Wally, I love the set-up you've got there, especially up front. *I wish I was a little bit taller...*
Minh, I've owned a QB for 5 or 6 years. I recently traded my Orange 54 for a better-fitting, but less-fast ;) Silver 56. The 54 always had a front basket on a small Campee rack. I camped and erranded a lot on this bike, plenty of long rides in-between - it was my only bike for some time. I never experienced wobble nor shimmy, and really pushed the limits on load weight - in fact, the fork crown stay of the rack broke (not at the weld, mind you) on a mostly off-road 2-nighter around the Santa Cruz Mountains in CA, catastrophe gratefully/luckily avoided. It was fixed by listmember David Parsons. Since then, I've been much more careful with how much weight I add on that rack. Anyway, steering generally always felt totally great. The 56 is more of a French fit, and it currently holds a Swift rando bag. It's fendered, and its main purpose is a wet-conditions SS road/rando bike. I have a commuter now that does the errand haul with a sturdier rack, so the QB's load stays light; only gets what I need for a day's ride. I'm currently in the middle of a bike-parts-switch-up, and it may end up getting moustache bars (I was recently surprised to learn I love them), and an Erlen rack + small Fabio out back. I've never ridden with rear weight on the QB, and would like to try it out, as others have recommended. I have tried rear weight on various other bikes, most recently a '92 XO-1, and have never liked the feel. The other main thing to consider with a large handlebar bag, besides your bar width as Joe pointed out, is how high your bars are in relation to you front wheel, and how/if the bag is supported. Yours looks fine in the photo, but something to consider. Once a week or so I try to commute 33 miles each way to work on the XO-1. I use the small Fabio's, supported by a homemade "Pec-Dec". It holds just my laptop, charger, clothes, snacks, journal, few toiletries, other small incidentals (read: junk). It could fit more, and even with weight, the bag feels sturdy, the steering different but comfortable, smooth, responsive. But the bag, even with the support, just barely clears enough when stuffed with stuff. I need longer struts. Anyway, hope that's all helpful. Patch NYC On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 10:45:57 AM UTC-4 Steven Sweedler wrote: > Another thing to try and eliminate shimmy is to use a fork crown mounted > brake cable stop instead of the one at the headset. Its worked for me on > several bikes and now its all I use. Steve > > On Wed, Jun 8, 2022 at 10:27 AM 'John Hawrylak' via RBW Owners Bunch < > rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote: > >> From your pictures, your front rack/basket seems to be set up as good as >> it can be, i.e., the rack is as low as possible and all the weight is on >> the rack, none is on the bars. I do not see any improvements there >> >> So the shimmy is likely caused by the amount of weight on the front and >> the high trail & flop inherent in you QB. The QB seems to be a 56 or 58cm >> frame and per the RBW specs on Cyclofiend ( Cyclofiend: RBW: Frame >> Geometry Archive Info >> <http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/geometry.html#saluki> ) HTA is 72.5°, >> rake is 4.5cm & with 32-622 tires, giving a 62mm trail and 18mm flop. The >> trail and flop are both high, and combined with the front weight, is a >> likely cause of the shimmy. >> >> Suggestions >> Shift some of the front weight to the rear saddle bag to reduce front >> weight, and balance the load better >> >> Use a needle bearing headset, or a HS with needle bearings on the >> bottom. >> >> John Hawrylak >> Woodstown NJ >> >> On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 12:00:22 PM UTC-4 Minh wrote: >> >>> hey all, i've been using my QB more now, and started to think about how >>> i carry things on the front of my bike. i'm pretty settled on a rivy >>> shopsack+ wald137 basket + nitto mini front (with a safety strap!). I know >>> this is a little perilous according to the stated specs, so would consider >>> other options. >>> >>> I'm mostly happy with this, i do get a little bit of wobble or shimmy. >>> But i also feel like this is how i've always done things so curious how >>> other people are carry things--particularly on front of teh bike. For >>> example i see all these Fabio's Chest running around, is it better to carry >>> stuff off the bar? Larger porter racks and bags? >>> >>> This bike is my high security storage only bike, so i'm not too worried >>> about leaving bags on the bike. Would appreciate peoples thoughts, >>> opinions, philosophy on this! >>> >> -- >> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >> > To view this discussion on the web visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2df889c-c289-4f8c-9dad-f90c99b96173n%40googlegroups.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2df889c-c289-4f8c-9dad-f90c99b96173n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > -- > Steven Sweedler > Plymouth, New Hampshire > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cbabae28-137a-4aee-832c-9d24db89e359n%40googlegroups.com.
