Packing panniers and racks....

[Dmc]

I am cycling for 5 days in southern France this year and need some help with my packing...

I have a 42 litre set of rear bags and will be carrying my clothing and general stuff in there with my tent on top of the rack.

I will be travelling generally light, other than the tent and sleeping gear, but i am worried about overloading the rear rack and breaking the wheel.

What i would like to know is would i be best of strapping my sleeping bag and mat either side of a front rack in order to balance the bike....? I don't really want to fork out for front bags just to put these in so would it be acceptable to just strap the sleeping bag and mat directly onto a front rack?
If i put the mat and sleeping bag in my rear panniers i feel i takes up a little too much of the space.

I don't have a front rack yet but i'm worried about breaking my new trek 7300!!!

Dan

 

[jags]

dan what wheels have you.what size tyres have you,do you have any idea what weight your going to be carrying.i would say basically the more spokes you have and the wider the tyre you should be okay.

 

[snorri]

Carrying some luggage on the front makes the bike easier to handle both when cycling and when pushing it around at camp sites, stations, airports, etc.
Moving sleeping bag and mat will make little difference to the load on back wheel as these items are both very light, you are shifting volume rather than weight.
I would think you should not need to carry much gear for five days in the warmer climes of southern France, probably well within the safe load for your rear wheel. Maybe you should be dumping some non-essentials to make space inside the panniers for your sleeping bag?

 

[foggy]

get yourself a front rack to spread the weight otherwise you will wheely
all the way
foggy

 

[yello]

I've toured with a similar bike/set up and, whilst the front is light and this does effect the handling, I didn't have any problems.

The single heaviest thing you're carrying is presumably your tent. You're right to stick that on the rack rather than in either pannier. Put a bar bag on, and carry a bit of weight up front too (personal stuff - camera, mobile, wallet, etc) that'll help a bit.

I reckon you'll probably be okay but you could get a heavier gauge spoke in the rear if you want to play extra safe. Wouldn't cost an arm an a leg.

 

[campagman]

How heavy are you? You will be the biggest weight that could do any damage. I'm sure that there are plenty of 15 st + cycle campers that have no trouble breaking wheels, spokes etc. when touring fully loaded.

 

[andym]

You shouldn't need that much for five days.

I've bounced my way over rocky pistes with a fully-loaded set of panniers and tent.

 

[yello]

How heavy are you?

Top question! With me being only a waif-ish 70 odd kilo, I had a bit of bargaining room!

 

[aqaleigh]

the general rule is

60:40 rear/front weight load and as even as possible weight distribution in the front l&r to save wear and stress

a good idea is to pack the front panniers as i.e bathroom & bedroom

then you know exactly where things are and if say going for a shower, you can just grab 1 bag with everything you need

with a 5day tour - you should be able to keep the weight down to somewhere near 10 to 12 kilos total

have a great tour

 

[Dmc]

I weight 85 kgs.....
my tent is 2kg and sleeping bag plus mat weighs in at about about 3 kg. Don't intend to carry much in the way of clothing or other gear. No cooking stuff or food will be carried as we intend to stop off at cafes and similar.
Tyres are 700 x 35c, fairly wide.... loads of spokes

 

[ASC1951]

Hang on Dmc, you're taking a 42 litre pannier set (that's half a big rucksack), no cooking gear or food and putting your sleeping bag, mat and tent on front and/or back racks...

That leaves your 42L for "not much in the way of clothing or other gear".

Sounds like you're taking way too much stuff for 5 days in the warm. The golden rule is 'can I manage without this?' not 'would this be nice to have?' For instance, if you get drenched backpacking in the Cairngorms in October, it matters; on a bike in France in June a) it's unlikely and it doesn't matter.

 

[Kirstie]

I'll second the 'less is more' approach.

I would think that all you'd need is your riding gear (which you're standing up in), a small decanted bottle of handwashing liquid (to wash your riding gear at the end of each day), shorts, tshirt and flip flops for the evening, maybe a lightweight fleece. A waterproof just in case, some tools, and your sleeping stuff/toiletries. You can buy tiny versions of toiletries, soap and toothbrush in boots or tesco which are designed to last for a week. That's not 42l!!

Tools you don't even need in the panniers, because they can go in a small saddlebag, or in a second bottle mounted to your frame in a cage... your wallet, phone and snack goes in your back pocket, map down the front of your jersey...

I toured with 37l panniers for two weeks and didn't smell at the end of it using the above packing method. The only difference was I didn't have a tent on my rear rack cos I don't do that kind of thing. My rear wheel has 36 spokes and another thing I made sure of was that I had enough gears to get up the hills...

what's the tour you have planned?

 

[vernon]

I tour with 42 litre panniers and have more than enough space plus I weigh around 130kg so there's no need to worry about the durability of your wheels.

 

[coopman]

I did a short tour just using rear bags and a handlebar bag, found it no problem at all, I weigh around the 65kg mark and my gear prob weighed in 10 to 12 kg. Cant say I had any bother with handling. Planning a longer tour this year using the same set up.

 

[MacB]

I tour with 42 litre panniers and have more than enough space plus I weigh around 130kg so there's no need to worry about the durability of your wheels.

I find your 130kg very personally reassuring