holy crap the world is a fine sheen of ice and yet i am biking on it
whew, got my groceries home safe. that was rough!
@modgethanc egg cartons and bananas in the saddlebags is making me stressed out for you
@agaric proud 2 say not a single egg broke on this very slippery and bouncy ride home
(under the bananas was two pounds of apples. for balance.)
@modgethanc that's really impressive! I don't eat eggs so I don't have to worry about transporting them via bike, but I almost always bruise the heck outta my bananas. I usually just have either something on my front rack or in my backpack, so it's maybe a bit bumpier than saddlebags.
@agaric i usually get bananas a little on the green side, so they're more resilient during travel, and i don't mind the bruising anyway! i think saddlebags might be more stable because they're lower and closer to the center of mass, so there's just less jiggling overall.
@modgethanc oooo smart move on the green bananas! usually mine just get bruised and I make banana bread or whatever. I'm going to try out saddlebags probably this summer when I do a tour, but I've never had any before!
@agaric oh, they'll be wonderful for touring! i just use them for commuting/groceries, but they let me take on so much weight while still being really stable. i never got into front racks because they made my steering kind of squiffy, and it was really nice to take the weight off my back, which freed me up to do a lot more body weight control (super important for icebike 👌 )
@modgethanc icebike is terrifying and i always eat it. i think the weight on the front makes it harder, but i generally like it! my only other comparison is a milk crate on the rear rack that always made me want to fall over when i had loaded it up, but with the front rack i feel like i can control better with my arms! i think ideally dispersing weight low to the ground is the best move though.. sometimes when i get a lot of weight up front i feel like im out of control heh
@modgethanc ive never toured either! so ive gotta learn quick heh. i think I'm gonna try rear panniers and maybe my front rack also (probably bulky but light stuff) , then maybe a small handlebar bag or frame bag for easy access stuff. we'll see how it ends up!
@agaric ooh, yeah, i tried the milk crate thing for a while, but it just felt like too much weight up high for me. i think if i were to set up a touring rig, i'd keep most of the weight in rear panniers, then front panniers, and then handlebars or on top of the rear rack for easy access stuff (food/gear/etc. for the day). i've never done proper bike touring, though, this is just my vague thoughts from hanging around other people/doing a ton of bike commuting!