Originally Posted by raybo

My first loaded touring was done in England where they have lots of short, steep hills. I only had rear racks and when I tried to pump really hard up my first steep hill, the front end lifted off the ground.

To fix this, I took as much heavy stuff (tools, etc) as out of my panniers that would fit into my handlebar bag, which created enough of a weight shift to keep the front end down.

So, I would recommend a bar bag of some sort for counterweight.

Ray