I just ordered a front rack and some panniers. I've been using a rear rack/panniers for the past five years and this past winter I finally bought my BOB trailer. I plan to remove the rear panniers, use the front panniers and pull the trailer when needed. Is anyone else using such a setup? How does the bike handle with only weight on the front?

My Bike Friday Pocket Llama only has the front rack its actually better with a Balanced R=L front Load.

I came to prefer 2 wheel trailers and shed my BoB trailer . Have a Burly (worker-owner Co-Op era) Flat bed (406 wheels all around)

I also got a Carry Freedom-City For My Brompton , It folds Too..


Back pack straps on the trailer Bag will help you wear the trailer when you cannot ride over stuff

wash outs and stairways to climb.. .

Front panniers are great if they're on a lowrider rack, but...

If you can't fit all your gear in your BOB trailer, you should simply bring less gear.

+1 Unless you have a very specialized & specific reason to carry that much gear, I'd re-think.

NOW this guy did:

I disagree with the above two opinions. Carry the volume that you would normally carry in rear panniers in the BOB. Don't bring extra just because you can. Use front panniers to balance the load fore and aft on the bike just as you would if using rear panniers. All the weight in the back is an *** load. Front panniers also make for easy access to items you need during the day such as weather gear and snacks. And yes, the bike handles fine with just the front bags alone. You can eliminate the high and heavy handlebar bag...

I have done it but with an Extrawheel Voyager trailer. I actually went with front panniers to help balance the bike and to provide some weght to keep the front end down a bit more on the single track. My previous trailer was a BOB but I rode with that without front panniers. That experience lead to the fitting of the front rack.



Andrew

I used a 2-wheel burley trailer with front panniers several times, none of which were on tour. I briefly did a mobile bike shop operation where I carried tools and a repair stand in the trailer, and miscellaneous stuff in the panniers. And I also carried most of what I needed for college about 60 miles in the trailer and two panniers. The original plan was trailer + 4 panniers, but I turned out not to need that much space, and using front instead of rear panniers did improve the bike's handling. If you have a good reason for carrying a lot of gear, the trailer+front panniers is a good option.

i've done bob+front+rear, bob+front only, bob+rear only, front+rear, and just a bob.

they all work fine. comes down to personal preference.

YEA. Göran Kropp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia What a Guy !


For his 1996 ascent, Kropp left Stockholm on October 16, 1995, on a specially-designed bicycle with 108 kg (240 lb) of gear and food. He traveled 8,000 miles on the bicycle and arrived at Everest Base Camp in April 1996. Following a meeting of all of the Everest expeditions on the mountain at the time, it was agreed that Kropp would attempt to summit first. On May 3, Kropp climbed through thigh-deep snow and reached a point 300 feet from the summit. However, he decided to turn around because it was too late in the day and if he continued, he would be descending in the dark. While Kropp recovered from the ordeal at base camp, the 1996 Everest Disaster unfolded. He helped bring medicine up the mountain. Three weeks later, on May 23, he again tackled the mountain, this time successfully summitting without extra oxygen support. He then cycled part of the way back home.[SUP][2][/SUP] He returned to Everest in 1999 with his girlfriend Renata Chlumska to undertake a cleanup, during which they removed 25 discarded canisters from the mountain. They also successfully summited together.

BobG dropped me climbing the west slope of Kangamagus while he was pulling a B.O.B. and carrying front panniers, and I was in good shape.

Do you plan to use the BoB and the front panniers at the same time? The BoB carries a lot of gear itself. As was said already, unless you have some special reason to carry a lot of gear it should be more than adequate for most touring. I can't imagine needing more capacity than a BoB for normal touring.

That said, if you want/need to carry that much... Front panniers with only a ~3 pound tent on the back rack have worked well for me on at least one long-ish tour, so I would think they would be fine with the BoB on the back as well.

Nice looking setup. I know of a few options for front rack on a suspension fork but I can't tell from the photo how you did it. Which front rack is that, an Old Man Mountain?

My current "try this" confirms this exactly. My bike gets light in the front with a lot of weight in the trailer. I could put a 2ltr drink up front (in a Wald basket) and it was a lot better. Two drinks up high, like a handlebar bag, was dangerous. I do realize this is a lot more weight than what would normally go in a bar bag and am making no suggestion that they are a hazard--I'm not THAT stupid.

I was thinking about getting the weight lower (lower CG is usually a good thing). I got a low-rider rack and a pair of small (20ltr) bags. With a full 2ltr bottle in each bag (no trailer) the bike did great. I decided to press my luck and go to double the load. I got two 2ltr drinks and a half gallon a vinegar at the pharmacy. I got outside and realized the drinks were approx. double the weight of the vinegar. Ok, good test---I can put one drink on the rear rack if there's any trouble in the parking lot. No worries. The bike did great on the way home. The offset right/left load didn't give any problems. Total was 15 3/4lbs--liquid and bags. (Below mfg. rack limit.)

The rack is a Tubus Swing. Not sure if they are still available.



More photos of the install in my Google+ album.

Andrew

I met a gal at a campground last summer that had that rack, it had been repaired a few times (she had about 100,000 km of touring on her bike, everything had been repaired a few times) but she said the rack was great - but it was discontinued and no longer available. The photo is of her getting ready to load up her bike in the morning.


I am doing a trip this summer where I will put a suspension fork on one of my bikes, thus my interest in this topic. But I suspect I will just do it without front panniers. I bought some bigger rear panniers and a frame bag so I think I have the solution figured out.

I commute on my Tourist, so I need something to haul the basics (lunch, rain gear, etc). The BOB I intend to use for grocery runs and obviously bike trips. I just wanna be able to hook up and go.

I have found that for me the BoB to makes a lot more sense for grocery runs and other errands around town and less sense for actual touring. Obviously YMMV.

There are workarounds for putting the Pannier supports On the suspension Fork , lower end .

but not like that , where the fork suspension was un weighted by the panniers..


I think the main issue was There are So Many different suspension fork crowns Made, ... They had no chance to make It Fit universally..