JayVee: that was awesome information and I really appreciate it.
I ride with shopping bag panniers that are about two inches longer and three inches shorter than the panniers I have been looking to buy. So I am pretty sure I will not have a problem about that. What I will probably do is order the panniers from REI and pick them up at the store. When I come to pick them up I will bring my bike and we can try them on right there. If they don't fit or can't fit then I can return them right then and there.
This morning I noticed that my shopping bag panniers have a volume of about 20L. This is approximately the volume of the Ortlieb Bike Packer Plus Panniers. By a happy coincidence, my heavier shopping pannier weighs 2lbs 7oz, or almost exactly what the Bike Packer Plus weighs.
Without trying too hard or being too organized, I could easily fit everything, including the fireproof bag for charging the battery and the charger, in two panniers. In practice, a bunch of stuff would go into a handlebar bag (probably this one
https://www.amazon.com/Rixen-Kaul-K...UTF8&qid=1497160103&sr=8-10&keywords=klickfix). That would free up quite a bit of room for grub.
All told it ran to just over 20lbs. But I didn't really try very hard to shave weight and could easily knock three or four pounds off of that weight without any discomfort.
Although when I think about it a bit, there is probably a way to go even lighter.
One of the challenges of touring with an electric bike is going to be charging the bike. The best time to charge the battery will be at night during my down-time when I am usually not on the road. That means I need to camp places where there are outlets. So typically that means RV Parks, State Parks, or certain USFS Campgrounds. Most of those tend to be noisy and crowded and not exactly a wilderness experience; Also, maintaining the security of my gear in such conditions will be a challenge.
When I look at the trips I would likely do this year, the most likely tours are on the Oregon or Washington Coast. It is quite plausible to tour there and ride sixty miles a day (or even less most of the time) and always sleep in a bed.
The more I think about it, for touring with current technology e-bikes, trying to camp will just make your trip less fun. Approximately 4.5 lbs of the gear I put together was camping gear. More importantly, the camping gear was over half of the volume. So I could get away with smaller and lighter panniers. That means I could realistically shoot for a rollaway weight (less food and water) of about 12lbs.
