Pete
Hope the following info is useful. I completed the North Sea Cycle Route this summer with a total cycling distance of over 6200 km. Terrrain was mainly sealed cycle paths and roads. There were many sections of cinder and dirt and forest tracks, some major potholed and tree root affected paths, as well a some truly off-road conditions. At a guess I would say that 20 per cent of the route is
not sealed or good level cycle paths or roads.
I have a Thorn Raven Tour with the standard Deore front hub, and Rohloff rear. Rims are the normal Rigida 30 rims. Ortlieb front and back roller plus panniers and a 31 l RackPack. The racks are Thorn Expedition and low loader Mk V. The 'naked' bike weighs 20.1 kg.
On returning I weighed everything that I arrived home with ...
Handlebar Bag: 2.3 Kg
DSLR Camera: 2.2 kg
Rackpack 31 l including food: 7.2 kg
Front Ortliebs: 7.2 kg
Rear Ortliebs: 16.2 kg
Tent: 3.5 kg
Helmet: 0.6 kg
Water and Stove fuel: 2.8 kg
My Weight: 72.5 kg
Front Rack Load: 7.2 kg
Rear Rack Load: 29.1 kg (camera, tripod, food, tent included but should have had more weight in the front Ortliebs
).
Total Luggage Weight: 39.2 kg
There were no problems with the bike racks or luggage other than having to replace the front bearings in the Deore M590 hub. That was due to one faulty bearing and I don't think was caused by the load over rough terrain. I easily had the whole set of bearings replaced in a bike shop.
Wheels and spokes remain as true in alignment as the day I set off.
I replaced the Panaracer TourGuard tyres with Schwalbe Marathon Plus in London. The old Panaracers suffered from the rigours of glass and nail covered cycle paths in the UK. The tyres were over 5 years old and did well but started to delaminate due to use and age. They would probably have got me the last 400 miles, but the Marathon Plus with their puncture protection were too good to resist!
The Rohloff performed really well and required no adjustments at all during the tour.
So you can see that I have 'stress-tested' the front and back racks over time (91 days of cycling), but would still stick with the Thorn weight recommendations on a future tour, especially if it was all off-road. It was my first long tour ... I now know how to reduce the weight and would probably get rid of at least 10 kg next time. At no time did I feel that the loaded bike was struggling under the weight.
The racks and bike are up to the job. It was the rider who would have appreciated a lighter load!
