Our aim for our bike touring gear was to travel as light-weight as possible but still travel in relative comfort. We wanted to reduce fatigue on the bikes, and ourselves, and be able to ride with relative agility and enjoyment. By no means is this an extreme light-weight touring list (we did not cut the handles off our toothbrushes) however everything fits into our rear panniers and handlebar bags.
The majority of our gear was from already owned items. We first looked at what we had at home to save on costs. We camped a fair bit so we already had a tent, sleeping bags, trangia etc. Most of the bike related items were bought new with lots of research and thought. Higher quality items are almost always more durable, thinner, warmer, lighter etc and can drastically reduce the weight you’re carrying. We will be replacing some of our ‘brought from home’ gear with lighter variations once they wear out.
The list below is our full packing list and will change slightly as we travel along, items will come and go as we reevaluate their usefulness and our needs for different countries.
For Malaysia and Thailand we stored a lot of our gear in Singapore with relatives, namely cooking, camping and winter gear. For that gear list please see here.
Bikes
2015 Fuji Touring (2) – Medium/Large frame and a Small frame
Pedals: Cheap plastic pedals
Fenders: SKS Chromoplastic mudguards
Water bottle holders: Generic Wiggle drink bottle holders
Seats: Brooks B17 standard
Locks (2): Kryptonite evolution mini with 4′ flex cable
Bike pump: Top Peak Mountain Morph
Helmets (2): Generic
Bags
Rear panniers: Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus Rear
Handlebar bags: Ortlieb Ultimate5 M Plus
Waterproof dry bags/stuff sacks (3): Mountain Designs/Ortleib
Lighting
Front lights (1): Cygolite Metro Front USB
Rear lights: (2): Cygolite Hotshot USB
Head torch (1): Tikka XP
Sleeping
Sleeping bag liner: Sea To Summit Silk, Double Extra Wide
Sleeping bags (2): Robens Caucasus 300
Sleeping mats (2): Thermmarest Prolite Regular
Pillows (2): Thermarest compressible Pillow Regular
Tent: Marmut Tungsten 3P
Cooking
Plates (1): Sea To Summit X-Plate (also used as bowls/cutting boards)
Cutlery (2): Sea To Summit 3 piece polycarbonate
Stove: Trangia 27-6 Ultralight Non Stick – pan, pot and bag only (kettle and pot left behind)
Knife: Opinel folding pocket knife
Salt and Pepper grinder
Bottle opener
Small dish brush
Small bottle of dish washing liquid
Food: Dependent on the day, (usually buy only for one day plus snacks: but may have muesli, UHT milk, tea bags, pasta, veggies, bread, fruit, biscuits, chips etc)
Tools
Spare inner tubes (2)
Zip ties (5)
Brooks Saddle Spanner
Puncture kit
Tyre Levers (3)
Old rag
Basic bike multi tool
Stanley 150mm adjustable mini spanner
Allen key size 7 (spare)
Finish Line Dry Teflon Bike Lube
Electronics
Lime Fuel Rugged 15,00 mAh
Xiaomi Mi10000mAh power bank
Aukey quick charge 2.0 USB 3-Port charger
Samsung USB wall charger (2)
Micro USB cables (3)
iPhone charging cable
Universal travel adaptor
Camera battery charger with two batteries
Olympus OMD M5 camera
Panasonic Lumix 20mm F1.7 camera lens
Tablets (2): Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
Sandisk US Extreme 64G USB Sticks (2)
Charging cable for bike lights
16G SD Cards (2)
Bluetooth waterproof speaker: Nude Audio Super M
Misc
Lifesystems Pocket first aid kit + Panadol, Imodium tablets
Duct Tape
Korjo Travel pegless washing line
Tent patch kit
Montbell foldable daypack
Mini sewing kit
Earplugs
Small mesh packing cell
Headphones (2) and spare ear buds
Dual Headphone jack
High Vis Strips (4) to tie to clothing or bike
Money Belt with Passports
Coin wallet
Bungee cords (2)
Clothing – Cleave
Fingerless gloves
Shorts (2): Kathmandu quickdry, Prana Travel, Nike Gym
T-Shirts (2): Nike Running DryFit, Columbia Omni-Wick
Patagonia Polar Tec long sleeve shirt
Banana Republic non-iron long sleeve button up
Patagonia R1 hoody
Old pair of Levis jeans
Cheap thermal leggings
Patagonia Torrent Shell rain pants
Beanie
Cap
Underwear (3)
Socks (2)
Columbia Omni Tech rain jacket
Sealskins waterproof socks
Thongs
Mavic SPD Mountain bike shoes
Oakley polorised sunglasses
Clothing – Suyin
Kathmandu fingerless bike gloves
Kathmandu NGX waterproof Rain/Wind Jacket
Patagonia R1 Full Zip jumper
UNIQLO Flannel long sleeve shirt
Outlier Daily Riding long pants
Full length gym leggings
T-Shirts(3): Kathmandu Dri Motion, Nike DryFit, Generic black
Cheap Czech brand singlet
Billabong polyester dress
Sealskins waterproof socks
Socks (3)
Bras (3): Sport, T-Shirt and Crop top
Swimming togs (2): bikini, one piece
Underwear (5)
Patagonia Torrent Shell rain pants
T-bar thongs
Adidas AX2 hiking shoes (boys)
Country Road Scarf
Beanie
Cap
Sunnies
Prescription glasses
Toiletries
Towels (2): Gelert large microfibre chamois towel
Wet Wipes
Toothbrushes (2)
Comb
Toothpaste
Luca’s pawpaw ointment
Floss
Unisex roll-on deodorant
Scrubcloth
Pack of tissues
Mooncup
2n1 Shampoo/Conditioner
Face Moisturiser
Sample Perfume women’s
Sample Cologne men’s
Sunscreen
Nail clippers
lipstick
pressed powder
mascara
red nail polish
black eyeliner pencil
smoky eyeshadow
Days of Light 
Pingback: Bike Touring: Light Packing List for Malaysia and Thailand | Days of Light
Hey guys, how do you like your Fuji bikes?? Thinking of upgrading ours before a big trip and I’m thinking of the Fuji touring 2016.
