This is my complete Lightweight Bicycle Touring Gear List. This is all the bicycle touring gear I carry with me as I cycle tour around the world, read more of my journey from Bicycle Touring from Alaska to Argentina. When I’m not cycling around the world I’m hiking. As a result a lot of the gear also serves a dual purpose as hiking gear. For me it is essential to choose strong and lightweight gear that have multiple uses.
I live on my bicycle so I have everything I need in life with me. The base weight of all this gear is around 23kg (50lb). My Touring bicycle is a solid, reliable touring bicycle set up to Bicycle Tour around the world. It is set up to carry very heavy loads if I need to carry many days of food and water. At times it might be carrying up to 20 litres of water and 10 days of food. This would bring the weight of my gear close to 50kg (110lb).
Table of Contents
- Bicycle Touring Gear List
Bicycle Touring Gear List
Panniers and Storage for Bicycle Touring
2 x Ortlieb panniers
Ortlieb rack bag
Ortlieb handlebar bag
Frame bag
Bicycle Touring Camping Gear
Nemo Hornet 2 Person Tent
Nemo Nocturne 15F / -9C Down Sleeping Bag
Thermarest Neo Air
Nemo Elite Pillow
Sea to Summit Stuff Sack
Bicycle Touring Clothing List
Cheap clothing is best for long distance bicycle touring. They will get covered in sweat and dirt and start to get destroyed quicker than on a short tour with access to washing machines on a regular basis. I also carry a set of town clothes for the times I spend in towns wandering around like a normal tourist. When I get to town I usually hand wash my clothing in a hotel sink and let them dry naturally, sometimes that means strapping them to the bicycle as I cycle.
Bicycle Touring Clothing must serve the following purposes:
- They must be practical
- Cheap
- Serve the purpose of cycling clothing and hiking clothing
- Work well in cold weather and hot weather
- Be quick drying
Warm Weather Cycling Clothes
- 2 x Cheap padded lycra cycling shorts
- 2 x Bright coloured short sleeve cycling shirt, preferably bright yellow
- Cheap running shorts
- Helmet: On the quiet back roads I often don’t wear a helmet
- Baseball cap
- Sunglasses
- Cycling fingerless padded gloves
- Teva Sports Sandals
Cold Weather Cycling Clothing
All the items above plus the following:
- Outdoor Research Filament Hooded Jacket – 281 grams.
- PrAna Stretch Zion Convertible Pants – 430 grams.
- Smartwool Base Layer Pants – 150 grams
- Smartwool LS Shirt– 255 grams.
- Merino Wool Midweight Balaclava – 60 gram
- No name running shorts – 100grams
- Nike Short Sleeve Running Shirt – 150 gram
- Gloves – 65 grams
- PCT Sunhat 55 grams – A great lightweight sunhat
- Sunglasses
Rain Gear for Bicycle Touring
- Outdoor Research Helium II Jacket – 180 Grams
- Outdoor Research Helium Pants – 153 Grams
- Bright velcro leg strap to prevent the rain pants from getting caught in the chain
Town Clothes for Bicycle Touring
- Lightweight jeans
- 2 x cotton t-shirts
- 1 x collared long sleeve shirt
- 2 x ExOfficio underwear
Bicycle Touring Gear List – Kitchen
I like to cook most of my meals when cycle touring. Breakfast is usually either fruit with granola or oats, lunch is whatever I can find as I cycle and dinner is usually a hot meal of pasta or rice with vegetables and tuna. Sometimes, fuel can be an issue in remote areas. When I started bicycle touring I used an alcohol stove. In Australia, USA and Canada it was very easy to access the fuel. As I cycled into Mexico and Central America it was harder to find quality alcohol fuel. I threw down a heap of cash and invested in a multi fuel stove. Below is my not so lightweight kitchen set up:
- MSR Whisperlite Stove with windscreen and repair kit
- Gas Stove (used for hiking when I can find gas cannisters)
- Snow Peak Trek 900 Titanium Cookset
- Primus non-stick fry pan (eggs, bacon and pancakes)
- Small egg flipper
- Cutting board
- Sea To Summit X-Mug
- Sea to Summit BOWL
- Titanium Spoon
- Gerber STL 2.0 Knife 28 Grams
- Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System
- Steripen rechargable
- Katadyn Micropur Water Purifier Tabs
- Platypus Bottle 2-Litre
- 2 x 750ml cycling drinking waterbottles
- Nalgene Water Bottle 1 litre
- Bic Lighter
- 1 litres MSR Fuel bottle
- 4 x small nalgene bottle that contain herbs, spices and Olive Oil.
- Coffee filter
Electronics and Cameras for Bicycle Touring
Photography and making videos of my journey is important to me, as a result, I carry more gear than most lightweight bicycle tourists. With my setup I am able to be off the grid for up to 2 weeks and still have the ability to charge my phone, GPS, 2 cameras and Kindle. I only use my computer when in town so it does not need to be charged when cycling off the grid in remote area. In the coming months I will be writing an article about how I keep my gear charged when on the road. Here is my list of electronics that I carry:
- Samsung S9 Plus+ headphones
- Sony RX100 + spare battery + case + spare memory card
- GoPro Hero 8 – 117 grams.
- Lightweight Slik Mini Tripod
- Anker 20000 battery
- Anker 24W Dual USB Wall Charger + Cables
- Extra Backup hard drive, 4 x USB memory sticks and 4 x SD memory cards in a case
- Macbook Pro – stored inside a padded case
- Kindle with a ton of loaded books
- Cables to connect and charge everything
- Garmin Edge 810 GPS
- International Plug adapter
Toiletries and Medical Kit for Bicycle Touring
- Lip Balm
- Earplugs
- Antacid tablets
- scissors
- Toothbrush, Toothpaste and Floss
- Razor and spareblades
- Electric razor
- Shampoo
- Plastic zip lock bags
- Money / ID / Credit Cards
- Blister pads
- Strapping Tape
- Giardia anti-biotic
- Foot infection anti-biotic
- Ibuprofen
- tweezers
- Safety Pin, needles and sewing kit
- Deet insect repellent
- Sunscreen
- Toilet tissue
- light rope for a washing line
- sea to summit bucket for doing laundry etc
- Passport and Vaccination Certificates
What equipment is on your bicycle touring gear list? What else should I be carrying?
Let me know in the comments section below.
Before you go, you might want to read:
Bicycle Touring from Alaska to Argentina
Bicycle Touring Tools and Spares
Bicycle Touring Gifts
Where to buy all the best gear for Bicycle Touring:
REI | Moosejaw |Amazon | Cyclocamping | Backcountry.com | Campsaver | Competitive Cyclist | Patagonia
Traveling Overseas to go Bicycle Touring?
World Nomads Travel Insurance
Hi Brad … great site and inspirational posts. Can appreciate the effort you’ve made to do this – even on the tough days. Quick questions on the Ortlieb rack bag. Is this the 49L model and does your Osprey Exos 48 or 58 pack fit inside? Looking at a similar set up for Patagonia where I plan on a number of long hikes on an extended cycle tour.
Hi Peter, yes the Osprey 48 and 58 both fit inside the 49L Ortlieb Rack bag, so do my trekking poles and tent poles. Combining hiking and cycle touring in Patagonia will be awesome. I’ll be down that part of the world in the next year or so.
are you cycling now?
Back to Cancun in 4 weeks to continue cycling, I can’t wait.