"I have a Lemond Buenos Aries and was thinking of doing some touring perhaps 3-5 days this summer.
My problem as I see it is that there are no eyelets in the rear or front of the frame to attach the bottom of the rack(s) to it.
I know I have seen some styles that can work around this issue. I was not so sure on the seat post ""only"" style mounts as I have seen people using such have their bags wobble.
Any help would, well be helpful.
Robert Marcus"
"I tried using a seat post rack for a small pannier for commuting, and I hated it and went back to a backpack. The weight was too high (perhaps because I have a 63cm bike, it may be better on a smaller bike).
What are your seat stays made of? Tubus make adapters which hook onto the QR skewer, and also to wrap around the seat stay. Failing that, the Tubus fly rack can use the brake bridge as an upper mount. My wife's bike has lower eyelets, but not upper, and we have a fly rack for it. I must confess that while I've mounted it and it seems sturdy, we've never used it.
"Weak. Can start swinging. Makes the handling unstable by raising your center of gravity. OK for light commuting or extra gear on club rides.
I understand Tubus make quality gear, but check out stuff from these guys:
The bottom rests on extra wides skewers. I have a Sherpa rear with optional brackets to fit suspension and disc brakes. Can re-fit for narrower road stays by moving brackets from outside to inside of rack.
Considerably stronger than standard racks, even if you do have eyelets. Went into MacGuyver mode this week when a wussy aluminum bracket on a Blackburn rack failed -- dropping both panniers to the pavement behind the rear wheels.
Also, for the panniers themselves:
I have a set of the Day-Packer Plus that have been holding up nicely. Well thought through design. A thing to watch for is ""heel strike"". Touring bikes have long stays for stability and so the front of the bags don't hit your heels. A typical road bike's stays are shorter for manueverability. The Ortlieb's hardware will let you position the panniers further back on the rack.
True up/even the spoke tensions on the rear wheel. Get your rear tire up to a 28 or 32mm -- as wide as will fit. Also replace or even double up on your rim tape.
Please remember to practice riding with a full load. 20+ lbs hanging off the back end WILL significantly affect your handling -- the rear end wants to swing out on a fast lane change or avoidance manuever. Scary if you aren't ready for it.
If you get get serious, consider an additional front rack/panniers and carefully balance the loads. But then we're getting into $$$.
"
"Thanks Neile,
I did find Old Man Mountain last nite and it looks like they will resolve the problem.
Of course Heel clearance is another thing to deal with.
I simply may find a ""Touring"" bike and use that for commuting.
In any case I do not expect to lug too much but then again ya never know.
Thanks for the advise on the test rides.
I was thinking, up to Montreal, maybe Boston and back
to see if this is for me, maybe across NY.
As usual your advise is always appreciated.
Robert"
P-clips.
"and they are included with the Blackburn EX-1 Expedition Rack. I've been using it daily for commuting and it lives up to it's reputation of being very strong; I've often loaded it up to ~40lbs/19kgs.
For panniers, I recommend you buy the best you can afford, especially if you think you'll load them to capacity. Similar to luggage, the last thing you want to have happen is your pannier failing when you're in the middle of nowhere. Ortlieb are one of the best; I went with Arkel T-42s. Both are over engineered will probably most of us. You can order direct from Arkel, but I found a neat little bike shop in MN that has their complete line of panniers and bags."
The other solutions are all fine, but I just wanted to let you know that I've used a Headland rack attached to my seatpost for over 10,000 miles of touring. Assuming you use a non-aero, non carbon seatpost and attach the rack properly, there is no problem with wobble or sway. I use a couple of bungee cords to further secure the bag. I've never had a problem with how the bike handled either.
However, I usually travel with about 7-10 pounds of gear. Most people carry more. ymmv
get in touch with this guy
he got me totally hooked up to tour on my lemond zurich and it was a great setup
"Reasonable expectations. You can't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse.
There's also more than one type of touring;
""expedition"" where you mount all your worldly possessions - tent, cooking utensils, gallons of water and trek from Alaska to Chile.
""credit card"" where you carry little more than a patch kit and an extra chamois and stay at B&Bs the whole time.
Keep it light. I'd probably limit the load to 20 lbs on the rear and maybe thirty if you add front panniers.
A racing frame/wheels/gearing/brakes (at least upgrade to mountain pads on your calipers) wont hold up to serious weight. Loaded tour bikes can easily get up to 70 lbs. Their component set is comparable to a mountain bike's.
A whole other solution is to get a BOB trailer:
There are serious handling/braking issues here too but, since you're not stressing the frame/wheels the same way. Your Lemond will be fine with this set up, but I'd still get in the practice runs.
Also an entertaining subscription to Adventure Cycling is likely in order to comprehensively address the issues.
