I'm 150 pounds. My spokes go three rims on that winter fixie. Probably 12,000 miles. To me, that's OK. (I do build my own and figured out years ago that building shoddy wheels was a waste of time.)

Ben

I lived near Blue Hill. That route took me through Reedsdale and close to home. Got to ride Turtle Pond Parkway which was no hardship at all.

Ben

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kTxj0_pBxY&t=1m00s

Dave Moulton's Blog - Dave Moulton's Bike Blog - Climbing out of the*saddle

Standing ? pulling and pushing with the upper body | Cyclist strength training: developing strength out of the saddle

My technique is not causing problems with my balance.

I try not to rock. I have no expertise as to why I do not.

But I do know that if I rock when I have my son on the back it is a dangerous combination. His seat is attached only to the seat tube and therefore it amplifies the pendulum effect making it difficult to ride.

But if I have just panniers I will just rock a little, I want to mitigate any potential for problems.

I fear the forces on the bike when rocking with a load will damage something.

Rocking either the bike or the torso is necessary in order to put your full weight into a pedal stroke when riding out of the saddle. If neither you nor the bike is rocking then you're negating the benefits of riding out of the saddle. At least this is my understanding from reading numerous cycling blogs, mags and watching youtube vids.


I'm beginning to suspect that the issue is with the quality of my pannier - it's possible that it doesn't maintain its lateral stiffness well under load. Of course I can't possibly visually observe this while riding!

You could try the Axiom Streamliner rack. It has a very narrow top section, thus holding the pannier not vertical but leaned inward towards the top of the tire. Think / \, vice l l. I carry 15-20 lbs in my single bag all the time, never really notice that its there until I have to carry the bike up stairs. I also put the bag on the side I mount/dismount from (non drive-side), if that makes any difference.

That rack also puts the bag further back than most racks, something that those of us with big feet and short chainstays can appreciate. That said, its not perfect. Some people dont like the weight that far back, and the rack itself is useless for trunk bags, since the top is so narrow.

I have a theory that some people could enjoy cycling much more if they paid less attention to advice from every Internet expert, blog, and/or soothsayer posted on the Internet about the quest for the ultimate this, or the most efficient that. Especially if the advice given is based on racing/competition cycling and is being applied willy-nilly to commuting or daily transportation bicycling. Just a theory though.

It's one of those things, rocking on a bike, that may have some theoretical benefits, but if it's making it harder to balance the bike with a pannier you're probably cancelling out any perceived benefit from this practice. It's a can't have your cake and eat it too scenario. You're trying to ride your bike like a roadie, except your trying to do it using commuter equipment. Recipe for failure.

Last time I rocked my bike like that was when I was a kid on my bmx. I've never found it translates well to a larger bike, load or no load.

+1 to all the above.

People stand to pedal? Only on the mt bike for me. My one pannier causes no issues. Unless it is over loaded with beer.

+1

Or vice versa, 'you can't commute on a road bike!'. Admittedly, my road bike is on the cheap side of things, but I commute on it just fine, for several thousand miles now...

Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

"Oh, but I don't want the drag of a dynamo or IGH!" Using some online calculators, working backwards from my average speed, I commute at ~170 watts. Let's say a dynamo takes 9w, and the IGH 8%(Based on some quick googling of drag for each). So on a perfect derailleur drivetrain, at 170 watts, I go 16.7 mph. Taking away 8% and then 9w, I'd be going 15.8. OMG! Almost a whole mile per hour!

For my 15 mile commute, the time difference, is, wait for it...53.9 minutes vs 56.9. So...3 minutes.

I selected 'tops' as my position in the calculator initially In the drops, I'm calculated to go 18.8/17.8 mph. For 47.9/50.6 minutes.

My personal philosophy is that for recreational/training rides-if the efficiency/speed difference is less than the variance between changing position or direction(wind), I don't care. Let's make a decision based on other factors than speed/efficiency.

Admittedly, I'm going to dabble with TTs and Tri's next year. I'll probably be finicky and picky and worrisome about details then. But commuting/fun rides? Stop worrying. Put a leg over the top tube and start pedaling.

There is an easy way to fix that problem. I'll even give you hand with it. :roflmao2:

Intentionally rocking the bike sounds like an awful waste of energy - energy that should be used to go forward instead of sideways and trying to keep from falling over.

I watched the youtube video pasted by yankeefan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kTxj0_pBxY&t=1m00s

It doesn't look as if the rocking motion was really intentional, just part of the movement like swinging your arms when walking comfortably. You don't intentionally swing your arms to go forward it's part of keeping balance.

So when I'm climbing and standing on my pedals, yes the bike does rock a little but it's not because I'm forcing it. It's because I'm using my legs to push down on that side of the bike it does make climbing a bit faster. But it's inefficient so minimize the side to side motion, I lean as forward as I can over the handlbars. When I push with my legs, I'm actually pushing a bit backwards - more inline with the plane of the bike.

Following that line of reasoning, we should shut down this forum given it's vast abundance of pseudo-experts and soothsayers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeking out advice from more experienced cyclists -- in fact that's why we're all [posting] here! Some of us do more with our bike than just hauling our a** to back and forth to work. I actually do agree that a lot of the advice given by pros are of little value to a non-competitive rider (e.g. get a carbon handlebar instead of alloy because its 0.001g lighter and reduces your drag by 0.001%). However something as basic as how to get more power from your pedal stroke is relevant to anybody who rides their bike for more than 5 miles regularly, especially when the advice doesn't cost anything to implement. Even more so if you do recreational riding or sportives.

Thanks everybody for your feedback. I didn't realize that standing to pedal was so controversial around here (or is it just rocking the bike while standing that is so outrageous?). I've been doing it for months with two loaded panniers (and occasionally a backpack) with no problems, its only recently since I began riding with a single pannier that I've felt a bit off and wanted to know if this was common. Apparently it isn't. Maybe it's my pannier, or maybe its just mental. I'll look into it further.

If anybody apart from me still cares, I found out the cause of my balance issue! The frame mount for my U Lock broke around the same time I began riding with a single pannier so I usually toss my U lock in the pannier. Turns out that my U lock moves around a fair bit during my ride (especially out of the saddle) and the movement in weight was affecting my balance. A simple fix of securely tying my U lock to the top of my rack using a piece of rope and my balance issues were solved :thumb:

Nice! Some hysteresis with a shifting load could definitely mess with your balance. :thumb:

I rode for the first time last night with a pannier -- with my heavy Kryptonite chain, purse and a couple other items. I think it was a little more squirrely on the road, but I think that may have had more to do with the fact that I had takeout food for three people in my front basket. Mostly I was surprised at how little I noticed the one-sided weight differential.

Agreed. I often carry 25 lbs in my solo rear leftside pannier, and only notice the eccentricity when making quick maneuvers.

[MENTION=138487]chaadster[/MENTION], I've noticed your bike pic in a couple threads, and never get tired of looking at it. There must be traffic slowdowns on your route from the rubber-necking!

Yeah, it's a little loud, and since I grabbed some vintage Control Tech Control Stix in red about a year ago-- yeah, the pic is a couple of years old-- it's even a little more, um, "caleidescope of colors"! Thanks for the compliment!

I find loading the front easier to deal with. My standard setup is a single front pannier. Works great.

Ann Arbor can handle it