Of racks and panniers

N1TRO

So I'm slowly building my bike up to take it on multi-day rides later in the year and am now in the process of selecting a rear rack and panniers. I ride a Spec Diverge which features mounts, but I've noticed there are disc-specific racks now as well? Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations.

And panniers as well, my current top pick would be the Ortlieb Rollers, they seem to be universally praised. Any other tips on that front? I'm not planning anything extreme for now, so I guess 2 bags and whatever can be strapped on the back should be enough.

Still not sure about the tent though. There's something special about sleeping outside, but I've seen some 1-person tents costing many hundreds, and that's way too much for some poles and a piece of covering if you aske me...

whoof

As your bike has discs you need a disc specific rack. Ortleib rollers panniers are excellent, had a pair for 13 year and no problems. One down side is they don't have any pockets, a bar-bag might be good for accessing stuff handily.

A couple of thing you need to bear in mind.
Heel clearance: Touring bikes have long chain-stays so that when you fit rear panniers your heels don't hit them (and also longer = more stable when loaded). The Diverge is a road bike with rack eyes and will probably have relatively short stays, try before you buy. The clips holding the panniers to the rack can be moved, but too much weight too far back can affect handling.

Cycle touring + camping on a road bike: You can physically load up two rear panniers with all the gear you need and put a tent on top of the rack but this will make the rear very heavy and the steering feel very light. The addition of a bar-bag may help with the steering but you are still putting a lot of weight on a rear wheel design primarily for riding with just you. Just because your panniers are XX litres you don't need to fill them up. Myself and Mrs Whoof manage two weeks camping with one pair of Ortleib rear and one pair Ortleib fronts between us and there's still room to spare in each one for picking up food along the way. This is also why people spent hundreds of £s on tents. They are light and good quality. My two man Terra Nova Voyager was £240 in the sales, weighs 2.2kg (you can get lighter but the tent floor gets so thin they recommend you put and extra 'footprint' base down first adding to the weight and cost) and is now 14 years old.

Lastly, enjoy yourself. Cycle touring and camping is a cheap and great way to get about and can be done on virtually any bike with almost any camping equipment, I once met a Russian in Southern Malaysia who had ridden there on an old mountain bike that looked like it came out of a skip with all his stuff in carrier bags. But it's just a bit easier and more enjoyable if you get kit the works better.

culverwood

If you are looking at holiday tours around the UK and Europe and not some long expedition I agree with whoof to look at using front panniers instead of full sized rear ones. If I took a tent which I would prefer not to as b+bs are so cheap it will go on top of the rack anyway. Look around but biggest is not always best.

Ber Nard

If the brake caliper on the the frame is chain stay mounted it won't foul a rack so any rack will work.

I swear by Ortlieb luggage and Tubus racks.

andymiller

Check the load capacity of the rack. Disc-specific racks unfortunately often have reduced load capacities because of their design. If your disc caliper is inside the rear triangle you should be fine, but otherwise fitting racks to a disc frame can be a pain, with no ideal solution. Tubus give you the greatest range of options, but it can come down to trial and error and using spacers.

IME It's best to mount the panniers as low and as far inboard as possible - if the load is too high or sticks out too far at the back then the back of the bike will feel twitchy.

I travel with two panniers and a top bag. A lot of tourers do. I have never had any problems with the front of the bike being light. I'm sceptical about the degree that the load on the back is going to affect the front of the bike: your luggage (say 15kgs) is over the rear triangle but then on top of that you have your weight (say 75kg). OK maybe 2/3rds of that weight is distributed over the back of the bike, but you still have a pretty reasonable amount of weight keeping your front wheel on the ground.

I'd start with two rear panniers and then if you find you need the extra luggage carrying capacity then you can always get a pair of front panniers.

N1TRO

I shouldn't hope the weight to be too much of a problem. I only weigh about 65 kg on a good day, plus another 10 or 15 would bring the total weight to that of an average rider. The placement is a bit to the back, but still.

As for the tent, I'll have to think about getting and using one. Perhaps if I find a bargain deal, otherwise the prices I've seen are too high for me right now.

culverwood

Just to be clear I meant front panniers used on the rear. The point was not to think the biggest pannier is the best if you are only going on a credit card tour.

deanflyer

I'd agree about going light. I'm doing a 10 day tour and I've bought some Ortlieb Front Roller Classic panniers, think they are 20 litres each.

My bikes got discs and I didn't need a disc specific rack. Had a Blackburn EX1 rack that I'd never used and it fit fine.

N1TRO

Truth be told I've never thought about putting Front Rollers on the back. Guess it's just the naming system that put me off.

Though it does make sense. 40 liters is a lot of space and you can put stuff on the rack itself. Should be plenty when not using a tent, cooking gadgets and the like.

deanflyer

Used the front rollers for the first time on my commute to work a couple of days ago. Took a load of stuff with me to see what they were like fully loaded. Very pleased with them.

I got them from bikeinn.com for £58 inc delivery. Only available in lurid orange , but I quite like the colour

deanflyer

Just back from my 1 week cycling tour through Netherlands/Germany with horrendous late April weather. Snow, hail, rain all the way from Amsterdam to Koblenz. Ortlieb front rollers were great and kept my stuff bone dry. Not the lightest but highly recommended.

N1TRO

Oh yeah, I guess a big part of Europe got hit by snow & all that. Luckily I was just south of Barcelona at that time, so I got away just fine. No cycling, but stunning beaches all the same.

If anyone wants to read my trip report and see some nice pics, do so by clicking here. The town in question is called Tarragona. If you're still not decided as to where to go this summer, don't miss it.

Incidentally, I've just bought some generic, budget panniers as well. Not exactly high quality and they don't look waterproof at all. But, they should do the job of carrying stuff just fine. I'll mount them on my Felt hybrid and post some pictures in a short while.