What's your top weight saving tip for touring?

[mnichols]

Preparing for a 1 month credit card tour of America with friends and looking for your top tips on saving pack weight

In our our test runs we've been pretty minimal ranging from 10 to 20 litres of space each

The area that most frustrates me is toiletries: chamois cream, sun cream, tooth paste, washing powder, shaving stuff and deodorant

The weather will be variable rain in the north, possibility of snow on the mountains and lots and lots of deserts

[irc]

I think at 20L you've got it pretty well covered.

Toiletries. Well I find with a decent razor shampoo or soap works to prep the face. No need for separate shaving foam. Same for washing powder. Shampoo and rinse clothes in the shower then wrap tightly in a towel to get most of the water out.

Deodorant? Even if you spray your underarms you are sweating everywhere else when cycling anyway. As long as you shower you aren't going to smell. Do without. That said I usually carry a mini spray. Weighs very little and for me it's weight that is the issue not volume, within reason.

[al_yrpal]

Might sound daft but weigh trousers and tee shirts and choose accordingly. Peter Storm trousers from Millets are very light, running tees from Sports Direct too. I have abandoned padded shorts and now cycle in ordinary light shorts with M&S light Autograph underpants because the edges of the pad made me sore. Dove make a very small light roller ball deodorant. Grow stubble, look cool and save weight

Al

[raybo]

Take a merino wool t-shirt and wear it all the time you are off the bike without worry about it smelling. The same thing for cycling jerseys. You can wear one day after day without it smelling.

[Sooper8]

Take a merino wool t-shirt and wear it all the time you are off the bike without worry about it smelling. The same thing for cycling jerseys. You can wear one day after day without it smelling.

+1 , the properties of wool are amazing aren't they!?

[tatanab]

As said above, 20L should be fine.

Toiletries - you are credit card touring so do not need to carry much. Soap is soap is soap so take the miniature bar from the hotel and use it for everything including washing clothes. Carry one or two throw away razors, or if staying in a posh hotel then ask at reception for a razor when yours wears out. Deodorant - washing should be adequate for the evenings, but if you must carry deodorant it is possible to find small roll on tubes or even free sample size aerosols. Tooth paste - again you can get very small tubes, just enough for a few weeks - or obviously take a part used tube.

Clothing - a shirt, a pair of trousers, a pair of light "deck" shoes. Underwear - use your spare shorts or a pair of undershorts which are very cheap at Planet X. Socks - wear your spare cycling socks. That's the posh evening covered. Cycling stuff - one set on, one off. To avoid carrying long sleeved top and tights for chilly times, take arm and leg warmers. If that is not enough, consider silk long johns and long sleeved underwear - can be used under your cycling kit or as pyjamas. Chamois cream - leave the goat at home it doesn't need feeding cream it prefers grass. Use good old fashioned touring shorts with unpadded liners for underwear. Pads are over rated, especially great big thick ones. I've been cycling 50 years and have never used chamois cream, even in the days when racing shorts really did have chamois.

All of that fits into about 2/3 of a Campers Longflap saddlebag. I know because that is how I tour and I've recently returned from 3 weeks away.

[Vorpal]

I'm not sure about top tips, but I wouldn't bother with washing powder, unless you have skin allergies, or something. Small boxes of it are usually available in hotels and laundrettes in the US. If you are ataying in chain hotels, many of them have toothpaste available, too. I might rely on that. You can always go to a chemist and get a sample size thing of toothpaste, if that isn't working for you.

[TonyR]

My top tip would be sandals - clipless sandals if you have clipless pedals. Combine them with a pair of waterproof socks and a couple of pairs of socks. You can wear them on and off the bike, with the waterproof socks if its raining and with the waterproof or normal socks if it gets a bit cold. Weighs a lot less than having a spare pair of shoes in your panniers and they don't get wet and soggy in the rain. (And for the fashionistas you just have to point out that male style icon David Beckham wears socks with his sandals )

I also like Craghoppers Kiwi zip off trousers. They wash and dry very fast, are light, have good touring security features of zipped and hidden pockets and you can convert them between shorts and trousers by zipping off the legs. Their shirts are similarly very good. You can often pick them up at TKMaxx at bargain prices but they are not expensive anyway. Gore do a zip off cycling trouser which are water and wind proof if you want something more bike oriented but they are a lot more expensive and not as versatile. Good if you are expecting colder and wetter weather though.

