Originally Posted by
cyccommute
You...like a lot of people...are misunderstanding how you should load the bike for optimal handling. Bicycling magazine (back when they were actually useful
) did a test in the early 80s when the Blackburn lowrider came out. They demonstrated that carrying
more load over the front wheel improved the way the bike handles the touring load. Going to a 60% low front load/40% high rear load made the bike the most stable and easiest to handle...
i understand that if i am "misunderstanding" how i "should" do it, the implication is i'm doing it wrong.
Originally Posted by
cyccommute
The load was not "atypical" for the era. A "light weight" tent of the era was 7 lbs to 9 lbs. A lightweight sleeping bag was 5 to 7. Stoves were not that light nor was cookware. An 80 lb load might be on the high end but not by much.
No one, as far as I can tell, has ever said that you "must" use a 60/40 front/rear split. It's a suggestion and there is nothing "biblical" nor prophetic about it. I'll see if I can find the article but I did read it in the late 80s in Bicycling magazine and the concept has been field tested by not just me but many people and we find it to be a useful method.
If you don't want to use it, that's fine. No skin off my nose. But at least try it for more than a parking lot ride before you go denigrating method and the people who use it. Most of us have tried the overloaded rear panniers and find this way to be much better.
not that it matters, but i've done a tad bit more than parking lot test rides:
front bags + hbar bag
front bags + hbar bag + rear bags
front bags + hbar bag + carp on rack
front bags + hbar bag + rear bags + trailer
front bags + hbar bag + trailer
front bags + hbar bag + carp on rack + trailer
rear bags + hbar bag
rear bags + hbar bag + carp on rack
hbar bag + trailer
.....and a few more configurations i've forgotten about.
i don't see anywhere in my post that i "denigrated" anyone who chooses this style.
i was pointing out that jim's method was not particularly scientific, something you
surely must agree with. handling, comfort, pleasure, enjoyment, stability are rather
subjective. jim used ONE rider, possibly (currently unknown) ONE bicycle, and ONE
abnormal load. i'm sure you can find someone who toured with an 80-pound load
(i did it!), but that's probably not the average or normal load for that era. you
yourself said it was on the high end.
the "fact" that one dude like it does not necessarily make it the best or optimum
method for anyone else.