Patrick: I've played with loading quite a bit myself and have spoken with lots of bicycle tourists. The Big Message is the number of variables is large enough that you'll have play around with it, perhaps quite a bit. Personally, Steve-at-the-bike-shop's recommendation is close to my preference of 60% front. My Atlantis has a Tom Matchak fork with 40mm of trail. Stock was I think 65mm. If I'm doing a 4 bag trip then I do try to spread it around. But for a lodging tour with only 2 bags they can go either end. Long trip, worth messing with, I'll put on the front rack & carry them there. Overnighter I'll just hang 'em on the rear rack & put with whatever tail wag it causes. No biggie. So in the 2 bag case I'm loading 100% of the weight on one end or the other. A 2 bag lodging tour only needs perhaps 25lbs total, and an S240 something similar.
To me, the bike is more stable / less agile with the front load. Rear is noticeable but nothing weird. Racks are a Tubus Cosmo rear & Duo front. I always have my little Nitto front rack & Acorn bag on the Atlantis, & have loaded up the Acorn well in excess of Rivendell recommendations. No worries. Front panniers seem less affected by crosswinds but more sensitive to ground clearance. dougP On Tuesday, September 1, 2015 at 5:53:51 PM UTC-7, Patrick Moore wrote: > > Chauncey Matthews built me a pair of nice front lowriders, and I used them > today with about 9 lb distributed across both sides. This slowed the > steering noticeably but not annoyingly; but I daresay that adding 10 more > lb a side would do something to the steering I don't like. > > Steve, at the bike shop, said his rule is "70% front;" he has a Soma > randonneur. > > I'm used to carrying up to 40 lb on stiff rear racks; this is not ideal, > particularly on the just-modified '03, and that is why I asked for front > lowriders, so I could distribute the loads more equitably. > > My idea of good distribution is 40 lb more or less max load for this bike) > minus what feels good in back = what I put in front; and that would be ~30 > rear and 10 front. > > Nice Petersenian road geometry. > > What do you (individually and collectively) opine on the subject? > > -- > Resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, and letters that get interviews. > By-the-hour resume and LinkedIn coaching. > Other professional writing services. > http://www.resumespecialties.com/ > www.linkedin.com/in/patrickmooreresumespec/ > Patrick Moore > Alburquerque, Nouvelle Mexique, Vereinigte Staaten > > ************************************* > *The point which is the pivot of the norm is the motionless center of a > circumference on the rim of which all conditions, distinctions, and > individualities revolve. *Chuang Tzu > > *Stat crux dum volvitur orbis.* Carthusian motto > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
