Softride + rack + panniers?

I plan to go on a tour where I would be carrying panniers on a rear rack for some of the time, then
stripping off the excess weight for some days of fast riding on an unladen bike.

I have an older chrome-moly framed Softride road bike, similar to http://www.softride.com/solo.html

I am concerned that the luggage will make a big difference to the unsprung mass, causing larger
loads on the beam and front pivot. I can tolerate the reduced comfort, but I don't want to break the
beam. Has anybody had any experience of how the Softride handles the weight of panniers?

Cheers Alan "no, I don't bounce" Walker

I have come to prefer to load my panniers on the front rather than on the back. It handles and feels
better that way. I don't know if you can put panniers on the front of a Softride though. When I did
the Transcontinental I encountered a guy with a BOB trailer which seemed to work very well for him.

Bob Taylor

walker@netcon.net.au (Alan Walker) wrote in message
news:<5cb9c6e4.0304300338.3f493051@posting.google.com>...
> I plan to go on a tour where I would be carrying panniers on a rear rack for some of the time,
> then stripping off the excess weight for some days of fast riding on an unladen bike.
>
> I have an older chrome-moly framed Softride road bike, similar to
> http://www.softride.com/solo.html
>
> I am concerned that the luggage will make a big difference to the unsprung mass, causing larger
> loads on the beam and front pivot. I can tolerate the reduced comfort, but I don't want to break
> the beam. Has anybody had any experience of how the Softride handles the weight of panniers?
>
> Cheers Alan "no, I don't bounce" Walker

>> Has anybody had any experience of how the Softride handles the weight of panniers?

I helped mount a set of pannierracks on a couple of Softride Powerbeam bikes that went on a 2000
mile tour.

The in the rear, racks were mounted to the dropouts. We fabricated an aluminum bracket that mounted
underneath the rear brake bolt for the front of the rack.

This scheme worked nicely. I would avoid mounting to the beam myself.

jon isaacs