Originally Posted by
dvald001
I did some informal testing on my ride home today. My handlebar bag had about 12lbs of stuff total. At 7-9 mph I felt like the wheel flopped way too for me to leave my hands off the bars for too long. At 9-11it was much better. At 12 on up it straightened out pretty well and I wasn't worried at all. Could peel a banana at that point. Again, I only have 200 miles on the bike, and I'm sure there's experienced riders with a much stronger sense of balance than I currently have. But that's just my impressions as it stands right now. I need to test the same kind of riding with my Xcheck and see how that compares...
That's pretty consistent with my experience on my VO Rando. About 12 mph is the magic number for me with a loaded bag. Anything below that and I keep my hands on the wheel... er, bars.
On my Cross Check I remember needing about 15 mph with a loaded bag before I was comfortable riding no-hands. Even then, I had to keep an eye on it.
Of course riding no-hands with a front load isn't everything. The things I really appreciate about the VO Rando are the supple ride over rough roads, stability at high speeds, and nice predictable cornering. Overall, I think it's just a really nice handling bike. Predictable, solid, comfortable... the characteristics I want out of a long distance bike.