wobbly Sterling

[jahwalla]

hi there,

I am the proud owner of Thorn Sterling equipped with a Magura Menja suspension fork. It came with magura rimbrakes + a Tubus logo rear carrier.
being a rather lightweight conscious person, never carrying more than 15 kg. (own bodyweight is 65kg.) I do have a handlebar bag fitted.
As singlespeed/rohloff equipped mountainbike it serves it's purpose really well. But as trekkingbike loaded with more than 12kg. it gets fairly wobbly/lively. Especially when I get out the saddle to really hammer it on the pedals. In other words the frame isn't as stiff as I hoped it would be.
Does anybody share this expericience? What actions could I take to make this frame any stiffer?

cheers

Jos

[julk]

I ride a Rohloff Thorn tourer loaded with four panniers and have tried touring a couple of times with the addition of a bar bag.
Both times I did not like feel of the front end with the bar bag loaded and soon took it off and lashed it to the rear rack!
So it might be worth looking for a frame fitting bag instead of using a bar bag. Revelate Designs make a good looking 'Tangle Bag'. This could go some way to making the bike feel stiffer.

How much heel clearance do the rear panniers have? Moving them as far forwards as possible will minimise any wag that they can give to the back end and make the bike feel stiffer. 

Reading the Sterling/Nomad brochure gives the impression that the Sterling is a lighter weight bike and will need a gentler riding style then the Nomad Mk 2 - maybe you are riding around the limit of what the bike is designed for.

If all else fails, sell the frame and refit the gear onto a Nomad Mk 2 frame which definitely will be stiffer.

[Fred A-M]

My experience with RST wasn't initially dissimilar - very very responsive (ie. twitchy with rear panniers (12kg & bar bag), but I soon got used to it.   Not sure about the Sterling, but the RST used to be advertised as being for "the experienced rider," presumably because of this characteristic.  So it may be that the more you get to know your new stead, the more accepting of its characteristics you'll become with proportionate rewards!

Since touring with front panniers however, I've come to appreciate what a truly refined touring machine the RST is with more evenly distributed weight (no more than 18Kg) - it rides like a dream.

[brummie]

A rather loaded Sterling can be found here:

http://whileoutriding.com/my-bike/