If you were to plan a long trip on your TW, say from coast to coast in the US, what would you carry? Here's the idea: the trip would involve camping for the most part including preparing meals yourself on the road. Traveling as economically as possible is another consideration. Setting aside - for the moment - details of route selection, etc., what would you pack on your TW and why?
Gear and route selection are important when it comes to gear selection, ie traveling in Arctic regions versus riding in Tropical regions or wet climates versus dry climates, etc.
That said, I want to address meals and meal preparation. I find that when I want to put in a lot of miles on any given day then, I hate to cook because you loose time both in preparing the meal and then with clean up. Because of this one might consider cold food as an option.
But if you elect to cook meals then one must ask what kind of stove do you want. If you just want to boil water for coffee, freeze dried meals (which are expensive-but I tend to carry one or two for just in case),etc. A stove like the JetBoil works real well. Down side of these kinds of stoves is cost of fuel canisters and they can be hard to find at times. If you want to cook more substantial meals and don't mind clean up then a stove that uses liquid fuels might be worth considering. Fuel costs for these stoves is much cheaper and you can use gas from the bike to power some of these kinds of stoves. ADV has a lot of discussion on this topic.
With regard to a sleeping bag, I no longer take one with me. I colder climates I use a bivy bag and with all of the gear I wear riding and to keep warm a sleeping bag is not necessary and that saves space. If you have a suit like an Aerostich and the layering worn underneath you really don't need a sleeping bag. I do carry extra warm clothes in case I get wet and a space blanket for emergency situations. In warm climates a blanket and sheet is usually all that is necessary. By skipping the sleeping bag you can save space on the bike.
With regard to tents the longer the trip the larger the tent I prefer to take. I can tolerate a small tent for shorter trips but if the weather gets 'crappy' a small tent is hard for me to handle. If you have to hole up waiting for the weather to improve a larger tent is nice because it is roomy and you can easily sort through your gear, get some indoor type things done or what ever to kill some time. I also like to carry a trap with me on longer trips. This way you can get out of the weather and I'm able to stand up or work on the bike, etc. A trap doesn't take up much space but sometimes finding things to tie the tarp to can be challenging.
I avoid gear that has down feathers in it in when traveling in wet climates. Down works well in cold but when it get wet it has poor insulation properties. Wool and synthetic materials work much better in wet.
In general, I try to keep the load on the bike down below 70 pounds whenever possible. If you are traveling on pavement or good gravel then weight is less of a problem.
When it comes to carrying gear on the bike I have become partial to soft baggage. Though less secure then are much more rugged and dependable than hard luggage. If you read RR on ADV look at the number of times hard bags get torn off. Repairing hard luggage becomes more challenging when remote than soft luggage which can be sewn up and re-waterproofed afterwards with paraffin or glues. My favorite way to carry gear on the TW is the Giant Loop bags. They carry a lot of stuff and easily fit onto almost any bike without having to buy a bunch of specialized attachment kits.
The Mule when he did his trip to Alaska on the TW did a great RR describing what he carried how, he also included pictures. This was posted on the old TW site but I believe the pictures there are now lost.
He also posted it on ADV maybe someone has the link.
Some people can be hard core super-minimalists and others carry everything including the kitchen sink. A big part is personal preference.
But the biggest comment I see on most RR in ADV is that most carried too much stuff and needed to off load somewhere during their journey.
Mike