Originally Posted by
12boy
thanks Jur. just a couple more questions...I am pretty impressed with how much weight the Brompton can carry in the front with little adverse effect on handling.From what I've read, most with a Swift will use a rear rack or their ingenious seat post carrier. Kitted out with low riding panniers does the Swift do as well with an equivalent weight? I have enjoyed your blog about your touring adventures with your wife and can see you have huge experience with toting a load on a 20" inch bike, but you have not talked about such a trip on your Swifts, TI or aluminum. Would the Swift do as well as your other folders for this purpose?
I haven't any experience loading the Swift up. There have been others to load rear panniers... maybe in the giant Swift thread.
This Saturday I made 2 trips to the shops on my Brompton using the folding basket on the front. I loaded 2 dozen beers (probably in the vicinity of 10kg) but the trip back was a bit hairy. The folding basket would sway from side to side in a spring loaded way and this made the whole thing quite unstable. The more I tried to stabilize it the more it kept swaying, with the steering going in the opposite direction and maintaining the sway. I had to basically let go of the handlebars to get the oscillations to damp out.
I have seen similar things with most touring setups. The rigidity of the load carrying system is the primary factor in how stable the setup will be while riding. Another factor is if the load itself will move despite having stiff racks and so on.
So based on that experience, I would think the Swift would handle as well as any other bike (except the Moulton), assuming the load is nice and stable.
My Birdy was a bit like a wet noodle while on tour. The entire frame would twist and coupled with the front suspension, this tended to be not so stable.