I just did a ~1500 mile loop up the pacific coast and around the olympic peninsula on a fully loaded AHH and I thought it did really well. I too experienced a little bit of a wobble on a couple occasions but I found that it was just indication that I had weight improperly placed and distributed. At one time, I had too much weight (firewood) high up above my rear panniers and on another I had too much weight on the front portion of the shelf of my front rack (in front of the axle). Keeping things down low and well distributed yielded a great handling bike that even did well on unpaved, rocky trails.
I'm about to head east from Portland OR to new york and I wouldn't hesitate to tour anywhere on the homer hilsen.. except maybe down the entire length of the Great Divide. Note that I'm a fairly light rider at around 145lbs with gear that probably never exceeds 45lbs On Aug 17, 1:10 pm, Brian Hanson <[email protected]> wrote: > Mike - how much weight on the Hilsen? Was it wobbly in specific > situations? Interested in more detail as I'll be doing this sort of thing > with a Hilsen. BTW - great trip photos. Looks like it was a great time! > > Brian > > On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 10:55 AM, Mike <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Yesterday my friend Dylan and I finished up 8 days of cyclotouring > > through WA and OR. We managed to roll through portions of Gifford > > Pinchot NF, Mt Hood NF, Deschutes NF and the Willamette NF. We totally > > veered from our planned route which would have kept us in and around > > the GPNF but due to poor weather we changed plans and headed south. > > The hight point of the trip was day 6 when we took back roads from > > Madras to just below the summit of McKenzie Pass. I had been wanting > > to climb the pass ever since moving to OR and was not disappointed. We > > stayed at a beautiful and serene campground--Lava Lake. The next day > > we got on the road at 7am and summited McKenzie Pass where we had epic > > vies of the surround mountains and lava fields from the Dee Wright > > Observatory. > > > My Hilsen handled well although next time I tour like this I'll be on > > a dedicated touring bike. At times the Hilsen felt a little too > > noodly. I was absolutely floored by the performance of my Schwalbe > > Marathons (700x41)--they were great. I expected them to feel dead but > > they were fine. > > > We averaged like 82 miles a day. Our shortest day was like 65 miles > > and the longest 107. I can't wait until the next tour. Although we had > > poor weather which was a bummer the GPNF seems to offer endless > > cyclotouring opportunities for people living in Seattle or Portland > > and everywhere in-between. > > > My camera crapped out for part of the trip so I don't have photos from > > day 5 and only a few from day 4 and 6. > > >http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335...@n00/sets/72157622065862878/ > > > --mike --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
