mcallaghan

...that is the question.

I have a Surly Disc Trucker. I have a rear rack and panniers. Perfect for B&B/Hotel touring.

This coming summer I am planning on camping-touring. I imagine I can fit my tent, sleeping pad and sleeping bag on top of the rack. But cooking utensils/food probably aren't going to fit in the room I have left in my rear panniers.

From what I have seen, installing front racks on Surly Disc Truckers is far from easy, given the disc brakes (mainly) being in the way. I am not very mechanical minded so finding a solution isn't going to happen.

Are there any racks specifically designed for the SDT? Should I have some one in the LBS install for me?

fietsbob

Front pannier rack and 2 small panniers should be sufficient.. Yes , Use the services of a Bike Shop for the Mechanical skills You Lack ..

The mechanicak theory is to have the pannier rack a Littyle wider If there is some Interference with the brake caliper ..

Longer Quality steel bolts and spacers is the way they can be made wider ..

Several Riders crossed the country on disc braked bikes Tubus Duo was a Popular front rack , tubus - Duo
as would be the Tara tubus - Tara
I have a Tubus Ergo tubus - Ergo

on this Bike WB Bicycle Gallery: Robert Clark's Koga Miyata WTR

The manufacturer re machined the fork to make it work , Bike was Bought Used
I Would have been fine with a rigid fork of steel like Surly uses.

While at the Bike shop Maybe they can offer lessons on how to fix things you may have problems with on tours

where you have to be Independent in mechanical Problem solving..

mstateglfr 

A Surly rack for a Surly bike.
Cargo | Parts and Accessories | Surly Bikes

mm718

I would stick with 2 panniers. Adding a rack and a second pair of panniers adds about 4.5 lbs and encourages over packing.

You can fit your tent and down sleeping bag or quilt in a single compression dry sack on the rear rack. The down bag should be in it's own lightweight bag to protect it from moisture from your tent for those times when you pack it wet. Alternatively you could pack your sleeping bag in a pannier in a compression sack.

Your "kitchen" doesn't need to take up much more room than a small pot with the fuel packed inside. You can eat out of the pot, which makes for fewer dishes. Using a pot cozy makes it easier to eat out of the pot and also saves fuel as you don't have to cook your food as long. I haven't found a cup necessary but there are collapsible cups should you want one. A knife, spork, small stove, and foldable windscreen should round out your kitchen. Depending on your choices these can all pack away very small.

The other area to reduce pannier volume is clothes. You don't need multiple jerseys and shorts. They can be washed nightly. Some people like to have a second set but you could get by fine without them. I tour with one set of wool riding socks and a second set of long socks if the first set gets wet or it gets cold. I don't find underwear necessary but you could bring a lightweight pair for off the bike. Just my two cents on making it all work with two panniers. Others can help with rack ideas should you decide to go that route.

mdilthey

Also, any front rack that mounts to the mid-blade eyelets (I.E. Higher Up) will not interfere with disc brakes.

Remember, your disc brake is BEHIND the fork and your rack mount is in FRONT of the fork. I am hard-pressed to imagine a rack that would interfere with a disc brake.

Racktime Topit mounted to Surly Disc Trucker Fork:

Biketouringhobo

the Tubus Tara front rack on a Surly Dick Trucker

veganbikes

I cannot speak for your needs but distributing the load is a good way to go. I find having all the weight in the rear makes for a less stable bike sometimes especially when not on it (when on it I don't mind it as much)

As far as racks I highly recommend Tubus. Their racks are some of the best and the Cargo Evo and Duo racks I got weighed a little less than my one Surly rear rack (which is a good HQ rack with no problems aside from the weight). For something like a DT which I have I would go with the Tubus Duo rack. Basically it is two separate racks one for each side of the fork unlike other which have hoops connecting them this is two pieces. I think it looks nicer and cuts out weight but the rack is still just as strong. There were no fitment issues with the rack aside from needing some spacers (which is common) which were easily gotten from the presta/schrader valve cap and nut drawer at the shop.

You might be able to order through your LBS (and always check with them first) if not Peter White at Peter White Cycles is pretty awesome and extremely knowledgeable about many things bike related and has a good sense of humor.

