How Much Weight?
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 5,994
Mentioned: 26 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2495 Post(s)
Liked 739 Times
in
523 Posts
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.
#3
Half way there
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,957
Bikes: Many, and the list changes frequently
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 986 Post(s)
Liked 880 Times
in
527 Posts
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.
#4
20+mph Commuter
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Greenville. SC USA
Posts: 7,517
Bikes: Surly LHT, Surly Lowside, a folding bike, and a beater.
Mentioned: 31 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1434 Post(s)
Liked 331 Times
in
219 Posts
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.
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 1,490
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1083 Post(s)
Liked 687 Times
in
441 Posts
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.
#7
Newbie
Join Date: Mar 2023
Posts: 3
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
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.
#8
Senior Member
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
#9
Newbie
Join Date: Feb 2024
Posts: 10
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 10 Times
in
6 Posts
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.
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.
#10
Forum Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kalamazoo MI
Posts: 20,650
Bikes: Fuji SL2.1 Carbon Di2 Cannondale Synapse Alloy 4 Trek Checkpoint ALR-5 Viscount Aerospace Pro Colnago Classic Rabobank Schwinn Waterford PMount Raleigh C50 Cromoly Hybrid Legnano Tipo Roma Pista
Mentioned: 59 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3091 Post(s)
Liked 6,601 Times
in
3,785 Posts
__________________
#11
Senior Member
Pic Assist] PeeWeePete's Albums - BikeForums
#12
Prefers Cicero
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.