I have a Raleigh Grand Sport and use it to do roughly 50-60 mile rides (out from my house and back) on the weekend, and a 30 miler or two during the week. It has a compact frame geometry. I have two water bottles on the frame, and a seatpost mounted rack w/bag (5"x5"x10"😉. The bag has been stuffed with cookies, powdered gatorade, tire repair/pump/tools, cell phone, wallet, headlight etc... I could actually use some more carrying capacity for water, and have, on occasion, taped a two liter bottle to my rack. The junk doesn't seem to affect the bike's handling too much when I ride, but it is clearly not ideal. Should a frame mounted rack up capacity a bit and improve balance?
Also, I saw some Zefal clip on plastic fenders, anyone know if they are decent or not?
Get a thing called a "bannana bag". It is a little bag that has three times the volume of my wedge and can fit on the handlebars or behind the seat. Giant makes one, and a few others. But you have to hunt around. I have seen them at Target. Tumbuk2 also makes a bit bigger bag that will do the same thing. It looks like the bags the old three speeds use to have. Neither if these is as big as a standard handlebar which I might eventually get because I plan on doing some light touring.😉
