Some advice on forks and touring Please !

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Mattyhew

New Member
Hello !


im riding a genesis vapour at the moment and while i love the bike it has carbon front forks :-( so im thinking that i need to change them if i want to start doing some touring etc so i can fit a set of front panniers, has anyone got any susgestions for Good replacements ?

thanks in advance !

Matt
 

Jugular

Well-Known Member
Location
Manchester
Firstly I'd make sure you need to replace them before going about it. Do you need front panniers? Many people don't, even when camping. The shorter the tour the less you will need so you can save space and weight. Check whether a trailer would suit your needs if you still feel you need front panniers.
 
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Mattyhew

New Member
thanks for the reply, im planning C2C this year and then next year top to bottom ! had not thought about a trailer so i will look into that thank you !
Is it not better to spread the load front and rear then touring ??


Matt
 

Jugular

Well-Known Member
Location
Manchester
Spreading the weight is only worthwhile if you're carrying alot of heavy gear. Two rear panniers, rack bag and perhaps a barbag would be sufficient for your needs and means you could probably still use the forks.

If you're interested in a trailer (though I don't think you'd need it for those trips) You should probably look at the Bob Yak or the Extrawheel trailers.
These offer you the opportunity to buy non-specific touring bikes and kit it out for a long trip without having to buy all the extra between. They can be useful outside of touring too.

I use a Carry Freedom city trailer on my Brompton and have so far used it to do the supermarket big shop and picked up the summer gardening bits (including three big bags of compost and two large trellis), and I plan on doing some multi-modal touring with it, though I'll see what can be done with the rear rack and touring bag. Handy stuff.
If you really want to take the carrying stuff bug further you could consider a Surly Big Dummy, or the many other cool bikes at www.practicalcycles.com

Having said all of that, I'll reiterate, you can do the trips you plan on with two rear panniers, a rack bag and bar bag. Depending somewhat on what gear you have and the sort of accomodation and eating arrangements you're making.
 

TheDoctor

Europe Endless
Moderator
Location
The TerrorVortex
Unless you're camping I'd question the need for front panniers. Last year I went touring on a bike with carbon forks with no issues whatsoever, carrying luggage for a week. It does call for a certain amount of packing light, but nothing too drastic. For a C2C you'd have no problems at all, IMHO.
 
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Mattyhew

New Member
sorry, i should have said im planning on camping and i will be carrying my DSLR camera and lenses i was aiming to not have to buy too much on the way round other than food to cook whilst camping, o and beer of course !!!
 

dav1d

Senior Member
I'm waiting for my touring bike to arrive in Edinburgh Bicycle Coop, but I tried a camping stove, tent, food, 2ltr water, and some other bits and pieces out on my old bike, for when I do a tour on my new bike: The one man tent fit in the panniers, as did the other bits, and still a little room left. Anything else, such as a sleeping bag could go on top in a dry bag (Aldi has some dry bags in at the moment, or at least the Manchester Arndale store does: 6.99), so you may not need front panniers even if you are camping.


Mattyhew said:
sorry, i should have said im planning on camping and i will be carrying my DSLR camera and lenses i was aiming to not have to buy too much on the way round other than food to cook whilst camping, o and beer of course !!!
 
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Mattyhew

New Member
Hello all !

Thanks for your help so far ! I had just about decided to stick with the carbon front forks and just live with rear panniers, but last night when trying to sort out a very juddery front brake I noticed a sticker on the inside of the forks at the top saying that they were only suitable for use for 2 years from the date of manufacture !? is this normal or just precautionary ? :smile:
 

RedBike

New Member
Location
Beside the road
I'm not familiar with which forks the Vapour has but I don't see why you can't get a set of front pannier racks to fit them.
Perhaps just a large front handlebar bag would do?
 

gwhite

Über Member
Mattyhew said:
Hello all !

Thanks for your help so far ! I had just about decided to stick with the carbon front forks and just live with rear panniers, but last night when trying to sort out a very juddery front brake I noticed a sticker on the inside of the forks at the top saying that they were only suitable for use for 2 years from the date of manufacture !? is this normal or just precautionary ? :wahhey:

Bloody hell! Things are going from bad to worse. The bike manufacturers appear to think that they can get away with anything these days and I fear they may be right.
 

willem

Über Member
Carbon forks are not immortal, so manufacturers are trying to get out of liability issues. I am not sure, however, if a simple sticker will get them off the hook. But anyhow, they are more fragile, so I would never NEVER use front panniers with them. I don't know the bike, but any bike with this kind of fork is likely to be relatively light weight. So it should not be overloaded, and you should fit the widest possible tyres to provide some extra suspension for you and the bike.
This does not mean camping is out of the question, far from it, but it does mean going ultralight. As for what goes where, I keep my often dirty and wet tent on the rack and certainly not in the nice and dry panniers, together with all that clean and dry stuff. My spare clothes, sleeping bag, mattress, cooking gear etc all go into a pair of Ortlieb rear panniers. This way I also save the need for a waterproof rack top bag. Even on my upcoming part off road trip to Norway with its potentially wet and cold weather I will not need front panniers (but it will be a tight squeeze). Use the money you save by not buying a front rack and panniers to reduce the weight and volume of your gear. A PHD sleeping bag or a Thermarest Neoair or Exped Synmat basic matrress are a great way to shed weight and volume. And so is a down vest instead of a fleece one (you can also use it to upgrade your sleeping bag on cold nights).
Willem
 
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