sixer

FWIW, my neighbor, a cyclocross champion, attached a baby seat to his old carbon racing bike and took his son on training rides. I think cycling can be what you make it.

surak

If a handlebar bag gives you pause due to wind, what do you think will happen when you use panniers? GCN did wind tunnel testing of packs and found panniers to be the least aero way to carry gear, even worse than a backpack. Use a seat pack for your lunch, keep your shoes at work, and bring your change of clothes on days you don't bike commute so you don't have to carry everything and the kitchen sink with you. Granted, carrying a laptop may be tricky, it'll depend on how bulky it is, but I've seen people swear that using a dedicated bag like a CamelBak or Osprey is no big deal.

JohnDThompson 

The reason to get a dedicated bike for commuting and especially "ultra-distance touring" isn't so much your physical comfort as it is how your racing bike will respond to having commuting and/or touring loads added to it. As others have suggested, you could use clamps to attach a rack to the bike, but depending on how much you carry, the clamps may not be strong enough for a heavy load, on rough surfaces, in remote areas. You don't really want a breakdown in the middle of nowhere. Been there, done that. Further, race bike tend to have shorter chainstays than touring bikes, which means your heels are apt to hit panniers; the larger the pannier, the more likely the clearance problems. Carrying a load will also affect the handling; a dedicated touring bike will be designed to carry weight low, and distributed between front and rear. You'll be hard-pressed to cobble up a comparable setup based on a race frame.

If your "ultra-distance touring" is more the credit-card tour than the self-supported loaded tour, you may be able to keep the load light enough to not be a problem, and carrying your commuting supplies may be short enough that you can put up with any clearance or handling deficiencies. But if it's a self-supported, loaded tour you have in mind, save your pennies for a real touring bike.

caloso

Also, re fast bikes: I occasionally see this guy on the ARBT who rides a TT bike. He's got what appears to be a plastic storage bin attached to a seatpost-beam rack. So it's waterproof and (relatively) aero, and looks big enough to carry clothes and lunch.

Amt0571

Look for Thule Pack n Pedal rack. Have not used it, but on paper it seems genius.

Rogerogeroge

I'm pretty sure that if you manage to mount a rack and panniers to an Emonda ALR frame you're going to find that your heels hit the bags on the backstroke of each leg.

wphamilton

I assumed you would; that's not the objection. I don't trust panniers on a seatpost rack with a laptop. That much weight on one side, plus the extra leverage against it with no brace on the stays, I could see it torquing the rack left and right. It might work for you though, who knows.

helouwn

I purchased this for my Cannondale SuperSix. It works great with Ortlieb panniers. And my heels don't bump into the panniers at all.

I understand the people recommending a commuter / touring bike. That said, I like getting more time on my road bike, and I sometimes go on training rides straight from work. I don't think there is a right answer on that one.

Here is a pic of it loaded up for a bike tour. I was touring through an area with a lot of great bike paths, and when I got into each city, I removed the panniers and was ready for some fun riding.

tashi

I've had good results with the Axiom streamliner rack, plus whatever size panniers are appropriate for the load. https://www.axiomgear.com/products/r...amliner-racks/

No heal clearance problems.

No p-clamps, they mount to the axle (or braze-ons) and brake mount.

Light loads don't have enough of an effect on handling to bother me, particularly with 28mm tires.

Your bike will likely be just fine. They're mostly designed to handle your average North American Fred, so a little bag will be fine.

If people think you look foolish, and you're enjoying your ride and not risking anyone else's safety, then they're the fools. I personally would choose the funnest/fastest bike for that long of a commute.

firebird854

Cool! what rack did you use?

firebird854

I looked and considered those, the problems, they appear to only work with quick-release while I have thru-axles.

firebird854

Interestingly, I already own one of those for my tri bike so I can use it with my on-wheel trainer. Unfortunately, I'd need to buy a different one for my emonda because they have different pitch threading, but I like the idea and can totally envision it, I'll consider this.

tashi

Nutted axle kit may have a big enough diameter. Either could be drilled out.

helouwn

It is the Axiom rack. I tried to link it, but I'm not very good at all of this.

From your subsequent reply, it looks like it won't work for you. I wonder if there would be an easy way for a diy modification to make it work with a thru axle. Maybe bending it a bit to go inside the fork would work?

Will

firebird854

It looks like Axiom makes a rack for disc that apparently fits 700c wheels: https://www.axiomgear.com/products/r...iner-disc-dlx/

Looks like I'd need to buy some extra items as well:

MOUNTING SYSTEM Feet mount to a standard quick-release skewer* (not included) or to traditional eyelets.
Extra-long (280mm), adjustable Versalock® arms (for frames with eyelets).
Center bracket can be attached to a brake caliper or fender bridge.
Optional ‘Trekk Seat Collar’ (not included) can be used to add upper eyelets to bikes that have none.
Optional ‘Nutted Axle Kit’ can be used to fit bikes with bolted axles.

I think I'm going to email them about this because, unlike old man mountain, this is 100% made for road bikes and is specifically designed to put the load back so your heel doesn't hit the panniers.

firebird854

I received confirmation that no Axiom production will fit.

