Patrick, I have had more handling problems from flexible front racks than from flexible rear racks. I have had good luck with a Tubus front rack and making sure items on the front of the bike are not free to flop around.
I try and put the small heavy items (tools, food, etc...) in the front and the larger bulky items (sleeping bag, pad, tent, clothes) in the rear. Angus On Jun 19, 8:22 pm, PATRICK MOORE <bertin...@gmail.com> wrote: > It was in shallow retrospect grossly, ineptly and almost culpably ignorant > of me to think I could just take 1 1/2 times a bike's weight and shove it on > the back anyhow and expect the bike to handle normally. Anyway, I just got > back from a brief 17 mile out 'n' back -- flat, no hills, but a few modest > curves -- on the SH, this time with 42 lb in back BUT in the Ortliebs > properly installed on the Logo. *What* a huge difference. It's at least as > good as the Motobecane, probably a bit better -- with this amount of weight > -- thanks to the stiffer rack (I assume it's stiffer; it's a Tubus and it > has more struts) and, I daresay, stiffer frame -- it's not light 531, > anyway. The bike still wanders, and I expect that after a couple of hours on > it even this amount of wandering would get tiresome, but it is hugely, > emphatically and excessively better than with the Axioms hanging off the > rear of the rack. How obvious in retrospect! > > Anyway, I think that the ideal, that will make this bike quite wonderful as > a tourer -- and I deliberately chose it over the beefier Atlantis -- will be > to take, say, 15 or so lb from the rear and put it on the front. > > Which leads to the question: how best to load the front? Platform or porteur > rack and big bag, or low riders? I guess, from what others say, that I will > be carrying 40 to 50 lb total of load and, again, perhaps 3:2 rear:front. > > So, porteur or low riders? And, what is the best value for each -- I mean, > brands, models? I know Tubus and Ortlieb are safe bets, but they are of > course expensive. > > Thanks. I may have an Ostrich and a Nashbar rack, plus decaleur bits, to > sell. > > -- > Patrick Moore > Albuquerque, NM > For professional resumes, contact > Patrick Moore, ACRW at resumespecialt...@gmail.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
