I just finished my first loaded ride with my (nearly) new Pocket Llama and the luggage system that I worked out. Had a good time, managed some nice pics, and gave her a real workout. I have to say the Llama passed her test
. The luggage did okay, but wasn`t really up to this kind of riding.
For the luggage, I was inspired by the Path Less Pedalled folks and the Moulton flat racks- taking advantage of those low profile wheels sure seems like a good idea to me. My front rack is a foldable version of the little front platform I`ve had on my non folding beast of a Schwinn for several years and have grown to love. I clip a repurposed camera bag (thrift shop find) to the goal posts on that rack.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...front-platform
For the rear, I built a folding platform similar to the BF folding rear racks except lower and not really useable with panniers, since I intend to use only the flat on top. The shorter legs are inherintly stiffer than long legs, and skipping the lower pannier hooks also lets me fold this rack down a bit flatter than GG`s version.
On the fork, I just went with the standard Friday disassembleable pannier rack. I see no way to really improve on their design, so might as well let them have my buck and save myself a lot of hours.
I ened up with a lot of pics on Photobucket so won`t bother uploading them again here. The first two legs were mostly dirt or gravel:
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t...nio/?start=all
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t...ach/?start=all
And the last leg was almost entirely paved:
http://s161.photobucket.com/albums/t...eno/?start=all