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How Much Weight?

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Old 06-06-23, 04:14 AM
  #1  
Colorado Kid
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How Much Weight?

I have wire baskets on my groceries getter. How much weight can I safety put on the bike without it affecting everything?
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Old 06-06-23, 10:29 PM
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Show us a picture of the setup. Pull a trailer or a Travoy if you are worried about weight. I use the trailer for the weekly run (80lb to 100lb). I also have a 40L backpack and a 65L food delivery backpack. Either one can carry more weight than I can easily manage, but if I can stagger over to the bike and get on, it will get me home.
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Old 06-07-23, 09:19 AM
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It depends on the sturdiness of your baskets and where they are mounted. I used a Blackburn rear rack with panniers and sometimes carried as much as 30 pounds during my commute.
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Old 06-09-23, 10:01 AM
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JoeyBike
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Originally Posted by Moe Zhoost
It depends on the sturdiness of your baskets and where they are mounted.
The type of bike matters also. A Wal-Mart dual suspension "mountain" bike with loose hubs and headset won't do so great either. "Touring" style bikes with long chainstays and relaxed head tube angles, fork rake, etc do the best. A halfway decent ATB well maintained make nice work horses. I'm just guessing the OP has a "normal" bike and not a recumbent or other config.
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Old 06-09-23, 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by JoeyBike
The type of bike matters also. A Wal-Mart dual suspension "mountain" bike with loose hubs and headset won't do so great either. "Touring" style bikes with long chainstays and relaxed head tube angles, fork rake, etc do the best. A halfway decent ATB well maintained make nice work horses. I'm just guessing the OP has a "normal" bike and not a recumbent or other config.
Sure, the sturdiness of the baskets and the type of bike matter with regard to weight capacity, but potentially a bigger issue is bike handling. You would do well to throw some weight in those baskets and get used to riding that way. The bike will handle completely different, including braking. Don't make your first trip to the grocery store your trial run.
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Old 06-09-23, 11:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Jeff Neese
...The bike will handle completely different, including braking. Don't make your first trip to the grocery store your trial run.
At least not with breakable food containers. (Giant glass jar of mayonnaise comes to mind)
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Old 11-18-23, 11:41 AM
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Limit what groceries you can purchase or avoid any large box items, they can purchased on different day of the week if that is convenient that is what I did when I was at the flat.
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Old 01-24-24, 03:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Colorado Kid
I have wire baskets on my groceries getter. How much weight can I safety put on the bike without it affecting everything?
Don't exceed the weight rating on the rack(s).

Regarding stability, I have a 20" wheel folder, empty, steering was "twitchy", very maneuverable but don't take hands off steering, and on fast downhills, if I stood up, the whole bike could start a nasty shimmy, rapidly tipping left and right and amplifying. What made better? Unladen, sitting down or if standing to create more drag, clamping my thighs around the seat, my body acts as a mass-damper. Here's what's more interesting; A front rack and panniers with weight forward of the steering axis, calmed down the steering twitchiness (a deep research paper on stability of bikes confirmed that, see below). Adding a high rear rack (to fit full-size panniers), with a trunk bag on top full of tools (heavy), that helped damp out the shimmy, also mass damping effects.

"A bicycle can be self-stable without gyroscopic or caster effects":

https://ruina.tam.cornell.edu/researc...v34Revised.pdf
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Old 02-04-24, 05:21 AM
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I use a plastic milk crate, and I find that carrying anymore is asking for trouble.
I go shopping about three times per week, and have been doing so to a number of years now.
Oh, I live alone, so I only shop for one person.

Sorry I cannot as yet post a photo of my bike until I get 10 posts approval.
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Old 02-04-24, 07:03 AM
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Originally Posted by PeeWeePete
I use a plastic milk crate, and I find that carrying anymore is asking for trouble.
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Old 02-05-24, 05:18 AM
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Originally Posted by cb400bill
Are those vertical support struts? Or just elastics holding the crate onto a seatpost monobeam rack?
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Old 02-06-24, 02:43 PM
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Trial and error. Load it up and see how it handles and whether the struts look like they're bending. If a Dutch guy can carry his girlfriend on the handlebars, you're probably going to be okay with a bag or two full.
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