Hello! I'm going on my first bike-packing trip, and did my first leg today of a 12 day trip.
I'm super excited, but my only issue is my bike is super heavy towards the back and feels unstable when I ride slowly.
Does anyone have tips to help me redistribute the weight to avoid this? I'm not opposed to going to a bike store to get any gear either.
by InflationUnhappy7438
11 Comments
too much weight too high on the rear rack. If it’s too late to get a front rack, I’d say move whatever is heaviest to the bottom of the panniers. I wonder if moving the sleeping bag to the handlebars may help, seems like almost no weight up front
Any way you can strap that sleeping bag to your handlebars with some ski straps? That looks like an easy way to move a few pounds forward.
You have flat bars and mid fork rack mounts so really you have a ton of options.
Simple bar roll to get something off the back. Or a front rack to get a lot off the back.
If you haven’t ridden with gear before the bike is going to feel unstable but you get used to it. That said, you have 100% of the weight behind the bars and 90% on the rear wheel.
Front rack or handlebar bag to get some weight up front.
Anything that is solid and heavy that can fit into the body bag would also help.
All your weight is behind the rear axle, creating that unstable feeling. Shifting the basket and panniers forward might help somewhat. Also keep the heaviest stuff low in the panniers, closest to the axle.
The panniers don’t look full. Maybe move as much as possible from the basket into the panniers, and as mentioned, heavy stuff in the bottom. Pack those bags full! That may lower the center of gravity some. Then, move the sleeping bag forward to the basket so the weight is centered more over the rear axle (and maybe ditch the basket altogether – strap/bungee the sleeping bag directly to the rack). If you can add a medium handlebar bag, that can also help bring some weight forward, too. This is why you should do a fully-loaded shake out ride at home before setting out.
Lots of good advice given already but I’ll just say that with load on the bike it’s never going to feel as nimble as a naked bike. You can improve it a little bit by redistributing it but part of it is adjusting your expectations. Good luck🤞 and wishing you a fun trip.
Setup looks unstable
Your weight is way too back heavy. you need to distribute it more towards the center. Your tires are also too narrow for this kind of load. If you have a bike that can accommodate wider tires that would be much better than what you are running here. I’d recommend getting a full frame bag and put most of the weight centered. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to cut out the non essentials as well you seem to be carrying a lot more than necessary. Moving your sleeping bag to your handle bars will help also distribute the bulk.
Don’t put the drive side on the bed! It’s not yours.