I am going with my Fuji Cyclocross bike, a Cross Pro manufactured in 2009. It’s an aluminum frame with carbon forks. Total weight is 21.6 pounds but with all my add-ons the weight increases to 29.2 pounds. Figuring in a loaded day pack and water/food for the day, total weight will be ~ 41 pounds.
For gearing I went with a double crankShimano FC-4700 Tiagra with 48 and 34 tooth sprockets and a Shimano HG500 11-32 tooth 10 speed cassette. This gives me a gearing ratio of 1.1 in low gear which I understand should be sufficient, particularly considering that I will not have a fully loaded bike (it’s a van supported trip so all I need to carry is a day’s worth of stuff).
My add-ons include: aerobar, kickstand, front and rear lights, air pump, water bottle cage, top tube mini-pack, Old Man Mountain rear rack, front and rear fenders, arket convertible backpack rear pannier, wahoo element GPS and a Gopro Hero 10 camera. I like the aerobar to give me an alternate position on the bike during a long day of riding, plus it is a convenient place to mount my front light, GPS and camera. I have the kick stand mainly to allow me to use the bike as a stable platform for the camera. plus it is convenient for loading the bike and accessing the pannier. The Arkel convertible backpack pannier is really convenient to be able to take it off the bike and carry stuff on my back- if we go food shopping or we are just hiking around. I have a WTB Volt saddle which I have found to be very comfortable on long rides. I had a Brooks B17 leather saddle but it broke and I thought I would try something different. The Volt saddle is very firm with a bit of padding and seems to work well for me.
Here is a video explaining my setup in a bit more detail- apologize for the length!!
Biking across the USA with Mike 
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