Front Rack Bag on Romulus

[Darin G.]

All,

I'm doing my first Brevet in 12 days on my Romulus.  I have a Berthoud bag mounted on my Atlantis with a front rack and a decaleur and I am considering mounting the bag on a Mark's Rack on my Rom for this event.  I think the front bag effects handling on the Atlantis, but not in a dramatic way, and I am wondering if anyone has tried one on the Rom with the skinnier Ruffy Tuffy's.  Part of my concern may come from reading too much BQ.  Very powerful koolaid there on needing low trail to make it work, but I seem to see plenty of front bags on Rambouillets and A. Homer Hilsen, so a few words of reassurance would be appreciated.

D.G.

[Seth Vidal]

I have a front rack and sometimes an acorn rando bag on the front of
my rom and hilsen. If you overweight it then steering gets "odd" but
you have to really add a bunch of weight, in my experience.

I think you'll be fine.

Having said that - if you feel like getting a new lowtrail fork made
for your rom and want to tell us all about it when it is done, please
feel free :)

-sv

[Cyclofiend]

I'd encourage you to set it up and ride it.  Not so much for you to "decide yourself" but more that it will be different.   To state the obvious... ;^)

The key core question is whether it matters at all.

For me - my build, riding style and terrain - a front bag doesn't bother me. I switch between my Quickbeam set up with a Nitto front rack, no decaleur and one of two front bags (a Lil Loafer and a smallish traditional style front rando bag) and over to my Hilsen which has no front anything and a rear Country bag on a Mark's Rack.

They absolutely feel different when I first ride the other, but within 15 minutes or so, it seems like I've never ridden anything else. So - no 

The biggest adaption seems to be from the loaded QB to the unloaded Hilsen.  It is more a center of gravity thing - the front end feels "light", but it's more a fore/aft balance thing than anything to do with handling. Of course, the bicycles have the same tires, and the bars/saddle setup is as similar as it can be with slightly different bars and saddles. 

I'd actually been thinking about moving the Mark's to the front this summer. Because I find I kinda like a little more mass on the bars.  

There may be a little more conscious effort when walking the bike, pushing it by the saddle, to make smaller movements to adjust direction, as when I'm walking (or slower), with no hands on the bars, the front end can cause the "wheel flop" so often claimed.  

But, at speed, on the roads of the North Bay in California, the ride is strictly superb. Loaded or unloaded.

- Jim / cyclofiend.com

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[clyde canter]

I like the handling of my Ram better when unloaded on the front. I have however had it set up with a Mark's rack and lil loafter up front and like you said in 15mins (if that long) I'm used to the change in feel.  I find too that the wider the tire the less noticible the front weight is to me.  I think this has been referred to as "pneumatic trail".

Not to start  yet another "T" word discussion, but I've always been curious as to how a front load biased bike handles without a load in front. Is there such a condition as too little wheel flop?

 

Clyde, "A little flop is good" Canter

[Frank]

I think this is what you're contemplating. Rode this way on Seattle to Portland (200m) and enjoyed it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pguillam/7336358432/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pguillam/7336362820/in/photostream

[Toshi Takeuchi]

--Just finished a brevet with 2 other Rivendells. Romulus had a Acorn
boxy rando front bag, the Rambouillet had a large Berthoud and my
Homer had an Acorn boxy. All of us also had a seat bag. If you stick
the heavier stuff like tools in the seat bag, and use the front bag
for food and clothes etc., then you should be fine...

Toshi

[James Warren]

I notice an effect on handling due to a front Lil' Loafer on both my Atlantis and my SH. It slows the steering in a way that is noticeable on steep downhill turns. I can see how it could be something that some would be willing to live with and adjust to while others would not. I have been in the former group. For almost all my riding on the bikes, I don't notice it much.

 

Interesting related note: it was more noticeable on the SH when I had drop bars on it set up almost identically to the Atlantis. The slowing of steering was greater for drop-bar SH than it is for drop-bar Atlantis. However, my current (and usual) set-up for SH has been 200 mm Bullmoose. In that configuration, I don't really notice a steering effect due to a front Lil' Loafer. The entire ride is generally slower and more relaxed, however.

 

-Jim W.

-----Original Message-----
From: "Darin G."
Sent: Jun 4, 2012 7:32 AM
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RBW] Front Rack Bag on Romulus

All,

I'm doing my first Brevet in 12 days on my Romulus.  I have a Berthoud bag mounted on my Atlantis with a front rack and a decaleur and I am considering mounting the bag on a Mark's Rack on my Rom for this event.  I think the front bag effects handling on the Atlantis, but not in a dramatic way, and I am wondering if anyone has tried one on the Rom with the skinnier Ruffy Tuffy's.  Part of my concern may come from reading too much BQ.  Very powerful koolaid there on needing low trail to make it work, but I seem to see plenty of front bags on Rambouillets and A. Homer Hilsen, so a few words of reassurance would be appreciated.

D.G.

--

[Joe Bernard]

I had this exact setup on my Romulus. Berthoud, Mark's Rack, Ruffy Tuffys. As others have said, I could feel a difference, but nothing disconcerting. I used a small seatbag for tools & tube.

 

Joe Bernard

Vallejo, CA.

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[Darin G.]

Ordered the Mark's Rack. Thank you everyone for your input.

[stevef]

Rivs EXCEL with a balanced load.  Put stuff front and rear (weightier items probably better in back) and you'll be fine.  The best setup in my experience, is a Hobo style bar bag that keeps weight close to the steering axis combined with a saddle bag in back.  Here's a pic of such a setup on my Saluki--I've used the exact same setup on my Rambouillet (28-32mm tires) and had no trouble with it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40738390@N08/4300021077/

Steve