re: (hands down) worst touring bike

perhaps we're thinking of the same fella, as your description brings "david" to mind, whom i first met travelling down the northern california coast; then again, in dana point

his system included (and likely still does, as he's on the Endless Tour) his sleep sack, rolled up inside of his tent, which—in turn—was rolled up inside his ground cover…all that, perched atop his bars

the bike, itself, was a frankenstein's monster of cannibalized parts, of which he carried spares…including several rims:

http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad261/ericsluyter/david/?action=view&current=9ca2ef6d.jpg&evt=user_media_share

also note that his clothes aren't exactly hi-tech

but, in spite—or because—of all this, he sure eats up the miles!

for a still better view of his rig (and to hear him wax philosophically on cooperation within the animal kingdom), watch:

http://s942.photobucket.com/albums/ad261/ericsluyter/david/?action=view&current=77ce3d5a.mp4&evt=user_media_share
>> 
> 
> Well, it wasn't my bike but when I rode the Southern Tier route in 2004
> starting from San Diego, I met a guy coming in the other direction from
> Florida near the Arizona border.  He had an ordinary hard-tail mountain bike
> that was almost certainly what he just happened to have and so it was his
> touring bike.  What was unusual wasn't his bike but his pannier "system."
> He had a rolled up bedroll strapped to his straight handlebars and two day
> packs swinging freely from each end of his handlebars.  I've always
> regretted that I didn't get a photo.