Do I put the rack back on?

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fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Oooh, has caused a debate. There was me 'thinking' about getting panniers - mainly to get weight off my bad shoulder, but I've taken to not carrying the heavy d-lock unless I need to park at another site - seems to help minimising the weight.

TBH I've found in the two bad accident's I've had, that my rucksacks have protected my back.
 

Crankarm

Guru
Location
Nr Cambridge
Panniers for me - 2 sometimes 4 and a bar bag. Two Abus Granit D-locks one in each pannier plus other odds and sods. Great for training. Come sunday on club rides on my road bike the extra work out during the week pays dividends as others struggle to keep up.
 

cyberknight

As long as I breathe, I attack.
2 Panniers for me.

By the time i have clothes, tools,waterproof,lock,sandwich`s, i need the space.Much more comfortable than a stuffed back pack and you can add more lights to your bike ( yeah i know its getting light but in winter it all helps )
 

Norm

Guest
gouldina said:
I hope that this has been explained by now but carrying locks, tools, drinks bottles / cans or anything lumpy could make a nasty mess if you land on them.
 

Debian

New Member
Location
West Midlands
I found that my commute was quicker and more comfortable once I changed to panniers. Two + rack-top bag.

I also had problems with space when using a rucksack. I regularly have to carry laptop + charger, a big wallet full of about 100 CDs / DVDs, pocket hard drive, IT toolkit, change of clothes, pair of smart shoes, bike tools & spare tubes, packed lunch and drinks. Sometimes I need to grab a few bits of shopping on the way home too. Whilst a largish rucksack could carry all of the above it was a lot of trouble to pack properly, whatever I needed was inevitably at the bottom and it was very heavy and sweaty on the back.

My bike felt much more responsive once I swapped to panniers.
 

martynjc1977

Veteran
At the moment i use a rucksack it did cause probs with my shoulders due to weight sometimes. My bike don't have mounting points for a rack so i just had to get on with it, would have preferred the option lol.
 

threefingerjoe

Über Member
Ivan Ardon said:
Through the winter, I saw mainly racks and panniers on my commute. Now the weather's picked up ans there are more commuters out, I'm seeing an increase in backpacks.

This is in line with the increase on BSOs, so are backpacks LSOs? (Luggage Shaped Objects). Perhaps Cheap bike = Cheap luggage?

Certainly, you see more racks and panniers in the winter...along with mudguards. These are the "working bikes." In the winter, you're seeing the dedicated riders who look to practicality, without regard for style. These are the folks who seek out the best way to get the job done.

As the weather improves, you'll see more of the "play bikes". No racks, no mudguards, no lights...some, even, with no pump, no flatpack, etc. Many of these are the folks who ask questions, such as, "How do I best stay in shape during the 'off-season?'"
 

buggi

Bird Saviour
Location
Solihull
i haven't got panniers and because i ride a long distance to work i try to limit what i carry (luckily i have a locker at work so that helps). Occasionally I have to carry my laptop and for that ... this bag is brilliant and dead comfy and waterproof http://www.laptopstuff.co.uk/p/Built_NY_Laptop_Backpack_.htm

i have ridden through storm force 10 for over an hour and the bag didn't get wet inside except for a tiny bit of damp round the zip. i do still wrap my laptop in clingfilm/plastic bag just in case but that i think is my own paranoia because when i say storm force 10... it really was hard rain!. Its made of neoprene and the shoulder straps are so comfy i just don't notice the bag once it's on my bag except for on the hills when it requires just that extra 1% of effort which is my body weight equating to the weight of the laptop. and it fits under a jacket.

when choosing the size, i went for the medium even though my laptop was 1 inch more than the size of it stated it was for (and there is still room so it would take bigger). so i would say ladies get the medium, blokes get the large as you can't adjust the handles. a guy at work tried my medium on and we thought he'd be better with the large.

one thing i would say, if you're gonna carry anything in a rucksack or in pockets, make sure if you were hit at speed it would have no danger of stabbing you. ie. i never carry keys in my pockets
 

threefingerjoe

Über Member
Nice thing about the wheeled machine...there are many options to adjust to many different situations. I've done it both ways, and for me, I prefer rack and panniers, or, as in most day-to-day commuting, my lunchbucket bungied to the rack.

One thing that was mentioned really puzzles me, though. A couple people mentioned that the bike handles better when using a rucksack. I don't understand how a higher center of gravity can make a bike handle better. Touring cyclists who handle REAL loads generally agree that the bike handles better with lowrider paniers than with panniers that ride at the top of the rack. How, then, could a load carried even higher, (on your back) handle better? This really puzzles me. Does anyone have a physical explanation as to why this is? Logically, it doesn't make sense to me, but, I'm willing to listen to any explanation using the laws of physics to clarify this for me. I'm not a scientist, so feel free to include any diagrams that may help me to understand this.
 

wafflycat

New Member
Depends on what I'm wanting to carry with the proviso I never use a backpack. I'd rather have the weight on the bike than on my back getting all sweaty & uncomfortable.

The rack stays on the tourer and dependent upon what I'm carrying, I may use panniers, or a rack box or a saddle bag or a rackpack..
 

monnet

Guru
Definitely panniers. They are much more stable than raising the centre of gravity with a rucksack. I never find the bike feels 'sluggish' though it does require more effort to get over hills, obviously but I just see it as power training and it seems to keep in good enough shape.
 

Norm

Guest
threefingerjoe said:
One thing that was mentioned really puzzles me, though. A couple people mentioned that the bike handles better when using a rucksack.
It depends what you are carrying.

If it is something relatively light (say 5kgs) you will hardly feel the difference in performance (adding 5-10% of the rider's weight) when carrying it in a rucksack but putting it in panniers could 50% to the weight of the bike, which you could feel. The rider's weight is also manoeuvrable, using the arms and legs for suspension and leaning into bends, for instance, again reducing the impact compared to the inert weight of the bike.

Once you get to significant loads, though, if you get it properly loaded and distributed on the bike, it will feel a lot easier using the bike as the donkey than carrying that much weight high up in a rucksack. You will definitely be able to feel the difference in performance of the bike but it is something that you can still use for hours in the saddle.

IMO, anyway. :laugh:
 
Location
Shropshire
I go for the rucksack myself although I do question my logic, a chap I used to work with came off a moped and had screw driver rammed into his back luckily with no lasting damage but it could have easily been his spine. I also remember not long after this reading about a disabled girl who as a college girl had fallen from a scooter and had one of her pens pushed though her spinal cord. Even just falling on a strangely shaped rock sack would do the old back allot of good. Now you got me thinking I should put that spare rack on my bike!
 
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