Thread: Touring With Front Panniers Only
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Old 08-03-12 | 07:43 AM
  #6  
oscillation
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Originally Posted by andrewclaus
Try riding in a stiff crosswind before making your final decision. I met a guy who was ditching his front panniers in Montana because of a perceived handling issue.
Awesome ... thanks. I had not thought about potential crosswind issues and I'll definately be keeping it in mind.

I cannot admit to even having toured with front panniers before. My setup has always been a couple panniers on the rear and a granny basket up front. I understand why some would think of the granny basket as clumsy version of a handlebar bag, but I've come to like it because it's an easy to use catch-all for a variety of lightweight trinkets and poofy things. I doubt the basket ever weighs in at over 3 to 5 pounds when full. It's up high -- perhaps unfavorably high -- and I'm sure that doesn't help with the crosswinds, headwinds, or even tailwinds. I'm sort of left wondering if any of the issues that my basket might have with the winds could be mitigated by adding the front panniers (a totally different topic, in any event).

Another issue caused by my front-pannier only approach would be teaching myself to be patient enough to fasten a strap from the wheel to the frame every time I'm stopped in order to prevent the inevitable 'flop' that would occur were it without.
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