How much do you think about and how important is weight distribution when you are touring? Is it even undesirable? What are your thoughts on weight distribution, its effects and importance?
Here's some of my observations and I'd be interested to hear of your thoughts and experiences.
It's not something I've considered much before but for my upcoming tour (
Touring Latin America ) I have made some assumptions in order to see if I could get a near 50/50 distribution for the total weight of the bicycle, rider and equipment, which I will reproduce here:
TOTAL: 110kg
- Bicycle - 14kg
- Rear Panniers including contents - 13.5kg
- Handlebar Bag including contents - 5kg
- Rider - 77.5kg
This is how I setup the bicycle earlier today for a test-run (which went well, the bicycle felt solid and stable) with a
front/rear weight distribution is: 42/68kg =
38/62% based on this:
- Assuming an average rider weight front/rear distribution of 40/60% the current rider weight spread is 31/46.5kg - riding position can change but this more-or-less fixed.
- Assuming the bicycle weight distribution is 40/60 the bicycle weight spread is 5.6/8.4kg - also fixed.
- Current equipment loading: 5/13.5kg -this can be adjusted!
If I move 10 kilos to the front-rack (its maximum capacity) and from the rear the weight distribution becomes 52/58 =
47/53% which is close enough to a 50/50 balance. (Switching panniers to my Ortlieb Back City Rollers which are 1kg lighter will bring this even closer - but I won't do that!)