the entire trip.

Toiletries (1.3 kg)

I brought a rechargeable razor with us since it was already in the toiletries bag. This was certainly an excess as I used it only once and a cheap generic razor would be a perfectly suitable replacement. Cara brought Febreeze spray to keep the smell of our gear down, which was a good thought. Our clothes smelled horrific, however, the Febreeze wasn’t near strong enough to mask the assault on your olfactory senses.

Repair Kit (2.6 kg)

There was a lot of weight in tools, but when a bike breaks down you have to have the tools and parts to fix it. Most places around the world are not as competent as you are at fixing your own bike. It is in our own best interest to carry the parts and tools to fix anything that happens. The spare shifter was because the front one failed shortly before we left, so I didn’t trust the rear shifter to work the entire time either. We only used a couple of spare bolts, but we used nearly all the tools to assemble and disassemble the bike for the trip. The only excess here was too much spare chain. We also did not bring the cassette cracker, though, that is probably not a required tool as it should never have to come off unless you buy a new one and then you would be at a bike shop.

Justin’s Clothing (5.8 kg)

Cycling Clothing (4.1 kg)

Camp Clothing (1.7 kg)

My clothing choices were pretty good, though, I could have left the tights at home. The Gore function jacket is nice, but heavy when I also have a rain jacket. Next time, I will switch to a vest with arm warmers over the wind jacket and rain jacket. I didn’t need the glacier gloves, but they would have been needed had the rain been cold. The belt seemed heavy and bulky, but was required since the pants don’t fit that well. Towards the end of the trip my Sette sandals failed with the sides of them pulling out from the sole. This got so bad that I couldn’t clip out of the pedals any more, so it became a safety hazard. They were spectacular touring shoes while they lasted, but now I will have to source new ones as the company that sold them is out of business.

Cara’s Clothing (5.7 kg)

Cycling Clothing (3.8 kg)

Camp Clothing (2.0 kg)

Cara’s clothing was pretty reasonable. The smaller items that are worn on a regular basis only need 3 pairs each instead of the 5-6 that she brought. This wasn’t intentional, just packed twice and forgot about stuff already in there. The heavy cap wasn’t needed as the down jacket has a hood. We both brought compression socks as an afterthought on the way to the airport, but they luxuries and not a required piece of gear.

Electronics (4.3 kg)

It seems like we brought a bunch of electronics, but we certainly used everything we brought besides the spare batteries. Next time we will bring less batteries, especially this area of the world where it was easy to access power for charging. Also, the 30,000 mAh power storage pack was huge and not hardly needed. 10,000 mAh is more than big enough. The big one also required us to get a ticket from check-in at the airport to allow us to carry it on to the plane because of its size.

Miscellaneous Others (4.2 kg)

The S&S backpack case worked great. There will be another post later describing its use, but needless to say we were able to transport our tandem with all racks and fenders disassembled inside the case. The backpack straps on it made it easy to carry, though it was incredibly heavy. We brought a rear circle lock that I had never installed on the bike with us only to learn that it didn’t fit with the fender, so we just carried it with us and never really used it.

Consumables (9.1 kg)

These are all approximate values as they did not come home with us after the trip was complete. We bought all of our camping food in Lijiang before heading out and finding out that we would be eating at restaurants for the vast majority of our food needs. It is still better to have it in case you need it.. The problem, for me anyways, in China is that snack food is not calorie dense enough to supply me with all of the needed energy for long distance touring.

Summary

Above is the breakdown of all the categories into the total weight on the bike. It is immediately apparent that our bike was really heavy with all of the touring racks and bags on it. There are lighter bags out there, but we were very happy with the quality and durability of the Vaude and LKLM bags we had for the trip. We thought we brought a lot of extra weight/gear that wasn’t needed on the trip, but as we reviewed it all post-trip, we found that our “excesses” only totaled about 3 kg of stuff.

I hope everybody enjoyed the gear list. Please leave comments if you think there are ways for us to lower how much our setup weighs  or if you see anything we missed.

*** This post may contain affiliate links. By purchasing a product or service through these links you are helping to support this blog at no extra cost to you! We only recommend products we personally use and love! ***