You can install it yourself but sometimes having someone help out isn't a bad thing. Just make sure like with all parts that are metal on metal contact you either grease the threads or you can use a threadlocker (like a blue loctite) and make sure everything is properly tight. If it is a decent bike shop they should be able to install it no problem if you don't want to go through the hassle or just want it professionally done.

Fairmount

Perhaps you could add some sort of larger handlebar bag to your rear pannier setup. Those strange ultralight people do have some interesting things going on in that department. My brother carries a bunch of stuff and a tent, all hanging from his handlebars. What you don't want is ALL your weight being on your rear wheel. I did a month of touring like that in central Europe once, no good! Biking about in the mountains I always felt like I would tip over backwards.

mm718

I don't doubt your experience but with my load I haven't had this issue. The bike is fine leaning against store fronts, etc using "brake bands" and when there is nothing around to lean it against I use the click-stand. No issues with stability when the bike is parked although maybe it is an issue with some traditional kickstands or heavy loads.

berner

A good size handlebar bag was going to be my suggestion also. I also found that a large selection of clothing was not at all necessary. I'm not an ultra light packer but do give considerable thought to packing as light as possible. Also, I give thought to bulky items, such as clothes, which then require a place to store them.

andrewclaus

What is your total planned weight? If your total weight excluding consumables (food, water, fuel) is 20 pounds or less, it really doesn't matter where you put it. It sounds like you're more concerned about pack space, and that issue is covered well in post #4 , addressing clothing and cook kit. One tip I live by is that you should be able to wear all your clothing at once as a coordinated system. When I reduced my cook kit, that was one front pack gone. The other front pack used to carry a fairly large double wall tent. Now I use a Tarptent and I no longer need any front packs.

Another great space saver was switching to a down quilt. With the smaller quilt, and fewer and less bulky clothing items, everything fits easily in a pair of panniers.

mantelclock

You certainly can make due with just a rear rack and panniers. You might want to add a handlebar bag as well. When discussing distribution of weight and instability, it depends on the construction and geometry of the bike. I tried a short tour using only a rear rack and panniers on a Specialized Sequoia, a very light aluminum framed bike with Carbon fork and short chainstays. This configuration was ridiculously unstable at any speed, because all of the weight was behind the rear axle. The same equipment and configuration on my all steel VO Campeur or Motobecane Grand Touring (vintage, not the new ones) always worked out fine. With a tank like the LHT loading everything on the rear shouldn't be a problem, as long as your total luggage weight doesn't exceed about 25 - 30 pounds. More than that, then it makes sense to spread some of your weight to the front.

Tourist in MSN

Pile up all your gear. Try to get it in the rear panniers. The remaining stuff, will that all fit in whatever you were going to put on top of the rear rack or in a saddle bag? If not, will a handlebag be adequate to hold it? If not, you need front panniers.

A friend of mine always does the ultra light thing as much as he can. We did almost 900 miles on Pacific Coast and every time we came out of a grocery store, he only had maybe 2 liters of spare volume in his two rear panniers and small drybag on top of the rear rack. There were a few times I had to carry 10 times as much food volume as him because he never thought that hard about food when planning for volume capacity for the trip. Do you want to be the one person in the group that everybody stares at when you come out of the grocery store?

I have done the rear only thing and I have also done the four pannier trips. You don't know what you need until you start packing. You can put stuff in a box, measure how many cubic inches in the box (height times width times length), convert to liters (type in google convert 960 cubic inches to liters) and you know where you need to be.

Squeezebox

Also keep in mind what time of year, weather etc. It's 35 F and light rain outside right now. Way different than July 75 F low and has not and will not rain for all month. The colder it is the more stuff I'm gonna carry. If it gets cold enough I might need front bags.

bwgride

If you don't want to use a front rack, but still need extra volume, some of the bikepacker gear might be a solution. For example

Revelate Designs LLC

Bikepacking Gear ? CHUMBA USA

I've found the handlebar-stem bags to be very useful.

