This is the bike I used. It's a modified '99 M2 Pro. The whole thing weighed between 70 and 80 pounds, and it handled surprisingly well with all that stuff on it. It pretty much stopped dead at the first sign of a hill, but it's got long cranks and mountain gears so I eventually made it to the top.

The panniers are from REI, not the best bags around but they did the job. The bar bag is made by Jandd. On the back is my tent in the yellow bag and my sleeping bag and Therm-a-Rest in the black bag. The black bag is actually a Seattle Sports river bag with compression straps.

I swapped the shock for a basic steel fork. The rack's a standard Blackburn clamp-on type. I also replaced the Shimano XT caliper with an Avid Arch Supreme for less squeal and more stopping power and general betterness.

The rear rack is specifically designed for frames without braze-ons. The bottom of the rack is held by the quick release skewer and the top by two pieces that attach to the brake studs. The rack itself is extremely strong. The mounting system allows a little more lateral sway than would a good rack bolted to a frame with braze-ons, but it's stable enough. It's made by Old Man Mountain Products.

I needed a bar bag for extra carrying capacity, so I had to get rid of my aero bars. I missed them, but these Newk bars provided some alternate riding positions.