Fully Loaded - Touring Bikes

[LEE]

I though the idea of using front panniers in addition to rear was to balance the load and have less effect on the bike's handling, rather than to carry more stuff - supposedly.

Yes.

My Thorn Raven really comes into its own when it's loaded front and rear.  The Thorn literature states that it is supposed to be loaded thus in order to make the most of its lovely loaded handling.

I don't carry any more stuff, I just have a more organised and distributed load.  My wet tent can have its own front pannier if necessary.

I found that I can organise a small front pannier, which has a convenient shoulder strap, as a "grab Bag" with essential stuff for a night on a ferry...etc. 

[tiermat]

Paul, that's my thoughts exactly, with the Inbred I can only have panniers on the rear (due to having CF forks) and found that the front end does become a bit light on steeper climbs.  Having to have the panniers as far back as I can to stop heel strike doesn't help either.  Thankfully I don't do that many steep climbs.

[Kim]

I find rear panniers are fine for normal shopping, but if I'm buying bulky items like toilet rolls then the space availible is important. Also if I have things like fizzy water (which I'm a bit addicted to ;-[) then I'd prefer not to overload the rear wheel which already has to deal with rather a lot of me on it.

I do our regular shopping on a pair of naff rear panniers, occasionally bungeeing things like loo roll to the top of the rack.  About once a month I dig the trailer out and do a bulk buy of heavy things (orange juice is my vice, but also things like tins of beans and several kilos of rice) from the nearest Crap Tescos^[1].  This is less annoying than doing an online delivery from the Crap Tescos in Solihull, as although their stock control is similarly rubbish, you haven't wasted 3 quid and a couple of hours hanging around when half the order is missing.  You also get to ride your bike very slowly and off-load any accumulated recycling.


_{[1] Tesco's non-value own-brand orange-juice-from-concentrate is significantly nicer than the other supermarkets' equivalents.}

[clarion]

Bulky stuff is easier in trailers than panniers - juice, loo roll, cereals, pasta etc.  And it's easier to stop your yoghurt getting squashed if it's not crammed in with other stuff.

[Kim]

Top tip: pay attention to nose weight if loading a trailer with 50kg of shopping.  Otherwise it gets a bit unexpectedly skiddy, which won't do the eggs any good either...   

[clarion]

Oh yeah.  Eggs fare better in a trailer....usually.

[jane]

My days of climbing stuff over 29 percent loaded are over, I think)

Whereas mine are... a complete fiction! I'm impressed at the idea of ever riding such a steep hill, lot alone loaded.

My "trecker" can lift the front wheel even without panniers. Someone said this is because of the suspension forks bouncing on rough surfaces, but they have rather little movement in them so I'm not sure it's that. As for
shopping, I find two panniers usually enough, but we're another small family.

Tongue in cheek doesn't really work online does it.  Twice on this thread I've tried to inject a humorous
tone into my thread only to be taken completely seriously.  I have never managed Hardknott fully loaded. Bet someone has though. Walking up it with full panniers is just as hard though, if not harder. 
I have managed to get round the Drumbeg Rd, though and a few other steepish hills over the years.  The Roberts Roughstuff has some very low gears.  And I can climb as slow as 2 mph. 

[Oscar's dad]

I tried to get up Wrynose on this ...



... (without any load) and had front wheel lifting problems.  I got off and walked.  The gearing is now even lower (24t on the front and 34t on the back) so would like to try again one day.

Although I have front panniers I can't use them on the bike shown above cos it's got bouncy forks so I need one of these (*)

(*) And believe me, I really want one but just can't justify it.

[LEE]

Can you buy a set of steel forks, for touring/camping use?
AHEAD riser/stem makes it a quick job.

[Oscar's dad]

I could but I like the bouncy forks. Makes for a comfy bike, I know they're a bit heavier than rigid forks but its not a problem.

[Kim]

Bouncy fork with a lock-out would seem like a more elegant solution...

