Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 11,203
Bikes: 1961 Ideor, 1966 Perfekt 3 Speed AB Hub, 1994 Bridgestone MB-6, 2006 Airnimal Joey, 2009 Thorn Sherpa, 2013 Thorn Nomad MkII, 2015 VO Pass Hunter, 2017 Lynskey Backroad, 2017 Raleigh Gran Prix, 1980s Bianchi Mixte on a trainer. Others are now gone.
Mentioned: 48 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3459 Post(s)
It really depends on the bike.
And how far back the panniers are. You would want very little heel clearance with the panniers set as far forward as practical. Farther back and the bike would have a bad case of tail wagging the dog syndrome. A friend of mine uses a Titanium bike with rear panniers only, he found that the shimmy was reduced greatly by putting the panniers as far forward as possible.
Ortlieb hooks, I would trust them for that weight. But they might bend a bit, so you might lose the little inserts in them that are used to fit the hooks to different diameter tubing. I switched to using PVC tubing over my Tubus tubes, see photo.
If I recall correctly, you have a bikepacking setup. It might handle better if you use your under-saddle bag instead of a rack top trunk bag, as that would take the weight off the rack and move the weight further forward. Or use your frame bag instead of a rack top bag.
Regarding my comment that it would depend on the bike, my expedition bike has a very solid steel frame and it would easily handle twice the weight you are talking about on the rear without any problem. But my rando bike has a light weight steel frame and it would probably handle like a wet noodle at 20 kg on the rear rack.
Chain stay length will probably be a factor too. Shorter chainstays would put the added weight center of gravity well behind the hub.
Last edited by Tourist in MSN; 10-15-16 at 10:42 AM.