Ian,
A few notes on my recent experience with short tours on my Mercury Mk 3. I recognize that these may not apply to your Nomad, or to loading for longer tours. So, take them for whatever they're worth.
(A sidebar note to applaud Dan's beautiful Centurion, and the elegant bespoke racks. Wow!!)
Have attached a photo from the 8-day tour of West Québec, which Ron & I did in July 2024. This is Freddie relaxing at a lunch stop near the old station in Gracefield, QC. The photo shows the loading reasonably well, esp the front and rear panniers:
- front panniers are Arkel Dauphins, 2 x 16 ltrs. Each one weighs 2 lbs.
- rear panniers are Arkel Dry-lites, 2 x 14 ltr, 20 oz the pair.
- front rack (hidden) is an Arkel low-rider, 20 oz.
- rear rack is a Tubus Evo, similar to mickeg's mentioned above. My Nemo tent fits neatly on the narrow top "shelf" of the rack, my seat-mounted toolkit resting lightly upon it.
- There's an inexpensive-but-light-&-functional 7-ltr Axiom handlebar bag above the front panniers, and an expensive but very handy Revelate medium frame bag beneath the top tube.
I used the Arkel front panniers for clothing, sleeping bag and pad, a tarp, etc. They swallowed all that with room to spare, and the lightweight contents compensated for the 4-lb tare of the two panniers. They're dead-simple to attach, and the mounting mechanism is sturdy and adjustable. They're waterproof and a very nice red, and Quebeckers complimented me on buying gear from the Eastern Townships. (This allowed me to say, "Aw shucks, mon vieux -- toujours mon plaisir.") In Sept 2023, I did an overnight with a pair of lightweight Altura Vortex panniers on the front, and they proved to be a faff to fasten, and despite my adding S-hooks top & bottom, insisted on trying to detach themselves. I exiled them to a remote and dark corner of my workshop.
The Dry-lites on the rear I used for denser contents -- food, cookware and fuel. Again, I had room to spare. The narrow width of the Tubus top rack worked well -- the twin hoop-and-loop fastening belts of the Drylites adjusted nicely, so that I could lower the panniers closer to the centre of the Rohloff.
My tool bag weighs about 3 lbs.
I don't have all the "as packed" weights handy, but IIRC, the weight was split approx 50/50 fore and aft.
(The reason for my weights being in old money, BTW, is that my weigh scale is a lovely old item I bought in a Mennonite hardware store in St Jacobs, ON, about 112 years ago. It has a beautiful 6" black-on-light-grey dial with a suitably long and ornate black indicator needle. The whole thing works very well, and also serves to remind me of the big black-on-white Lucas speedo and tach in the centre of the burled walnut dash on the 1954 Jaguar Mk Vii I bought for $400 in the late 1960s, first car I ever 'ad, it was...)
I found that Freddie handled very nicely on tarmac with this setup. I was using 1.6 x 650B Marathon Supremes for this tour, since replaced by Panaracer Gravelkings 48mm x 650B (actual closer to 45 mm).
Summer touring plans still TBD -- spring is barely here -- but I expect will be tilted towards 1- and 2-nighters in the extended neighbourhood with a Brazilian/Canadian friend who's keen to explore cycle-camping.
Cheers, John
