Originally Posted by
Korina
The only time panniers throw the balance off is when I have only one and overload it. No problems otherwise.
Originally Posted by
Darth Lefty
A pannier on one side of the rear rack does change the balance but hardly enough to notice. You might notice you need to lean a little against it when hands-off peeling your breakfast banana.
For years, I'd bring dress shoes to work at the beginning of the week, leave them there for a few days, and take them home at the end of the week. Call it close to 15 years of commuting, with two panniers (one for clothes, coffee, and lunch, the other for shoes) somewhere between a quarter and a half of all commute rides. The only times I noticed the second pannier were the times I had a stiff (20 mph or better) headwind. The rest of the time, I never noticed how many bags I was carrying after I started rolling.