eridout

Lots of photos of people's touring bikes show bulk of the cargo on front wheel panniers. I had expected that most people would have thought that for best stability, the main weight should be on the rear. What are the pros and cons of front-loading?

fietsbob

I have several folding bikes and they all ride better with a load on the front, they are also low/short trail ..

My Touring , before, has been with 4 panniers, but now I have a Bike Trailer for the folding bike. no rear rack..




NB; Your Weight is already mostly on the rear wheel.




..

jefnvk

When I ran with four panniers, I put the light but bulky stuff in the back (clothes, bread, etc), and the heavy but compact stuff up front (tools, cooking, canned goods). I justified it with my massive self sitting mainly on the back already, seemed to ride well.

skimaxpower

Lowrider front racks are great!
- The low center of gravity helps the bike "track" very well.
- Bikes already have the majority of their weight over the rear wheel, putting all your cargo back there increases chances of flat tire, wheel damage.
- Heavy loads mounted high up (handlebar bags, etc) only work well on forks with "low trail" geometry. Otherwise things can feel floppy. Lowrider racks are less impacted by frame geometry.

saddlesores

i try to keep the total load under 30 pounds. 5 in a handlebar bag, 20-25 in rear bags.
no camping/cooking gear. if on extended ride thru hot/dry/desolate area, will put extra
water (6-8L) on small front platform.

have been considering a couple anything cages to strap some gear to the fork. if not
that might look for sales on groovy trek fork bags and cages. just to try it out.

LeeG

try it and find out.
Stability is best with the weight low and between the wheels, like inside the frames triangle. Handling and responsiveness, the attributes that enable control of the bike and keep you from flying off the road or avoiding objects that will send you off your bike are more important than stability given that a bike is inherently unstable without a rider.
So weight that is attached to your hands is more under your control than weight out at the end of a lever you’re sitting on. There’s a limit how much weight you can put anywhere on the bike but everything being equal putting more weight further away from your control and further on the rear wheel does a few negative things. It puts the weight high and far from your levers of control and it loads a wheel that is weaker than the front. Imagine walking next to a bike with hands on the handle bars, now walk the bike with your hand on the saddle, doable but tricky. Then walk the bike with hand on rear rack. Not so good.
There’s a reason delivery bikes have large front baskets instead of large rear baskets, it works better controlling the bike in traffic.
So the issue isn’t front or back but what’s best for handling. Trucks handle better with a load on the rear wheels. Bikes handle better with a moderate load distributed between the wheels. Bikes that aren’t designed for heavy rear loads, regardless of all the brazeons mounts and rack availability, handle better with a pannier sized load close to the axis of the front fork and front axle. Putting the load high and forward of the front axle isn’t much better than high and far on the back rack.

tyrion

Some bikes handle better with a front load than with a back load. Most dedicated touring bikes work well with front load or back load, or both.

boomhauer

I like the idea of panniers in the front. I just don't like the aerodynamics.
I've tried two large water bottles on the forks and that seems pretty stable and the round shape of the bottles makes me imagine that I'm more aero.....but it's probably an illusion.

mstateglfr 

Is it any worse than bags in back? Whether a 3' wide block is in front of a rider or behind...its still there. Does drag really reduce due to being behind the rider?

mstateglfr 

Not really any cons to front bags. Typically front bags are smaller, but i use rear bags on my front rack so that isnt an issue.

Its bike dependent tjojgh because some geometry isnt well suited for weight on the fork. Typically though, touring bikes are stable and slower steering which means front bags are fine.

Just pack em evenly for weight distribution.

boomhauer

I've got one 1500 mile tour in a high wind environment with panniers on the front.....never again.

3speed

I pack as mentioned above - Compact heavy things on a front low rider, bulky light things on the rear. The bike handles Much better this way compared to a bunch of weight in the rear. Then you have a ton of weight up high, further from center of the bike, on a rack that’s less directly connected to the bike and therefore flexes more. You can definately feel the rear of the bike swaying around that way, and handling and front wheel traction is worse. When you consider then that all of your weight, plus your gear weight is all on the rear tire and very little on the front, it’s a recipe for disaster in my mind. I know when pushing my bike with the heavy load in the rear, the front wheel will have poor traction and try to slide out sometimes. I certainly don’t want that happening when I’m riding the bike and go over some sand along the road while turning. Everything is just much better, in all aspects, with the weight on the front steering axis and down low. I always stare confused when I occasionally see a pic posted here with a mountain of stuff on the rear, sometimes not even having front bags. Those bikes must handle Terribly, and the rear end sway around like crazy when climbing or pushing hard. I’ve heard this termed “the tail wagging the dog.” It sounds like a perfect description.

fietsbob

Going somewhere else? Summer on the US north pacific coast, the same high pressure cell

that makes it warmer and usually sunny , rotates clockwise off shore, providing tailwinds,

for those traveling north to south on US 101, with the ocean views to your right, so pulling off and viewing

is on your side of the road.

eridout

Thanks all, very helpful info for this newbie!

fantom1 

Pros: More evenly distributed weight means better tire wear and less flats.

