freebooter

I am looking into getting a folding bike for general use and for touring. One issue is how to add luggage to the front of the bike. Using a system that fixes to the bike frame like the Dahon truss looks appealing but not all bikes have this and the weight is very limited. Adding some sort of frame to the fork is possible on most bikes but will affect the steering. I know on full size touring bikes this can either be a good or bad affect depending on the bike and how the weight is distributed. I know that small wheel bikes are supposed to be twitchy so possibly weight on the front could help?

What I would like to hear is peoples experiences of adding front luggage and especcially if they have experience of both fork and frame mounted. I am not sure at the moment whether the facility to add a luggage truss is something I should be looking for or not.

thanks

pibach

No, the weight does not help against twitchyness. Wider (and heavier) tires instead do!
I do strap heavy load onto the main frame, in beween seat and steerer and legs. But can be quite cumbersome to not affect steering and leg movement.

jerrysimon

I am a BIG fan of front frame mounted luggage and its pretty much a requirement now on any new small wheeled bike I get.The Brompton and now Dahon/Tern systems are great. Both allow up to 10kg I think. I regularly carry 5kg plus on my Brompton and find it fine. Try mounting that weight on the steering and its a different story!





If you do a search there is a whole thread on front mounting luggage including some really clever ways of fitting it to bikes that do not have it fitted as standard.

Jerry

pacificcyclist

I have both.

My Dahon Mu SL has a front rack while my Speed Duo has the Dahon Luggage Truss and I prefer the front rack on the my Mu SL for a number of reasons.

You can hold and carry heavier loads on the front fork compared to the luggage truss. It WILL IMPROVE your steering stability by removing the twitchiness if you only had the bag on the truss. Going down a steep hill fast like past 40km/h or 50km/h plus crosswinds become less scary as it will not be as scary as opposed with loads on the luggage truss which vibrates like you wouldn't believe due to the gyroscopic effect (much more so on 20" wheels than 700c). This gyro effect effects my 700c Masi touring bike too, but to a lesser extent. Having front panniers HELP mitigate this. Aerodynamic wise; front panniers and front bag are very similar, though panniers I think are better performers due to their lower placements. The downside to front panniers is that, when it rains the bags get soaked much more than a front bag on the truss because of its relatively closeness to the pavement, so I would highly recommend getting a pair of Ortlieb front classics which is what I use with my Mu SL while touring.

Hope this helps.

fietsbob

I find the opposite .. low trail and front loads are a good combination.

I use the Brompton's head tube frame mounted touring bag .
and 2 Ortlieb sport packers on the fork mounted pannier rack in my Bike Friday .

Classic Porteur bikes were low trail ..

jur

Smallwheelers ingeneral are more responsive, but you get used to that in 5minutes of riding and from there on it won't bother you at all. In fact after getting uswd to ot and riding a bigwheeler again, you will probably hate that clumsy feeling.

Bottom line, mount the luggage in whatever way you want, but not for spurious reasons of so-called twitchiness. :-)

alhedges

I have a Brompton with a frame mount bag and a Bike Friday with the fork mounted low riders. Both are very stable. For non-touring uses, the Brompton's system is more convenient because it's faster to take the front bag off and go in a store and the bag has a strap and is generally designed for that use. On the other hand, the front panniers on the BF can hold more weight (although I don't think I put 20 lbs in them, or close to that).

But I only use my front panniers on the BF when touring; for commuting and shopping I have a basket zip-tied to my rear rack (which comes off when touring and is replaced by panniers).

pacificcyclist

The luggage truss idea wasn't meant for loaded touring purposes; it's meant only for convenience and loading small and medium sized bags. The attachment point has a higher center of gravity compared to front panniers which does not necessarily promote better stability and the attachment load factor on the luggage truss is limited to around 10lbs. My experience has been to be lesser as it puts a huge stress point especially travelling in rough and tumbling roads. At the end of the day, it all comes down to time on the bike and how much effort your muscles need to work on to stabilize the bike. Jan Heine once made a very good point and that is, the reason we ride touring bikes is because we want the bike do all the work to stabilize the load so most of your muscle groups are put towards moving the bike; guess what -- "forward". Why would you want to use extra muscles and work and energy to tour to try and stabilize the bike at the same time as moving it forward in the name of trying to prove something to someone is beyond me. Save the energy and use that to propel the bike forward. You'll have enough challenges on the tour to fight hills, cross winds and insane head winds. Why not utilize all the benefits of the bike and the techniques to stabilize it by itself so you can enjoy touring, especially when you're covering 50-100 miles/day day in and day out?

Made sense for me on the Dahon Mu SL.

fietsbob

Brompton touring hint, toe strap through bag support rack, handle, to the handlebar mast,
supports some of the load , levering on the mounting block ..

freebooter

Thanks for the replies. It sounds as if carrying weight on the forks/steering should be ok for what I want to do and hence when looking for bikes a frame luggage block is nice to have for the option but not a 'must have' feature.