Quote Originally Posted by DebW View Post
Peter and I talked about that at length. In his experience, front panniers make the bike less stable and make cornering more awkward. In my experience, they make it more stable and improve cornering (vs a load on the rear only).
I totally agree! My DH and I did a two-day "shakedown" tour in preparation for a longer credit-card tour on our Bike Fridays back in 2004. I used only rear panniers on the shakedown tour, and the bike handled poorly. I decided to put a front rack and front panniers on for the nine-day tour, and I got smaller panniers for the rear so that my load was very well balanced between front and rear, and like you, I didn't carry that much of a load overall -- I'd say I was carrying about 20 lbs in all four panniers (total) + the weight of panniers, racks, and a front bag, so maybe 30 lbs. total extra weight on my bike. It handled beautifully! Sure, it was a little slower to get up to speed, but other than that, I never even knew I had the panniers on it. I definitely disagree with Peter on this one. In fact, in the bike touring research I did before our tour, I read many experienced tourists who said that if they only took two panniers, it would be the front two, and none on the rear at all!

Stick to your guns for sure!

Emily