Traveling Light : Some of the options for overnight touring are organized, ‘credit-card’ and self-contained trips.

Flip through the glossy catalogues put out by the big bicycle companies, and you’re likely to find touring bikes in the back--behind the mountain bikes, the hybrids and the racing bikes. Walk into your favorite bike shop, and you might not find any touring models in stock at all.

Touring bicycles, once a staple of the bike trade, are at the tail end of a steady decline. But that doesn’t mean the overnight bike tour is dead. In fact, in many cases it’s thriving.

Many cyclists opt for tours that don’t require them to carry a load, thus rendering a special touring bike unnecessary. One such option is an organized tour, in which the tour company offers a “sag” wagon to carry the gear, and also plans the itinerary, from lodging and meals to matching riders with partners of similar experience.

The boom in organized tours has given rise to dozens of companies. A quick check in the back of any bicycle magazine reveals tours of destinations ranging from French Louisiana to Czechoslovakia.

Another option is “credit-card touring,” in which cyclists carry just a change of clothes (or two), a standard tool kit and water. They buy their meals in restaurants and stay in hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns, thus eliminating the need to carry heavy and bulky food, stoves, tents and sleeping bags.

There are still practitioners of the self-contained tour--cyclists who carry everything they need. While some still head out on traditional single touring bikes, some of the touring contingent has joined the boom in tandem cycling or switched to “hybrids.”

Traditional touring bikes have a more relaxed geometry than racing bikes--the angles of the tubes are not as steep, making for a longer wheelbase and a more stable ride when carrying a load. The tires are generally wider than on racing bikes, and the bike itself a bit heavier.

The introduction of the hybrid bike, essentially a lightweight mountain bike with narrower (but still knobby) tires, has eaten into the touring market. The bikes adapt well to carrying loads and give cyclists the upright ride many now prefer while also offering the more powerful mountain bike-style brakes.

Tandem bikes, meanwhile, offer the longest wheelbase and are in many ways ideal for touring, from a social as well as a design standpoint.

“People will tour on just about anything,” says Sam Kraut, a member of the Teamwork Tandem club (part of the Orange County Wheelmen group) who has toured extensively on single and tandem bikes. “It’s the man, not the machine. It’s amazing what you can accomplish with very little technology.”

Bicycle touring is “a great way to see the countryside and meet people,” says Karen Shore, Kraut’s touring partner. “Your world kind of slows down a bit.” On a car trip, she says, even on back roads, “You look out the window and you’re still whizzing by.”

Shore took her first tour four years ago on a single bike. She and Kraut became separated on that ride, so since then they’ve ridden a tandem on tours in California and New York, and on an attempt at a cross-country trek. They hit a gravel patch and spilled, and Shore broke her collarbone.

“We had everything planned. The one thing we didn’t figure on was broken bones,” Shore says. The accident didn’t hurt the relationship, apparently; Shore and Kraut married last month, and for their honeymoon they took a bicycle tour of the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York.

Andy White, until now the editor of the Teamwork Tandem newsletter (he is moving out of town this week), has ridden on several long tours, including one from San Francisco to Portland (“The redwood forest on a bike is just amazing,” he says) and another 1,000-mile trek around Lake Michigan. Although he will break up the longer trips with an occasional hotel stop, he generally carries everything he needs.

“It’s definitely more of a challenge to be self-sufficient,” he says.

Planning is crucial--where to camp, where to stop for food and other supplies, how much mileage can reasonably be covered in a day.

On his West Coast trip, White averaged 77 miles a day, beginning the ride at about 9 each morning and ending about 4 p.m. Around Lake Michigan, he averaged 85 miles a day, but the daily total ranged from 40 to 105 miles depending on wind and terrain.

Equipment for a self-sufficient camping tour includes a rear rack and “panniers” (nylon bags that mount on the racks). White also recommends a front rack and panniers, as well as a handlebar bag, but cyclists differ on how much--if any--weight to carry over the front wheel, says Kraut, who recently opened a bicycle shop in San Diego.

The issue is handling: Too much weight can make steering and braking difficult, even dangerous, says Kraut. Some new rack systems claim to solve the problem; a visit to a well-stocked bike store can illustrate the differences.

Gear can include a tent, a tarp to cover bikes in the rain, sleeping bags and pads, tool kit, bike lock and cable, cooking gear, after-riding clothes, toiletries and first-aid kit. Some people strike a happy medium between total self-sufficiency and “credit-card” touring--eating in restaurants and buying ready-to-eat foods in markets, for instance, eliminating the need to carry cooking gear.

Every ounce makes a difference. For a tandem tour, White recommends a maximum of 25 pounds of gear per person (including bike equipment, camping gear, food, water and clothes), about 60% of it over the rear tire.

A fully loaded bike handles much differently than one without equipment, so take a few spins close to home before heading out on the big trip. And when planning a trip, be aware of terrain (climbing is much more difficult with a loaded bike) and of weather patterns--even prevailing winds.

And remember also that touring together can bring new pressures to a relationship. “That’s one thing about touring, whether on a tandem or on single bikes,” says Shore. “You have to have patience with each other. It brings you closer together.”