Bikepacking Stem Bags - BIKEPACKING.com

Instead of paying $40 for one of those bags from the bikepacker gear makers, I bought two of these and use three 8" velcro strips to secure them to handlebar and stem

Outdoor Militray Tactical MOLLE Zipper Water Bottle Pouch Bag Carrier Hiking US | eBay

They work very well. Add a handlebar bag or one of the bikepacker handlebar bag-waterproof sacks combo in front, you have 10 to 18 additional liters of storage. That could carry clothes, sleeping bag/quilt, etc, and the stem bags could hold misc such as keys, wallet, extra water bottle, snacks, etc.

veganbikes

It is not just parking, parking is generally fine it is sometimes walking with it or dealing with stairs or something like that. For the record I don't use a kickstand.

mm718

Yeah, maybe so with the walking. I actually don't have any experience with 4 panniers so I don't have anything to compare it to.

saddlesores

when camping with 4 bags, it's useful to reserve one front bag for kitchen
gear and food. keep all the food smells in that one bag that can be
hung out of critter reach at night.

Doug64

This is the kind of situation where a balance load, front and rear, is appreciated.


On a tour this summer, our route dead ended at these stairs. The road we wanted was at the top. Balance works well when you have to pick up the front end at each step. Otherwise, the tail wags the dog.

robert schlatte

As others here have said the Tubus Tara is a relatively simple low rider front rack and simple to install. Just follow the directions. Further, for improved bike handling, it is nice to be able to distribute the load front and rear. Also, you don't have to cram everything into two rear panniers- it makes getting to things much simpler. A pound or two extra is not a deal breaker.

tmac100

This past summer I toured from Perth to South Australia across "the Nullabore". It was about 2700 km done in 30 days or so. I had 2 front and 2 rear panniers with racks and an Ortlieb dry sack on the rear rack.

In past tours I had a Bob Ibex and dragging it was a dog, PLUS I had too much equipment. On this latest tour, I had everything I needed and a bit extra. Front and rear racks for touring works for me and my next tours will use the same equipment. Everything fit including a Hilleberg Akto tent and -7C North Face sleeping bag, stove, tools, etc. Wine box bladders were used to carry extra water (up to 7 liters)

Quarryman32

We put Surly racks on our DTs last spring without a problem. (Yes, our LBS was crucial.) Mounting the front fenders, on the other hand, needed some creativity.

rifraf

There are lots of different opinions on 2 or 4 or more bags/panniers and combinations thereof.
Trial and error to see what works best for you is the only true test and opinions are at the end of the day simply waffle.

If pressed, I'm a proponent of handlebar bag, four panniers and a rack bag, as well an Extrawheel trailer with itself carrying 2 large panniers.
But I take gear many, in different countries more temperate than mine, with towns close together, wouldn't need.

I too lean towards the Tubus racks which in most instances seem to be lighter in weight and carry more in weight for their service than comparable brands.

Whilst I admire the bike packers their fortitude and slimline good looks, I'm in no way tempted by ultralight touring.
I'd be miserable doing without my little luxuries for which I need my above setup to haul.

Good luck with your own decisions OP.

mcallaghan

This is my current setup:



Rear panniers and a handlebar bag.

The handlebar bag has snacks, camera, phone, allenkey, patch-kit, map(s), and a windbreaker (for easy access).

My tour in Wales this past summer I found that, even though I had a pair of jeans with me, my panniers were not full. I had clothes in compression sacks, but I probably could have scrounged up some more room in them too. Enough room for perhaps another pair of off-bike shoes and some extra socks etc.

I would be touring during the summer here, so it will probably be rather hot (shorts + lightweight hiking pants instead of jeans) and no need for a warm jacket like I needed in Wales for off the bike. So I can cut down on some bulk that way.

I also have a tarptent and a 15'f Sleeping bag. But I am also a hammock-camper so have a few quilts designed for that. I would expect mostly warm nights so I think I have a top quilt, with footbox, that might work in place of the tent. Maybe get a silk-liner so I feel more tucked in and my back isn't directly against sleeping pad. That would cut down on a little bulk and weight too.

Likewise, I have a small pot that the fuel would fit into. That might make a tight squeeze in a pannier along with food.

A front rack and panniers would add some weight, but then I know I wouldn't be tight on space and can better distribute it on the bike. Especially given that it would be a few thousand feet of climbing and descending each day (colorado rockies and all).

psy

Many people who have tried both, myself included, would prefer front lowriders over rear panniers, even if going with just two. Your body weight is over the rear wheel, and putting some weight up front and low really makes the bike rail. Makes the bike hold the ground on steep climbs and is Super stable on fast descents, if that's your thing. Just a thought to throw into your considerations.