Sloshy bottles though, not just static weight.
Diffferent people like different distributions. When Nick Sanders cycled round the world he used front panniers and no other luggage. (Mainly so that his luggage was always in his eyeline.)
Good point. Tho the free surface effect on something with an area of 0.0043m³ isn't going to be that massive is it?
With 3 identical bottles, one on the stem cell (current location), I was thinking, drink that, when empty, swap with one on the fork, repeat. Which would limit free surface effect, but would maximise imbalance...
If the bottles are full, there shouldn't be much sloshage.
Are we talking 2kg in total – presumably 2 bottles of 1 litre each – or 2kg to each fork – say a large PET bottle on each side? (Not that I think the answer will make a huge difference TBH).
2 x 1kg bottles. Was my thinking. If I'm more than 3L away from a water source, I've made one hell of a navigational mistake... or I've been an idiot and entered RttR...
I used the Many Thing Cages on my forks when I rode Bikepacking Trans Germany in July. I was carrying bivvying things on the forks, so perhaps 500g on each. I can't really say I noticed any difference with this setup, definitely I had no issues either when riding or when navigating any of the frequent hike-a-bike sections.
Worth noting is that the top bikepacking riders don't tend to use forks for carrying things as it is less efficient aerodynamically. For the speeds that I ride and the nature of my bikepacking routes (hilly and technical), this is not a real concern for me. It might be more of a factor for you, especially when exposed on the road. But 2 bottles will be more aero than the larger bags I was carrying.
Yeah. Except most top bike packers don't tend to need such a small frame as me. My thinking of mounting the bottles so they are set back behind the fork, rather than to the sides of the fork, was to minimise aero penalty.
IIRC your bike is a MTB frame which has a very high BB and a low top tube, so you can't fit normal frame bottles. That might be a good place to start.
I've read this multiple times, and I still can't parse what you're trying to suggest here.
Are you suggesting I should be getting a different frame?
BB drop is 73mm, which is the same as the croix de fer, and 1mm lower than the datum...
The top tube is quite low, making for a small frame triangle. I can't actually fit 2 bottles in there even if I removed the frame bag. And there isn't enough space between the seat post and the top tube to fit a bottle in here, even if I could find a suitable way to fit a bottle cage here. I did consider it. I also considered the amount of stand over height I have, and amount of space between top tube bag and front of saddle. With feet on the ground, top tube bag touches crotch, saddle pokes me in the bum. Not sure there's space for a bottle...
On this years TCR I had a couple of the soft water bottles (pouches like platypus things), which I just bungeed to the aero bars. It kinda worked, but I only had 2.4l in total.