Would love to know your thoughts!
Thanks,
Elizabeth xx
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Thanks for the question Elizabeth! It was love at first sight with our Fuji’s; strong, comfortable and great to look at, and the price point isn’t too shabby either. A main area to look at for your trip is terrain. We chose Fuji as a discrete road bike; could go the km’s but still not look out of place commuting, and last for years. Our trip has been mainly road with off road only if the situation dictated. Cleave has gone through more tyres/punctures than me, (more weight in the back), but buying the best tyres as possible, rather than using whatever they had in the shop/country at the time would solve this. We’re going to upgrade to all Schwalbe and also look at increasing the tyre width for more flexibility and less issues.
It’ll really depend on where you’re going and how off road you’re thinking. Let us know what bike you decide on, looking forward to checking out your trip!
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Also one thing, a lot of travel insurance companies will not offer cover for the bike itself, this was a factor in our price point if we had to replace them mid trip. Cheers
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Yeah our travel insurance doesn’t cover our bikes too. Such a pain!
Hmm ok. We used marathon schwalbe over Europe and not one puncture so definitely upgrade the tyres! They’re amazing!
Our trip won’t just be on roads – so we’ll definitely need thicker tyres. Definitely not anything like mountain bike riding but will need something for dirt and unpaved roads.
I just love the look of your fuji bikes!
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They look so retro, right! Could you just update your Dawes, looks like you’ve got solid bones
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We’re thinking about it… I want us to have disc brakes and wider tyres, but our fork width is fairly narrow. We don’t know much about bikes so we’re talking with our dealer to see what we can do. If we can’t do much, we’re looking at trading and upgrading.
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Sounds like a good plan, let us know how you go! 🙂
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This is such a great blog! I have a question about your touring. It looks like you kept the standard rack. How did that hold up?
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Thank you, appreciate it!
We did keep the standard rack, we wanted to use everything as much as possible as the bikes were new, and then replace things as they wear out. We haven’t had any issues as of yet. All of our weight is in the back, we just regularly check all the screws are still tightened. Cheers!
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Awesome blog! Was looking at one of these bikes for a tour down the west coast. Curious what your heights are. I’m 5’7″ – 5’8″ and between the smaller frame and medium frame. Also, how were the rims and such overall?
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Hi Zac, thanks so much for your question! You’re 3 inches taller; I’m 5’5 and on the small frame, which is bang on perfect for me. It really depends on your riding style/flexibility, but if you’re thinking of reach, one option would be to look at how short you can go in the stem, if you go up in the frame.
We’ve only had two loose spokes in a year, but also they’ve all rusted really quickly, which is a bit disappointing. We also swapped out the pedals, seat and tyres from the standard issue.
However all in all, we’re really liking the bikes for the price point – good luck on your West Coast ride!
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Hi there I have a Fuji touring as well, is is a great bicycle, but the tires definitely need to be upgraded of going to go touring (for commuting in the city they are fine), I did try fitting Marathons 700 x 38c but the clearance of the frame it is too close so ended up settling for the 700 x 38c Schwalbe Marathons they look great and are a very confortable fit, I also fitted the brooks B17 saddle not because the original saddle isn’t confortable, but because I always wanted to try them and in my old MTB they would look out of place but in the Fuji touring it looks like it was ment to be it fits and feels great, I found that the stem of the Fuji is a bit of stretch for long rides what can make some beginners feel a lot of discomfort on their hands and for this reason I replace the original oval stem for a higher one and that did the trick, now the bike is perfect at list for me, for you to get something similar to what I now have out of the shop you would need no less the £1000 pounds and I did build mine with all that for £750 pounds including also SKS mudguards and aluminium bottle cages.
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Sounds like you’ve got a great Fuji there Jonathan! The price point is great isn’t it. We also have Brooks B17 saddles, they’re so comfortable. Good point on a higher stem, I would be interested in looking into that for me. Thanks for the info, good luck on your rides!
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What tire size did you finally fitt in? 38c or less?
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Yes, we changed it up a few times depending on availability of tires. We managed 40’s but it was a bit tight. We currently have 37 and 32’s on
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What do you mean by “a bit tight”? I’m planing to drive in mixed tarrain and 40 mm would be the perfect size. Please define is it possible or not. What kind of trouble did you have, if you did have some?
Thanks a lot!
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The 40mm was fine through the frame forks, but it was really tight with our mudguards on, it barely cleared them. So if you’re considering them, you may have to consider none or different mudguards. But ask a bike shop for advice on your set up for sure. Hope that helps Anel!
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