RonK wrote:Who said anything about racing? I'm talking about having a comfortable ride. And as I've said elsewhere, I define comfort as being able to get off the bike at the end of the day, having made reasonable progress, without feeling utterly exhausted, and being able to get back on the bike in the morning without stiff and aching joints, sore muscles, and developing fatigue.
For sure, and I happily ride 80-110kms+ for the day and feel good to ride the next on my bike. I'm not trying to do 160km days (unless I get a massive tailwind).
RonK wrote:Your "few hundred grams" certainly would not make any difference if it was a once-off, but it never is - it tends to be repeated over and over. "I'll take the big tent - it's only a few grams heavier", "I'll take this camp stool - it only weighs a few hundred grams". That is why you are loading your bike with 25-30kgs of gear. I'm putting no more than 20kgs on mine. Makes no difference? - yeah, right!
I have a pretty standard kit of gear that I carry which I
think weighs about 20kgs. Last time I actually weighed it was for our Tassie tour a few years back and it was 23kgs but included some extra items because I was with the family and out for 17 days. These days I've dropped some items off the kit and use lighter things as well.
On top of that I'd add food, that may be needed for anything from 3 to 8 days, plus any water I need to carry. I'm pretty sure on sections of our outback SA tour I would have been over the 30kg load and we were happily doing 70-90km days (with plenty of relaxing breaks along the way). Flat road riding of course.
Some of the little extra items are things that make quite a difference to how happy I feel around camp with only minimal weight eg. that camp stool (465g). I spent 25 years sitting on dirt or the odd lumpy log, then discovered how much better this stool was, for negligable real penalty.
Weight is all relative to what you're used to, even what you're riding. I've been riding tours on this sort of loaded bike for so may years now that it is pretty much the norm to me. I've ridden the steep goat tracks up into the high country of Victoria, the Snowy Mountains and Tasmania and enjoyed myself very much there. My brother's velomobile is a different thing again, weighs 30kgs on it's own. He's toured Tassie on it. It's slow on hills, but in undulating country it is actually very fast because it flies downhill so well, and has such low air resisitance, that it carries the speed over the hills much better. He cruises at 40-50kmh on flat roads.
(this is certainly not because the Thorn has a noticeably lighter frame than the old Giant Sedona)
) ... I know it's an ageing thread, but I think my concerns relate ... so here goes anyway ... 
And the mirror? have you tried the version with the longer arm? Possibly mounted inboard of the grip/lever position?