Hi. I decided to convert my motobecane Ti phantom for camping and touring. I installed a Tubus cosmos rear rack and a Tubus swing suspension rack in the front. I have Super C rear, front and bar bags. I also installed a big riser bar on the bike. I just got the racks installed last night and it mostly went well. I had to 'make' the suspension rack fit and I think I have to move both racks just a little to level them but it's not a big deal.

It's too icy here for riding in my opinion but of course I took it for a short spin. No heel clearance issues and the new bar did relax the steering a lot. But even barely loaded the front felt really strange when turning. How am I supposed to position the front panniers? My understanding is as close to the axle as possible right? What about the rear set? I just kept moving them closer to the front of the bike until I got a heel strike; is that right? My guess is you have to get used to a loaded bike but I'd like to get used to it with the bags in the right place.

I made a bunch of little changes to the bike and I'm sure it's going to take quite a few rides to get it comfy but any advice from others that have gone through an MTB conversion would be helpful.

P.S. I had dreams of being able to easily pop the racks off and take it trail riding but I don't think that will be the case. Pulling off the racks and changing the tires will easily take an hour if not more. Pretty sure you could very easily damage the swing rack from a tumble so I wouldn't want to trail ride with it on.

This post is all over the place but I hope it kind of makes sense Happy new year.

Tubus swing is high attached to fork crown, to let your suspension fork work,

to use low riders you will have to hang the mass on the bottom of the fork,
increasing Unsprung weight to the suspension.

Placing the bags on the Swing racks on the steering axis worth a try.
head angle is the steering Axis. Maybe move those back?

They have a Mid fork rack this year the Smarti not real low riding, so more ground clearance
top rail attaches to V brake bosses..

Old Man Mountain uses QR skewer for its bottom mount, It may be removable ..

losing the sus fork will get the Low Rider to work, Suspension corrected rigid fork with rack braze-ons..
I have a Koga Trekking bike. they had a contract with a TW Machine shop to drill and tap the lower slider
on a particular model of Spinner Forks, and some special parts made to mount Tubus Ergo racks ,
cost effective if ordering Hundreds as an OEM ..

if you really want to easily switch between touring and trail mode, what you need is a spare wheelset and a trailer. If you've always wanted a fancy new wheelset for trails, maybe something with paired spokes, or more carbon, or who knows, buy it for trail riding and keep knobby tires permanently installed.

A single wheeled trailer like an extrawheel or a bob can be attached in about a minute, and leaves the bike totally unencumbered when it's taken off. Of course it is a new set of things you have to buy, but it is the best solution for a 'dual purpose' bike that has to tour and do something completely different.

Yep, you are completely right. live and learn I guess

I'm working my way through the bike set up. It looked like this this morning:


After this photo was taken I moved the front panniers back after a tip from a friend and that seems to smooth out the ride. Rear panniers feel right. If it's warm enough I'm going to load the front and rear and see how it rides.

I think fietsbob is right--front bags need to be closer to steering axis. I'm just starting to set up a Trek 720 for light touring, so will be using these tips myself.

Nice looking rig.

Thanks Simplygib.

Ok I did move the front panniers back almost as far as they can go and steering stabilized a lot. The elevation of the bags makes it impossible to have normal steering but it's getting much closer. I got some studded tires so hopefully I can load up the bags and find a nice decline to test them out on soon.

I tilted the bar bag up in order to be able to see in it easier and so I could see the map case.

I am starting to notice the titanium flex.

I'm getting the hang of the bike more. That front rack is really sturdy, much more than I needed for a road trip to be honest. If you are reading this I suggest looking at cheaper racks if you don't plan on touring off-road.

$.02 is to totally remove the handlebar bag and utilize an old style triangular mtn bar bag that can sit on top of the stem for frequently used items. If you look at how far the handlebar bag is from the steerer tube it's similar to putting the panniers far forward. Between the shocks and the cantilevered handlebar bag I could see things getting wobbly.

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