Now I'm considering the following, according to my research, it might work:
https://www.blackburndesign.com/p/lo...ck#pid=7081341
https://robertaxleproject.com/produc...r-bob-trailer/

mstateglfr 

Get an aluminum seatpost if needed. Then buy one of the below setups...

https://www.probikekit.com/cycling-a...B&gclsrc=aw.ds
https://www.probikekit.com/cycling-a...?rctxt=default
17 total liters of capacity.

-or-

https://www.carradice.co.uk/bags/sad...er-c-saddlebag
https://www.carradice.co.uk/products...ition-original
23 liters of capacity.

-or-

https://www.carradice.co.uk/bags/sad...cking-seatpack
16 liters of capacity.



Obviously, the last 2 options could increase in capacity if you added a handlebar roll like the one if the first group, which would mean an additional 7 liters of capacity for when you tour.





This is a square peg round hole sort of situation and everything will be a bit of a compromise since your bike isnt designed to do what you want to do. The Axiom rack could work with some adjustments and fiddling, but it will ultimately place the bags far behind the rear axle which isnt ideal(but not dangerous or anything). Your bike will still lack good fender coverage which is not ideal for commuting in Milwaukee(but not dangerous or anything). etc etc etc.

Its been mentioned already, but bears repeating- keep some stuff at work if you can. If you do a mix of driving and riding for commutes each week, then when you drive, bring an extra outfit for when you then commute next. That reduces what you have to pack and carry on the bike.

Clipped_in

Atlas Shrugged

As stated Tailfin products are awesome but as another option. Spend a bit extra upfront and end up ahead in the long run.

https://www.arkel-od.com/rollpacker-...cking-seat-bag

Plus there is nothing wrong with using an aggressive road bike for long-distance riding its been done for decades.

big john

A seatpost rack, like the one caloso linked above, will carry 15-20 pounds of stuff which is probably more than you need for work. I did a short tour years ago and 4 of the riders used seatpost mounted racks on their racebikes, 2 even kept the carbon seatposts. You could get a cheap aluminum post if you're worried about it and you could buy a cheap rack duffel which would carry shoes, clothes, lunch, etc. A large laptop would be a different issue. If you only carry it sometimes you could backpack it or get a bag for it to fit on the seatpost rack. You could also add a large handelbar bag. You don't need to spend a lot of money and you can use any bike.

https://www.nashbar.com/delta-post-h...mr410b/p332908

https://www.nashbar.com/transit-esca...lk-non/p928464

mgopack42 

Here is how i solved this issue:
I wanted to ride my "good" bike on my daily 10 mile each way commute. this meant i had to have access to a weeks worth of clothes, and a weeks worth of lunches. I would use a combination of a backpack and my car. One typical scenario would be to bring everything to work on Sunday, and then bike commute the entire week. on Friday I would jam all of the dirty clothes into the back pack and take the short way home (I hate biking with a backpack). Another variation i used over the years, where I didn't have a place to put a weeks worth of clothes, was to drive to work Monday morning, with all of my clothes hanging in the car, as well as my bike. then i would change into cycling clothes after work and ride home. Tuesday through Thursday, commute as normal. Friday, ride to work and drive home with my bike and laundry. This worked well, it just meant a little more planning, and putting on fairly cold clothes after the morning shower. Also requires a fairly secure place to park your car. either way it is do-able, just takes the extra planning, which inst too onerous.

firebird854

I was in contact with Blackburn via email and it appears this adapter https://www.blackburndesign.com/p/bi...it#pid=7085267 + this rack https://www.blackburndesign.com/p/lo...rear-bike-rack would work, it even includes P-clamps for mounting to seat stays without eyelets.

Concerning the other creative solutions you guys keep finding, and the general discussion on leaving clothes at work and the like, these are all completely valid. I personally, like the aesthetic of a rack and panniers more than a large bag hanging off the seatpost, I also do intend on leaving certain items a work but also don't want to limit my capacity in terms of storage in case there're other places I would like to go and more items I'd need to carry.

So... any suggestions on panniers that probably wouldn't hit my heels? Thanks again for all of the advice so far!

jadocs

I like the idea of mounting points on the seat post and axles vs. axle and seat stay.

firebird854

I actually completely agree with this, I did query Blackburn about that and their only option is seatstay, they have no adapter for seatpost. Old man mountian does, it will do Thru axle + seatpost, but it's much more expensive ($220ish vs $100) and can hold a lot more. However, I actually have relatively large, cylindrical, and stable alloy seatstays, and a light carbon seatpost, given this, it might actually be a better idea to use the seatstay?

In any case, I don't plan on really loading this up, likely a large heavy U-Lock, occasionally a laptop, spare kit +work clothes, a swimsuit, shoes (sometimes multiple pairs, ex. work + running) and food. So, likely in the area of 20-30 lbs, but larger volume items that would be hard to do in a seat rack.

SparkyCanada

When I used to commute to work (before semi-retiring) - I would pack all my stuff in a backpack.

At first it seemed like a nuisance with a backpack on - but within a few days - didn't even notice it...

Simple and quick - with plenty of room for anything extra if I decided to go shopping after work...

Just a thought...

SparkyCanada