[eileithyia]

Shorts, pads, chamois cream.. are personal choice, I would not change what i currently do ahead of a 4 week tour..... I am fortunate i do not need to use chamois cream for ordinary day riding, but might take a small baby lotion to aid comfort if required.

Having done most of my touring via youth hostels where you have to supply toiletries I have learned to collect small bottles wherever i can for refilling with own stuff to take with me.....
Not so strictly necessary if using hotels as such items are generally supplied. but i will always take a part used toothpaste (sensitive teeth so fussy what i use), and own conditioner... again hair always feels ratty if i don't use conditioner.
And i have a collection of small soaps gained from hotels... which do not get used so much now as i tend to do more 'credit card' touring and soap is always supplied in some shape or form (either in a liquid dispenser or individual packets).
Small roll-on deodorant for evening use, but do not use one when i get up ahead of a days cycling... that way it will last the holiday.
So dispense with anything you think you can rely on being supplied, take items you know you absolutely have to use because it is your personal choice that specific item.
As said shorts / kit can be washed in the shower, rolled in the towel after you have used it, to remove excess water.

They are less available but i always used to hostel tour with sachets of shampoo, not cheap to buy and fewer and further between, but used to collect any freebies i found, but your collection reduces what you carry over time, while a bottle is still being carried and taking same amount of room, despite having reduced amount of contents.

[tatanab]

sachets of shampoo, not cheap to buy and fewer and further between.

I buy them about 20 at a time on ebay. Like you, I appreciate that as a tour goes on then so my load decreases even if it is by only a small amount.

Toothpaste etc - even deodorant - can be bought in small containers from http://www.gotiny.co.uk/travel-size-toi ... er-100ml-6 Since the modern toothpaste tubes are plastic, you can refill them from your larger tube at home.

I have to carry this stuff because I camp, so I appreciate the low bulk.

[pwa]

Toothpaste can be one tube shared by everyone. Assuming you already have soap, shaving kit just means a razor. Shaving foam does nothing useful. Wash face, re-wet shaving area with a little soap and water, and shave. I've never known anyone take washing powder on a cycle tour. Make do with your soap, and try to wash stuff in the shower. If you must take deodorant, take one between all of you.

[mattsccm]

Don't shave. Beards are trendy. Mini toothbrush and leave the paste behind, it won't make any difference. Wool vest. Wash everything with the soap you find in the nearest bathroom. Unless its really manky lycra dries overnight and the damp left will soon ride out. Ditto socks. Thin overshoes avoid wet feet to a great extent anyway.
Mudguards are a boon to staying dry.
You say snow. Remember that lightweight clothing isn't usually warm.
Think about a thin synthetic padded gilet. Mine packs up small enough to fill half a rear pocket. Good investment of warmth over bulk.
Really worried about the grams. leave the phone behind or if really insecure take 1 for the group. There's the camera as well. In fact I would leabe the phone to carry the gilet.

[pjclinch]

The area that most frustrates me is toiletries: chamois cream, sun cream, tooth paste, washing powder, shaving stuff and deodorant

Sun cream is easy enough to buy as needed en-route. Something like Campsuds, widely available in the US, can be used to wash you (body and hair) and also clothes. Laundromats can be used to wash clothes too, and if it's credit-card then most sleeperies provide personal cleaning products.

Grow a beard. It's credit-card touring, you can always treat yourself to the odd shave at barbers' shops you come across.

Deodorant is dreadful. It seeks to mask one bad smell with another, and as far as my nose tells me the combination is worse than someone who's just spent a day sweating without it. Merino and silver-infused synthetics pong noticeably less over time than your standard "smelly Helly" or similar, but also the case that on the open road it doesn't matter and when off the open road your credit-card should afford you a shower, and thence in to (relatively) clean clothes. Make those clothes something like Rohan's "Ultra" line and they'll take up remarkably little space (e.g., 60g T-shirt that you can pack in to your fist) and be easy to wash and quick to dry.

(I wouldn't know about chamois cream, I ride a comfy touring bike and thus don't need contrived padded trousers...)

Pete.

[pwa]

Whilst agreeing with most of Pjclinch's tips, for me padded pants are a must on long trips. And I find beards itchy. And unnecessary. A razor weighs next to nothing, and apart from the soap you have access to already, nothing else is needed.

[TrevA]

Another alternative is to use Shaving Oil - comes in a much smaller container and you don't use as much.