After struggling with maintaining my old MTB commuter, I finally decided to get a new Kona Dew for my daily mobility and short tours out of the city (20-30 km round trips).
As for my previous bike, I wanted to avoid carrying stuff on my back so I started to figure out which rack to install. As I'm pretty heavy (110 kg, I got a new bike also to ride more and lose weight), most of my weight load would go on the rear wheel, so to have a better weight distribution I decided to go for a front rack (which you can see in the 2nd picture). Everything looked nice, but when I took the first ride with it I discovered that the bike was difficult to steer, so I decided to return to my usual setup with a rear rack and a pannier bag. When I attached a new rear rack, I discovered that the back of the bike has become very heavy and feels now slower. While pedaling, my legs started to hurt because of fatigue and struggle, I don't remember that would happen on my old bike. Now I feel like I'm regretting buying a new bike rather than rebuilding my old Trek MTB.
How can I redistribute the weight in order to keep the agility and the stability of the bike? Or could it be that the rear rack itself is too heavy? I'll appeciate any suggestments and help. Thank you all very much!
by 3enit
5 Comments
Some people use panniers at the front, with a rack like the Tubus Tara.
I personally prefer panniers on the rear, but many enough seem to enjoy the front setup it might be worth experimenting with.
In theory the bike isn’t any heavier if you have the cargo in the back or in the front so you will need the same amount of force to move the bike forward. Other than some slight aeoro differences (which shouldn’t be noticeable in commuting speeds) you shouldn’t be any slower and the fatigue you feel should be the same with cargo on the front. The placement of your cargo will mainly change how the bike feels and handles, but not your actual speed. Like thin tires that feel faster because they are harder, but actually they are as fast as wider tires.
You should try to pedal at a lower gear and/or a little bit slower if you feel too fatigued.
I got very similar bike. Move seat max backwards, cut handelbar short and put in on short dropout, thus grip will move front and downwards. Now weight is 50/50 to front and back wheel. The speed and ease i got with this solution is unbelivable. Someone would call this oldschool XC setup
My weight distribution issue seems to be about 6 inches above the top tube
On a touring bike the vast majority of your weight is over the rear of the bike so balancing that is your first priority.
I toured offroad for a few years with just front panniers and a dry bag strapped to my rack. I tend to view front loading as better than rear loading, as getting out of the saddle is a lot harder than it should be with just a load on the rear.
If going with both rear and front I’d put the weight in the front and the bulk in the back.
Best thing you can do for handling is get weight as low as possible. That means water, tools and tent poles should all go in the bottom of the front triangle if possible. Low rider front rack achieves this and there are some rear racks with a secondary rail below the top to mount panniers lower as well.