My new touring bike!

[Ambikes]

I find myself a bit leery about getting a front rack for my LHT, but that is likely just from my overall lack of riding experience. By the time I am actually ready to do any real touring with my touring bike, it shouldn't be an issue.

From what I've read, it's actually better to put some weight up front when you are touring with a heavy load. I guess it balances everything out or something. I don't have any personal experience with loaded touring yet, so I can't say for sure whether it's true or not.

[emily_in_nc]

From what I've read, it's actually better to put some weight up front when you are touring with a heavy load. I guess it balances everything out or something. I don't have any personal experience with loaded touring yet, so I can't say for sure whether it's true or not.

This is very true. In preparation for a long self-supported tour, DH and I did a two-day shakedown tour with our equipment. I had purchased a set of large rear panniers (Arkel), and filled them with the approximate weight of what I'd need to carry on the long tour. My bike handled really poorly b/c all that weight was on the back. I did have a front handlebar bag, but that wasn't enough to balance the back weight. There were times when I was going up climbs that my front wheel wanted to lift right off the road -- definitely unsettling! And there were other handling issues I don't really recall now (this was in 2004).

In any event, I sent back the large panniers and ordered two sets of smaller panniers, along with a front rack. This was a much, much better setup, though more expensive. In fact, the research I did after our shakedown indicated that if you are only going to use one set of panniers, they should be on the front (not huge ones, of course). I wish I still had the web page, b/c it showed all sorts of pannier configurations and made recommendations based on how much gear you needed to carry.

[anaphase]

That is a sweet bike. Enjoy it, and have fun on your tour!

We are going to start touring a bit this summer, so we're researching everything related to bags & racks. We already have bikes & most of the ultra-lightweight camping gear already, which makes it a lot more affordable.

[soprano]

From what I've read, it's actually better to put some weight up front when you are touring with a heavy load.

My experience with my Surly LHT has been that rear load + handlebar bag = super twitchy bike. Transferring some of that weight to a low front rack completely transformed the bike handling; the bike feels like it's on rails, it's so stable.

I have a Tubus Tara front rack, but if I were doing it over again I think that I would look at racks with a platform for a handlebar bag. I love having the handlebar bag for long rides, because it keeps my map near my face and snack food close at hand, but it also interferes with my headlight mount. I'm planning a long tour this summer, and I've really gotta get this resolved.

[Ambikes]

This whole summer has been a combination of good and bad times for me, which is why I haven't updated any of my posts in so long. I finally feel like I'm in a place to get back to posting in a public forum though.

So, my Sherpa arrived in May, but I didn't get to use him much until the middle of June because I was training for and recovering from a marathon at the time. I put in some base miles (not enough!) between then and the first week of August to prep for a 4 day tour in the Canadian Rockies. We cycled from Jasper to Canmore, which was a fantastic trip. I felt like I didn't train enough because I was having some health issues leading up to the trip, but I think that no amount of cycling in the prairies will prepare you for cycling up and down mountain passes anyway I was super thankful for my granny gear and good brake pads!

I ended up going with Ortlieb panniers all around, an Ortlieb handlebar bag, Tubus racks, and Planet Bike fenders to complete my ride. I *think* I attached a pic of me riding during our tour below. At this point, I had already ditched the front panniers because I wasn't feeling well enough to drag that much weight up the mountains.

[Ambikes]

YIKES! That photo is huge, but I'm not sure how to fix it. Does anyone know?

[divingbiker]

Did you post a trip report on your Canadian Rockies tour? I'd love to read it since that's on my list of must-do rides.

[Ambikes]

No trip report yet, and I'm not sure if I'll ever have time to write one. It's a great tour, though. There are so many options. You can do hostels/hotels or camp. You do have to bring some food, but there were quite a few places we could have stopped along the way if we wanted. Plus, the views are just as great as everyone says they are. We saw lots of wildlife (including grizzly bears ) too.

Compared to what I normally ride (prairie), there was some serious climbing. I didn't feel like any of the trip reports I read were all that accurate in regards to difficultly, but that could just be my lack of experience showing. Personally, I would not plan to do much more than the 50ish miles a day that we did. I think you get to enjoy the route more that way, anyway.