Advice for fellow bikers planning travels: Lose Weight

Here is a little bit of advice for those bikers who have not travelled with heavily laden bikes before. We had done a number of test runs and packed in all our gear but some how by the time we left the luggage was heavier than expected.

We have been struggling with weight. When the rear of the bike is heavy the front wheel gets wobbly and is difficult to handle at high speeds, on hills and off road. My bike in particular had one very heavy pannier with tools which meant the bike tipped to the side every time I braked hard and made it very hard to get corners smoothly. Generally I struggled to control the bike.

Besides trying to get rid of everything we don’t really need, what we’ve done is try to make sure our weight is evenly distributed, both between us and our panniers too. I’ve found I have heavier but smaller items while Paul has bulkier items. So we had to even it out between us.

To reduce the wobbly front wheel problem we have tried to move weight forward. Not an easy task! I’ve tied the spares to the front of my bash plate and the spanner set is now tied to my handle bars. Paul cable-tied the tyre irons to his front forks.

We have posted home any bits we haven’t used or can do without in a desperate attempt to get the weight down. I can’t imagine we will be able to manage off road and gravel with the weight we have at the moment. I can only imagine that we will be saying goodbye to even more of our possessions as we start doing more difficult driving.