Originally Posted by
saddlesores
you're going light enough you don't need panniers.
save the weight of the heavy bags and rear rack by
doing the bikepacking thing. that would also solve
your potential short chainstay problem.
you could also try adding a lowrider to the front,
(would you need a steel fork?) with a set of
small panniers. weight up front is not for
everyone, you'll need to try it and see.
Thanks, saddlesores. I've been looking for carbon forks with low rider mounts and have found a couple. Niner makes one for its RLT (gravel/adventure bike), and Co-Motion makes one for its touring tandems called the, I think, T390. I think both of these can be bought separately, although I'm not sure of the price. The Specialized Diverge also comes with a carbon fork with rack mounts, but I doubt Specialized would sell the fork separately. Anyway, I think that sort of carbon fork together with a titanium frame would be an awesome lightweight touring set up.