Road-ride with panniers - on a MTB!

LondonMTB

Hi everyone,
I am going to France for 5 days cycling, taking tent etc with me. I need to keep weight down and take everything with me. Wondering if anyone has any tips for using a MTB for road riding (which this trip will be)...I have a Spec Rockhopper - anyone have any experience using panniers on this or other mountain bikes?

Pufftmw

Can you not hire a road bike or hybrid instead? Suited to purpose springs to mind...

You could also go to Evans and take one out on an extended test ride

LondonMTB

Hmm, had occurred to me...Kinda fond of my MTB and feel I haven't ridden it much recently, so would feel bad leaving it at home! Or I could splash out and just buy a road bike too...no that's greedy...

ploeb

I just did 5 days on road from wiltshire to Scotland on my stumpjumper. I used a seat post mounted rack I got from halfords for 25 quid, cos normal racks don't fit. I also fitted slicks. It was ok, I only carried spare clothes maps and some food, but I did feel some strange vibrations when the pannier wobbled from side to side during high speed cornering! Biggest lesson for me was to ride slowly and smoothly, rather than fast and aggressive like I usually do on my mountain bike.

LondonMTB

That's a good point.....Does anyone have experience of the best light-weight but not-too-expensive Pannier/rack system that'll fit a mountain bike? A lot of the info I can find on the web about various racks doesn't actually state their weight, but many of them are listed as 'lightweight'.... :?

MuddyFunster

You might want to consider a trailer. I think Edinburgh Bikes do one that'd fit the bill...

pte1643

Not much help really, but our Paramedic bikes at work are Rockhoppers, but they been fitted with Rigid forks and Semi-Slicks.

But they ARE panniered up to the hilt.

MTBDave

Sort of the same of the last post.

I used a Spec Rockhopper for the coast to coast, did it in two days with some continental travel contacts. forks locked out and a cheap pannier rack from LBS.

No problems, but it looked terrible!!!

bike-a-swan

If you've got rack mounts, the only possible issue is fitting the rack round the discs, otherwise it shouldn't be a problem. I used to use my old mtb for absolutely everything, it had a rack, panniers just came off for hooning around in the woods. Long distance road, I just pumped the tyres up. Get some slicks and you'll fly. Then if you like it and plan on doing it again, get a roadie.

Oh, and make sure you take enough spare pads with you to last the whole trip in worst case conditions if using discs, they might be hard to come by depending on brand and where you are...

pte1643

As a follow on, I've found a pic of one of our old response bikes. As you can see all panniered up... Rigid forks and disc brakes.

I don't think they look too bad.

The new bikes have yellow and Green "Battenburg" markings.

And, if anyone's thinking it... YES they DO have Blues and Two's.

mea00csf

me and the boyfriend did the south downs way with panniers taking full camping kit between the 2 of us, we packed really light and had about 8 kg each. We got the Ortlieb front roller panniers and used them on the back as we didn't want the larger back panniers (just encourages you to overpack!)

check out what mounts you've got. My On One had rack eyelets so i had no problems and got a standard mtb rack, (has wider mounts to clear disc brakes.) My boyfriend had more problems and had 2 options, he had to mount via the axle at the bottom, at the top he cound mount either to the seatpost or to the canti brake mounts. I think he ended up with through axle and canti mounts with an "old man mountain" rack.

One thing to bare in mind, i don't know anyone who hasn't had to bodge a rack on one way or another. It always ends in a trip to a hardware store or bending something into place.

For road riding i'd definetly buy a new pair of tyres tho.

Deputy Dawg

Went camping with an old HT that had panier mounts a few years ago & even did a spot of off roading between campsites with it loaded up.

One thing I found a total godsend was a cheap handlebar bag I picked up while out there to stow a map in. All of a sudden the front end had some traction & didn't lift at the slightest bump.

LondonMTB

Thanks for all your replies. I have had a look around and decided to get the Tortec Apex Rear Disc version. Does anybody else have experience of these? What panniers do people use with them? Altura?
Getting excited now, only 2 weeks to go!....

BigShot

Others have said and I'll repeat it... get road tyres.
I ride my 12-ish year old Kona Muni-Mula with mud tyres on the road and I'm constantly cursing the nobbles. I just haven't got around to replacing them yet.

If I was going for a week-long road tour I'd be swapping the tyres for something more suitable before I even considered a rack.

A mate of mine did a few weeks of touring on some Marin Hybrid or other and absolutely raves about the Continental "Sport Contact" tyres that came on it. "When the time comes to replace these I'll be buying the same tyres".
He did about 850 miles with a 25kg pannier on his and loads of commuting since leaving it pretty much a slick but not affected handling.


HUGE agreement with ploeb's comment about riding smoothly.
When taking a road corner with an unlaiden bike I tend to go in hot, countersteer and rail around for pure giggles... I tried it once (and only once) with a loaded rear rack and thought I was going to die.

Secure your load with the heavy stuff down low and ride smoothly.


Have an ace trip!