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Old 04-30-17 | 06:22 AM
  #15  
Tourist in MSN
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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.

Originally Posted by gauvins
Good point indeed. As we are moving to a front-panniers-only approach, I was in a state of mind where I envisioned balancing a framed backpack on a narrow platform. But you are totally right -- sideways over rear panniers makes sense.
I met a couple people in Iceland last summer that had been backpacking and bought some inexpensive folding bikes to continue their trip. They planned to just strap a big backpack on the back. I thought it looked hilarious, had to take a few photos. I gave one of them a strap that I was not using since they clearly had problems getting their packs to stay exactly where they wanted them. I have no idea if they rode their bikes out of the campground later that way or not, and if so I have no idea how they did. But it certainly looked unstable to me.

When I want to check a load on a bike, I stand to one side of the bike, grasp the saddle with one hand, the stem with the other hand, and robustly shake the bike from side to side to see how the load looks and to see if anything moves more than I want it to. If they had done that, I am sure their packs would have fallen off the bikes.
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