Jim et al.,
First of all, touring bike means different things here and in France. A "cyclotouriste" in France is a person who rides long distances, a randonneur, basically. A "cyclocampeur" is a person who does what we call "loaded touring."
A good French "campeur" loaded touring bike weighs at least 30 lbs, with my very heavy duty Singer (featured in Rivendell Reader # 25) topping the scales at 34.5 lbs even with a titanium rear derailleur.
That said, it rides great. I took out my 27-30 lb. (haven't weighed recently) Mercian last weekend with its flimsy Blackburn racks. A horror. With any significant load on the front lowriders, the rack flexes so much and wobbles that the bike becomes almost unrideable! The Singer can handle 50 lbs in the front and 30 in the rear (that is how much I tried carrying, not what the absolute limit is), and like Monsieur Anderson's Herse, allows riding no hands without a problem!
The touring bike trials were for randonneur bikes, with a small load of 3-5 kgs. In trials where weight was not the issue, the builders built more reasonable bikes that weighed 20 lbs. plus. For Paris-Brest-Paris, a good bike would weigh in the 20-24 lb. range. Consider that these weights include fenders, lights, and a front rack for the handlebar bag, and it still is rather light.
My newsletter, out later this month, will have an interview with M. Csuka, the builder of Alex Singer, in issue 1. He talks quite a bit about the technical trials. Issue 2 will have Roger Baumann, who rode for Rene Herse and won PBP in 1956. Issue 3 will be dedicated entirely to the technical trials, with regulations, bikes, rider interview, etc.
Jan Heine, Seattle