Cons: More difficult handling, especially when stopped, at slower speeds, or a mean x wind.


People talking about "aero" on a touring bike? What is the world coming to?

CreakingCrank

I've found high/low loading affects handling more than front/rear ... but that's me on my bike. YMMV

nickw

+1, I've always agreed with this. I hear the aero argument a lot for front vs rear. I think it LOOKS less aero because you can see it...but can't imagine how the physics would impact it for better or worse.

3speed

It makes some sense to me that rear bags are slightly more aero than front. At least with rear they're tucked behind your legs, which are already a wind block anyway. Then that air can flow over the bags. With front, your adding another layer of wind block which isn't otherwise there.

J.Higgins 

I have two questions.

1 - Do you use lowriders with your rear bags on the front?

2 - Would you ever configure your bike with rear bags on front and front bags on the rear? Strangely, it makes sense to me.

reppans

FWIW, here's a 'test' of aerodynamics on front vs rear pannier placement using a power meter... the difference was immaterial.

https://www.cyclingabout.com/speed-d...sting-results/

The best handling pannier I've personally tried was front and frame mounted, which doesn't impact slow speed steering... but as indicated in the 2nd post, you kind of need folder for that .

mstateglfr 

My front rack has 2 mounting heights so the bags can be placed low or higher. Ive run em both ways, but typically set them higher because i dont notice a difference.

I haven't tried the front bags on the rear setup. I typically only venture out in nice temp weather, so packing can be lighter and less than needing 4 bags. I use 2 bags on the front and a compressible dry bag on the top of the rear rack.

indyfabz

Can't see me ever switching rear and front bags when using four bags. I put the heavier/denser stuff like my "kitchen", Road Morph G, mattress, food (if I have to carry any) and Kindle in the front bags to keep the weight off the back. Very little other than clothes, sleeping bag, AAA battery charger (if I take it) and a few charging cords in the rear bags. Tent and tarp go on the rear rack. Since the rear bags are larger, putting them up front would seem to create more wind resistance.

J.Higgins 

Thanks! I was also considering the drybag on the rear rack ploy.

Rob_E

I started out with four, large panniers. I tried to put the heaviest stuff on the front for a couple of reasons. One, which has been noted, most of my weight is on the rear, so any attempt to balance the load of my bicycle has to account for the fact that it starts out rear-heavy before you even add any gear. Of course bikes are made with this in mind, so maybe it's just that I weigh more than the average cyclist. At any rate, to balance the load best, it made more sense to put heavier gear up front. The other issue is that when putting most of the weight on the rear, when going up hills, the front wheel did not want to stay planted. Putting weight up front kept the front wheel on the ground. Eventually I whittled my gear down to the point where I only had two panniers, two large, rear panniers, and a few miscellaneous items. I found I still preferred to have the two panniers on the front. Then I switched to a bike that was a little more off-road/bikepacking-friendly, and I decided to forego the front rack. I still try to distribute the weight, though, by using a handlebar roll on the front, a frame bag, and sometimes some Anything cages on the fork. That generally takes care of my camping gear, cooking gear, and tools. All that's left for the rear of the bike is clothing, although I still carry some bonus items back there like a camp chair or a cooler.

hermanchauw

I have tried all sorts of combinations, chronologically (and also from the simplest setup to the most specialized setup):

1. Rear platform rack:
Cheap and easily available, easily adjustable. Simple.
Can carry bulky things easily. Long items best carried longitudinally.
Quick steering. Light steering on climbs.
A bit higher drag on climbs.

2. Rear platform + frame mounted front rack:
As above, plus...
Front wheel wobble.

3. Rear pannier + front pannier:
More stable.
More thinking and adjustments required to fit.
Does not carry bulky stuff easily.

4. Front pannier (bigger than the previous setup):
Heavy front racks are expensive.
Load is stable but handling stays nimble.
Long items best carried vertically.

Overall, front rack need more thinking and adjustment to fit due to the central hole top attachment which can interfere with rim brakes, bottom hole attachment may need specific forks with dropout eyelets and/or mid fork eyelets.