[Oscar's dad]

Mine have a lock out but I like bouncy and I want those low riders.

[David Martin]

I ran low riders on bouncy forks. Not a problem, but did require a bit of fettling to get them to stay put.

[clarion]

Touring?  On a folding bike?  Are you mad?

[Cudzoziemiec]

How did it handle? Was it as back-heavy as it looks - how many wheelies did you pull?

[clarion]

It was, of course, back heavy, but even climbing Somerset hills in first gear, the front wheel only lifted once or twice, and not seriously.  Handling was much better than I'd feared, possibly because the load was so low down.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yeah, the lowness has got to make a difference. It's one reason I've left the current rack on my hybrid - it's meant for a 26"-wheeled bike and squashes down on the mudguard so that any significant amount of mud fouls the guard. The other reason being more important, namely I don't have another rack and CBA to fit one / have other things to spend the money on!

[LEE]

It was, of course, back heavy, but even climbing Somerset hills in first gear, the front wheel only lifted once or twice, and not seriously.  Handling was much better than I'd feared, possibly because the load was so low down.

I imagine the overall lowish gearing came into its own while carrying panniers.  It was a bit undergeared for me unladed.

[clarion]

It is a bit undergeared, which is one reason why I thought it was worth a go.  I still spent a lot of time in 6 or 7.

[fhills]

Afraid I've got to say it Clarion, yes you would be mad to tour on a Dahon - for any distance/time.

In my global* web search for parts/fix for my Dahon Speed Pro I came across a post from some poor **rd out in Asia somewhere with the touring version (surely the most misconceived bike ever) of the Speed Pro. Fat chance he had of getting spares if I struggled to get them here and I came across folks trawling the US for bits and still giving up.

* no exaggeration - eventually fixed one problem with my bike when on an Italian island by communicating with a guy in Hawaii who disassembled his bike and took pics (Dahon changed its specs so often it would have probably struggled to tell me what bits it had put together to make mine) and getting bits shipped at considerable postage expense from the wonderful CH Whites.

My opinion may seem extreme, but I know of a few folk in the bike trade who have similar views.
   

[marcusjb]

Touring on folding bikes?  See Heinz Stucke:

He's ridden around the world many times (he has ridden over 600000 km in the last 50 years).  Since 2010, he's been using a Brompton.  I saw it at the world championships this year - quite a beaten up Brompton with his luggage dwarfing the bike!  Amazing.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_St%C3%BCcke
https://www.facebook.com/heinzstucke?ref=ts
http://www.heinzstucke.com/index.php?mmod=staticContent&IDf=67

[clarion]

I don't envisage intercontinental touring on a Dahon.  That would be taking enough time that I'd ride out from home.  We took the folders for a weekend camping where the option would be a loooong day trip by train or hired car.  The idea is sound to get round bike/train interface issues.  As it stands, we would have had little or no problems with full sized bikes, but we needed guarantees of getting on the trains.

I do get frustrated with the lack of standardisation at Dahon, and finding parts is a nightmare.  Even the couple of spokes we need to replace have proved to be an unusual size, and we'll be sourcing them via the interwebs.*

I also know that nobby and literida OTP have toured on folders (Dahon & Brompton respectively IIRC).

* Edit: Update.  As we speak, Butterfly has informed me that a nice chap will cut down some longer spokes (he obviously has one of those cool benchtop tools for cutting & threading spokes

[RJ]

I know someone whose Dahon touring solution is a BOB Yak (occasionally complete with folding boat).

[clarion]

That may be my solution ultimately (less boat).  If you fold your bike, then you can put it on top of the trailer to be one large piece of luggage, rather than having to carry multiple panniers etc plus a folded bike onto trains, coaches etc.

[Oscar's dad]

There are some complete nutters out there - thankfully!  Good luck to them all.

We were out last night on one of our regular mid-week rides.  Tomsk turned up on his Ridgeback folder complete with racks front and back.  On Saturday he's taking it up north for a week's touring.