That's a solid experiment, Peter, and your observation is consistent with the math of mechanical resonance. If a bike shimmies and one wants to make it stop, add some weight, remove some weight, or move some weight around and try again. That's not the only possible remedy, but it's the simplest recommendation and ought to be effective the vast majority of the time.
Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 12:28:45 PM UTC-8 [email protected] wrote: > Back in the pre-cambrian epoch, I did an experiment. I took a pack of SRAM > chains, ten to a pack, and put it inside the rack-top pack on my touring > bike. I placed it at the rear of the pack, and put a down vest at the front > of the pack. The bike shimmied horribly. The bike was unrideable. About 50 > yards down the road, I stopped and moved the chains to the front of the > bag, and the down vest at the rear. There was no shimmy. It's all about > weight distribution. > > On Mon, Dec 8, 2025 at 1:41 PM Patrick Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Just a thought, but with a large Homer frame and a sub 2” tire, you might >> want to see if your large Homer has enough clearance between underside of >> saddle and top of rear tire to accommodate a Bagboy without a support. Me, >> I like transverse saddlebags precisely when they don’t need supports; if I >> use a rack, it’s to accommodate panniers which have much more volume and >> on/off flexibility. >> >> Perhaps some added stiffening — I’ve got some spare Coroplast — would >> keep the load off the tire. >> >> Here’s a 30 lb load in a Medium Sackville circa 2010 with plenty of >> clearance over rear tire and no support or even a cinch strap around the >> bag. And, the bag was mounted on a home-made QR bag mount that put the bag >> an inch or so lower down compared to strapping it directly to the >> saddle.Granted, 26 X 1.4” wheel (~25” tall) on a 58 cm c-c frame (that 2003 >> RBW Curt), but I think that modern Sackvilles have been improved for even >> better tire clearance, and your Homer is considerably bigger than the Curt. >> >> [image: image.png] >> >> -- >> > 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 [email protected]. >> > To view this discussion visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfguVRBziz5M6n0EtxYShx%2B-C9y252teiOfJyLigW_J5mYw%40mail.gmail.com >> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CALuTfguVRBziz5M6n0EtxYShx%2B-C9y252teiOfJyLigW_J5mYw%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> . >> > > > -- > Peter White > -- 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/ddb83cd5-9437-44f5-8d4e-20ebd05ebbe5n%40googlegroups.com.
