Went camping last night. I didn't weigh it, but I estimate I put about 60-80 pounds of junk on the back of the bike, wanted to see how it would go if I didn't really sweat the weight. Handling on the pavement was ok, felt really squishy on bumps, but still cornered fine. I was a little shaky on dirt roads, could feel that my cog was higher which just made me go slower. One the rougher stuff handling really got squirrelly, I was all over the place a couple times. No weight on the front end, so lots of understeer, front tire would turn easily on fairly mild sized rocks, which would then turn the bike, which would then lean over, then 2 or 3 over-corrections later I was sorta in control again.
then I laid it down. pretty steep section, loose in the middle, I didn't have enough speed and lost my line, then got into the center and well just wound up setting it down. No speed, no damage, but then I couldn't lift the bike back up. So then I took off about half of my gear to get the weight down, and managed to put the bike back on its wheels, walked it back down to the flat area below, then took another shot at the hill and made it, walked back down 2x for all my junk. Overall a good experience. here is the bike resting on the side of the trail...
Here's all my stuff:
Really nothing glaring, just a dozen or so 5 pound items... the heaviest was the full rotopax, I probably didn't need 2 gallons of water for one night but to my credit I did drink half of it. That other rotopax thing had some rain clothes in it, small stove and a couple pots are stored in that rear rack case. the panniers have my tools, first aid, my therma rest, then the duffel bag had my sleeping bag in it, I strapped the tent on separate.
On the way down the hill this morning I was out of water, and beer, and tossed the tent in Bruce's 80.. actually handled a bit better but was still pretty light in front. I didn't really have any extra clothes, for my next adventure I'm going to try some different side bags that hopefully hold more, so more of the weight can be lower on the bike.
then I laid it down. pretty steep section, loose in the middle, I didn't have enough speed and lost my line, then got into the center and well just wound up setting it down. No speed, no damage, but then I couldn't lift the bike back up. So then I took off about half of my gear to get the weight down, and managed to put the bike back on its wheels, walked it back down to the flat area below, then took another shot at the hill and made it, walked back down 2x for all my junk. Overall a good experience. here is the bike resting on the side of the trail...
Here's all my stuff:
Really nothing glaring, just a dozen or so 5 pound items... the heaviest was the full rotopax, I probably didn't need 2 gallons of water for one night but to my credit I did drink half of it. That other rotopax thing had some rain clothes in it, small stove and a couple pots are stored in that rear rack case. the panniers have my tools, first aid, my therma rest, then the duffel bag had my sleeping bag in it, I strapped the tent on separate.
On the way down the hill this morning I was out of water, and beer, and tossed the tent in Bruce's 80.. actually handled a bit better but was still pretty light in front. I didn't really have any extra clothes, for my next adventure I'm going to try some different side bags that hopefully hold more, so more of the weight can be lower on the bike.
