str

its fine... I rode them myself, and rode behind people riding them. seeing and feeling what they do )

Inpd

Well observed. It is a road frame and the chain stays do curve.

I sold the bike, it wouldn't have been a good touring bike anyway.

elizwlsn

I use the Jandd expedition rack as well. It's 15" as opposed to the 12" most are. You can see them at Jandd.com. Made well too.

LeeG

Short wheelbase bikes aren't optimum for pannier loads that sit behind the rear axle. If you need to carry a set of panniers worth of gear and more put the panniers in the front and the rest on the frame and on top of a rear rack.

antokelly

Trailer

LeeG

Most of the touring I did in the 70's and 80's was on steel "sport" bikes and road racing bikes. I just didn't carry more than about ten to fifteen lbs. distributed between top of rear rack and handlebars. The few longish trips I did was with small rear panniers, top rack load and a little bar bag.

Rear rack and panniers sticks in many folks mind as the optimum set up with additional front panniers if needed. That works fine for bikes with longish chainstays but the average road bike or cross bike that so happens to have rack and fender braze ons really wasn't meant to have a heavy load hanging off the rear axle. That doesn't mean you can't carry an adequate load it just means you distribute the weight forward. 15lbs on a lowrider with five lbs or so on top of the rear rack will be a lot better setup than 20 lbs sitting behind the rear axle.

What Raybo said is the starting point, what's the size of the load and go from there first. If you're thinking of road bikes but looking at carrying 30lbs you're setting yourself up for some conflicts. If you like a responsive light road bike then downsize your load to retain those characteristics. If you're carrying a suitcase worth of stuff then there's no way around it you're looking for a truck of a bike.

fietsbob

Extrawheel trailer to be specific https://www.bikeshophub.com/trailers...5egaAkkn8P8HAQ

Tourist in MSN

So, we are all spending our time helping you find a good rack for a bike that you have already sold?

Inpd

That wasn't my intention of course!

But a few of you mentioned that the seat and chain stays were too curved to be a good touring bike and others suggested that putting the load further back with special racks is not so good for handling/stability on a compact geometry (it has a shorter wheel base) so I put it on CL on a whim and 2 hours later it was sold!

But the good news is now I get to buy a new bike!

alan s 

Got it. Buy an LHT.

fietsbob

Or a Salsa Vaya Or a Trek 520 D


I live where people on tours pass thru start or end trips. They ride all sorts of Bikes .




./.

LeeG

To repeat, you can have a good touring bike of almost any configuration if it meets your needs. Like fietsbob says touring is what you do it's not a kind of bike. Touring isn't a particular rack and pannier configuration. The particular bike you showed had curved seat stays. That you couldn't put rear panniers on doesn't exclude it from touring. Start with your anticipated load then find a bike that fits and can carry that load well.

Tourist in MSN

This will make you a more educated buyer then. But, if you buy one with disc brakes, some disc brake bikes are not easy to fit rack to, so keep that in mind.

Yan 

I used a Jandd Expedition for years before it got run over by a car. It was a great rack that held up well through some very difficult roads and which survived a severe crash that bent the bike frame and ripped the hooks right off my pannier. The rack was slightly skew but kept working for years afterwards until finally run over.

Inpd

I've got to ask how does a rack get run over? Didn't the bike get run over as well?

Yan 

Yes. Entire bike got run over by car. Right hook. I fell free and was not injured. The collision was very low speed. Nevertheless the bike ended up under the wheel of the car. The driver's insurance company payed up and I used the money on a new bike.