For road touring you want the bags low. My current tour bike has a shelf rack with lowriders installed on it.
Bruce Gordon has a good selection of racks. I put a fair amount of my weight in the front panniers when traveling fully loaded. And I have strapped stuff on the rack including my small one man tent. Blackburn used to make front mountain racks that would take a lowrider too. I have one and am not about to part with it. It is on my "expedition" bike
Aaron
