That's because your romanceur is a low trail bike with 36mm of trail as opposed to the 55-60mm on typical Rivendell bikes. Conversely, that's why the Romanceur won't ride well without a front load! That makes bikes like that a specialized item as opposed as a bike meant for general riding that can be used for both carrying a load and riding without one.
On Monday, October 10, 2022 at 1:01:15 PM UTC-7 Mackenzy Albright wrote: > I ran a porteur rack and large basket on my romanceur and never noticed > the weight. I'd be surprised when I took it off how much the rack+basket > weighed. Riding I found it to be no issue. I could load it up and it was > never an issue. I actually found it a bit too wispy unloaded - but I rarely > go on a ride with *nothing* with me. > > Once I purchased a new style clem smith jr the wheel flop even with just a > rack and basket drove me nuts. Loaded up with lots of tools or groceries it > rides OK. but it didn't have the same effortless *pushing a wheelbarrow* > feel my romanceur had. I feel it lacks the nimble aspect that works well > bike camping riding gear on slower trails. > > I recently acquired a first generation Clementine - I find it's somewhere > in between the Romanceur and Clem Smith. I read somewhere Clementines were > a Hunqapillar front end with a swooped TT and longer rear Tri. It rides > best unloaded. But doesn't have the same flop as JR making it tolerable > lugging larger loads of tools or groceries. It's fine for now. I think once > I get bike camping with it i'll have to be more creative dispersing weight > rather than jamming it all in my front basket or large front porteur bag. > > Trail definitely seems to be the biggest factor IMO. I'd love a custom low > trail hunqapillar(ish) bike one day. > > On Monday, October 10, 2022 at 12:00:27 PM UTC-7 freem...@gmail.com wrote: > >> Hello, and thank you for posting this. >> >> I was just about to order one to put on my, 'new to me' early aughts >> quickbeam. I was curious on it's weight and how it would feel. >> >> For years ( about a decade !) I had a Schwinn voyageur with the surly >> front rack combo - ready to tour, ready to ferry an obscene amount of >> groceries home. It was heavy and worth it; I'm also ready to move to >> something lighter with my new quickbeam. Maybe a Nitto M1 or another >> minimal cantilever attached front rack will be nice. Won't be able to haul >> as much, but that's okay too! >> >> Side tangent, but related: does anyone have a recommendation for a canti >> front rack? I was looking at the one on VO - seems decent, but would love >> to hear other people's opinions. >> >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 7, 2022, 3:05 PM Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> As a non-front-rack guy (so why are you even posting, Joe??) I have no >>> thoughts on that particular rack, but I DO have thoughts on total bike >>> weight. When I had my custom designed, then added parts, I leaned towards >>> as much lightness as I could safely get away with for the use. Lighter = >>> easier/faster was a consideration, but the main goal wasn't for riding but >>> moving the thing around. If it's a struggle to get up the steps to my house >>> or load in the back of the car I'm going to be annoyed by that, the bike >>> needs to be accessible in all ways. SO. If you're struggling to load it and >>> can find a lighter/smaller rack to do the same job, I think this is the >>> way. >> >> >>> >>> On Friday, October 7, 2022 at 2:00:17 PM UTC-7 Bicycle Belle Ding Ding! >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi friends, >>>> >>>> Can we just talk about the Nitto Basket Rack for one sec? >>>> >>>> I was so excited when this was made and I got one soon after. I have it >>>> on my Overkill Shopping Platypus, and I like the way it looks and its >>>> utility but it is SO HEAVY. Noticeably heavy. Like, when I lift the >>>> unloaded bike onto my van bike rack I struggle - and I’m no wimp. This >>>> Platy outweighs my rear-racked and Backabike’d Clem, and I think the >>>> Basket >>>> Rack is mostly to blame. >>>> >>>> I’m toying with the idea of removing it, but then I’d have to get a new >>>> setup for my dyno headlight, so I hesitate. >>>> >>>> I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else complain about the weight of the >>>> Basket Rack; I feel like I’m the only one, which makes me suspect I’m >>>> wrong. Before I do anything drastic, I just wanted to see if this has been >>>> anyone else’s experience. Is the Basket Rack a beast? Has anyone else >>>> tried >>>> it and disliked it? >>>> >>>> I know there’s a whole discussion out there about carrying weight on >>>> the front. I guess I’ve never had a real issue with it, aside from not >>>> liking that the bars swing around when parked. I’m not really talking >>>> about >>>> THAT; I’m wondering if anyone else finds this Nitto rack unnecessarily >>>> heavy. Not that I’m going for lightweight, here. I mean, look at these >>>> pics. >>>> >>>> Leah >>>> >>>> -- >>> >> 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/e60a3342-084b-4886-9c07-f55f5289294dn%40googlegroups.com >>> >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/e60a3342-084b-4886-9c07-f55f5289294dn%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- 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/682fade5-3fbc-4a12-9e75-4bcb2636aa07n%40googlegroups.com.
