Equipment I can afford?

[Hartmame]

Granted Im trying to start touring at a financially difficult time for the country and for myself, as I'm sending my oldest off to college next fall. Still I'd like to get my feet wet with touring. My Surly is almost finished being built and my mind is now on to how to and what to bring along. I'm looking for racks under $100. Top of the line would be nice but if I waited till I could afford it I'd never make it down the road. What are you carrying that's cheap but works??

[ridebikeme]

Lots of choices there for sure...

I chose to go without racks and use bags,the advantage is that the entire system is lighter. I also knew that the larger bags/pannniers that I carried, theh more I would fill them... whether I needed to or not. I ordered bags from Relevate, and love the quality. Although the other side of that is that I waited very long for them with no communication from the company itself. There are a couple of other companies out there now as well... Cleavealand Mountainerring is another, so you could check out their site as well.

I did a review on the shop blog on the racks/panniers vs bags, maybe you'd want to check that out as well. http://chasecyclery.blogspot.com
If you're so inclined, there are also people sewing their own bags... so I could point you in that direction as well...

Good luck in your search!

[indysteel]

We have Racktime ADDit rear racks on our touring bikes. I think you can find them for $50ish if you shop around. Our panniers are from Nashbar ( their own brand). I think we got them on sale for $25 or so. They work just fine, even in pouring rain.

[Becky]

Another recommendation for Racktime products in general. DH and I each have a set of their panniers and love them. Our racks are Blackburn, and each one must be ~15 years old, but they're still going strong.

We don't do much loaded touring, but we do commute on a less-than-well-maintained route.

[Dog]

I bought a lightly used BOB trailer off Craigslist and have used on some overnight trips.

[Catrin]

I had a Blackburn rear rack on my LHT, I think it cost me around $50 unless my memory is totally off. It is important to be aware how much weight your rack is rated to carry as there are differences. You don't want to put 50 pounds on something designed to carry 25...