Doug brings up a good point. The most flexible thing between the pannier and the road is often/ sometimes the rack.
When riding from RBW back to my (then) home in LA on an All-Rounder, I had a shimmy between 18-24 mph. More weight in the front panniers and the shimmy speed dropped, less weight and it increased. The front rack was twisting around a vertical axis (the front of each pannier was moving left and then right). A switch to a Tubus front rack eliminated the vibration. Nothing to do with the frame. Angus On Aug 23, 1:51 pm, doug peterson <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > My Riv is the Atlantis and it can be made "noodly" by improper weight > placement. Another culprit is over-loading cheap racks. After > changing to a Nitto big rear rack years ago, no problems in that > area. On a recent tour, I had the weirdest shimmy at 10-15 MPH that > took a couple of days to run down. I had taken to adding a bungee > cord around the lower portion of each pannier "just in case". Well, > whodathunk that could cause a problem? The front bags only had > sleeping bag in one and tent in the other, not much weight. By > leaving the bungees off, each bag could wiggle a bit and the shimmy > disappeared completely. My guess is a harmonic developed with them > both tight and was self-cancelling when each could move > independently. While not everyone needs 4 bags for volume, it gives > you a lot of latitude in weight placement and in my experience any > bike handles a bit better with the weight spread around. Plus some > extra volume is handy when you go to the grocery store. > > dougP > > On Aug 19, 11:18 pm, alexander <chmod...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I'm using a custom porteur rack with low pannier mounts and some front > > panniers that I made myself to fit the rack perfectly. I've done week > > long trips on the AHH with only rear panniers in the past and I can > > really see on this trip how much it helps to move more of the weight > > up front. It stabilizes things quite a bit even with more total > > weight. > > > Powell Butte sounds great-- I too enjoy the singletrack riding on the > > homer hilsen. > > > Here's a picture for your reference: > > >http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs141.snc1/5216_27213083... > > > I don't generally ride with the hambone bag there on the top tube > > unless I'm in a town/city and I've stashed my panniers somewhere. > > When I'm fully loaded, it's kinda overkill and it's generally not > > necessary to have that easy access to the wallet/phone/keys on the > > days with long stretches. > > > Also, I'm a big fan of throwing stuff on the front top shelf and being > > able to quickly bungee it down. It works well for drying laundry too! > > > thanks! > > alex > > > On Aug 19, 9:48 pm, Mike <mjawn...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Alexander, good to hear your Homer worked well on tour. What front > > > rack were you using? Did you have front panniers? > > > > I've taken my Homer on plenty of dirt roads, up and down, but never > > > really rode singletrack with it. I took my front and rear racks off > > > but left on the big 700x41 Schwalbe Marathons I used for the tour and > > > hit up the singletrack at Powell Butte today. Man, were the trails > > > great and the bike handled really well. I've ridden by Powell Butte > > > tons and tons of times on my way out to do long road rides but never > > > stopped to really explore all the singletrack there. It totally > > > reminded me of China Camp down in the Bay Area. Homer is definitely > > > the do all bike. > > > > Have fun on the rest of your tour! > > > > On Aug 19, 5:45 pm, alexander <chmod...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > I just did a ~1500 mile loop up the pacific coast and around the > > > > olympic peninsula on a fully loaded AHH and I thought it did really > > > > well. I too experienced a little bit of a wobble on a couple > > > > occasions but I found that it was just indication that I had weight > > > > improperly placed and distributed. At one time, I had too much weight > > > > (firewood) high up above my rear panniers and on another I had too > > > > much weight on the front portion of the shelf of my front rack (in > > > > front of the axle). Keeping things down low and well distributed > > > > yielded a great handling bike that even did well on unpaved, rocky > > > > trails. > > > > > I'm about to head east from Portland OR to new york and I wouldn't > > > > hesitate to tour anywhere on the homer hilsen.. except maybe down the > > > > entire length of the Great Divide. > > > > > Note that I'm a fairly light rider at around 145lbs with gear that > > > > probably never exceeds 45lbs > > > > > On Aug 17, 1:10 pm, Brian Hanson <stone...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > Mike - how much weight on the Hilsen? Was it wobbly in specific > > > > > situations? Interested in more detail as I'll be doing this sort of > > > > > thing > > > > > with a Hilsen. BTW - great trip photos. Looks like it was a great > > > > > time! > > > > > > Brian > > > > > > On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Mike <mjawn...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > Yesterday my friend Dylan and I finished up 8 days of cyclotouring > > > > > > through WA and OR. We managed to roll through portions of Gifford > > > > > > Pinchot NF, Mt Hood NF, Deschutes NF and the Willamette NF. We > > > > > > totally > > > > > > veered from our planned route which would have kept us in and around > > > > > > the GPNF but due to poor weather we changed plans and headed south. > > > > > > The hight point of the trip was day 6 when we took back roads from > > > > > > Madras to just below the summit of McKenzie Pass. I had been wanting > > > > > > to climb the pass ever since moving to OR and was not disappointed. > > > > > > We > > > > > > stayed at a beautiful and serene campground--Lava Lake. The next day > > > > > > we got on the road at 7am and summited McKenzie Pass where we had > > > > > > epic > > > > > > vies of the surround mountains and lava fields from the Dee Wright > > > > > > Observatory. > > > > > > > My Hilsen handled well although next time I tour like this I'll be > > > > > > on > > > > > > a dedicated touring bike. At times the Hilsen felt a little too > > > > > > noodly. I was absolutely floored by the performance of my Schwalbe > > > > > > Marathons (700x41)--they were great. I expected them to feel dead > > > > > > but > > > > > > they were fine. > > > > > > > We averaged like 82 miles a day. Our shortest day was like 65 miles > > > > > > and the longest 107. I can't wait until the next tour. Although we > > > > > > had > > > > > > poor weather which was a bummer the GPNF seems to offer endless > > > > > > cyclotouring opportunities for people living in Seattle or Portland > > > > > > and everywhere in-between. > > > > > > > My camera crapped out for part of the trip so I don't have photos > > > > > > from > > > > > > day 5 and only a few from day 4 and 6. > > > > > > >http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335...@n00/sets/72157622065862878/ > > > > > > > --mike- Hide quoted text - > > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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