Touring - narrow vs. wide rear racks

Curious if anyone has come to an opinion regarding narrow vs. wide rear racks. I've been riding around, getting groceries with a CC with narrow Axiom Streamliner rear rack or LHT with wider Topeak rear rack. With bags bungied down so contents can't shift around I've been surprised how well the CC handles for out of the saddle sprinting with load. I'll switch the racks around to see if there's an appreciable change in handling for either bike.

Curious if anyone has come to an opinion regarding narrow vs. wide rear racks. I've been riding around, getting groceries with a CC with narrow Axiom Streamliner rear rack or LHT with wider Topeak rear rack. With bags bungied down so contents can't shift around I've been surprised how well the CC handles for out of the saddle sprinting with load. I'll switch the racks around to see if there's an appreciable change in handling for either bike.

I never gave rack width any thought. I'd be curious to hear what your findings are when you switch racks.

Mass centralization is really important to how a bike or motorcycle handle. For motorcycles, engineers try to keep the majority of the mass as central and low as possible. I would think it's better to have a rack like the Tubus Fly which gets narrower at the top and use a slim pannier with it.

I have a set of Robert Beckman Designs racks. The platforms on the both the front and rear racks (Yes. The front rack has a platform.) They are quite wide and long because they are designed to carry gear parallel to the bike, not perpendicualr to it. While I am no engineer, I look at it this way. If your tent has a diamter of X, for stability reasons I would rather have it secured to a rack that has a width closer to X than not. I have seen those Tubus racks. I carried a three-person tent on tour this summer. I cannot imagine where and how I would have attached that securely to such a narrow rack.

I have a Tubus Cargo rear rack. I bungee my sleeping bag and tent across it transversely. It works fine. I have a Jandd Extreme front rack. It's wide and has a platform. I haven't noticed a handling problem.

I think the centralization of mass principle is a lot more important for a motorcyclist than a touring bicyclist. The principle may hold up, but I'd guess the effects are trivial. But I'm no engineer.

One problem with a narrow rack is that you could have trouble using a rack-top bag. Also less storage on top for items such as tents and sleeping bags that won't fit in panniers.

One problem with a narrow rack is that you could have trouble using a rack-top bag. Also less storage on top for items such as tents and sleeping bags that won't fit in panniers.

This is definitely true. I have a Tubus Vega on my commuting bike and a Cargo on my touring bike. The Vega is difficult to mount a trunk bag to and have it fit right. The bag is a little floppy. I have to be careful about the bags I get for use with the Vega or they don't work quite right.

For touring, this might not be as much of a problem...for me at least...since my bag and tent are mounted perpendicular to the wheels.