Heavy Duty

[Simon Ponsonby]

Hi

How much weight can a Raven Tour/eXp manage?

Would love to hear from you long disatnce tourers the 'total weight' - Rider & Kit your bike has carried.

Si

[julk]

Simon,

On a summer camping tour through the Scottish borders to the Lake District coast with 2 of my sons I estimate my all up weight at over 130kgs.
Comprising :-
85 kgs - aged male rider wearing summer/winter kit (the weather varied) including SPD sandals or shoes.
25kgs - base daily load carried in 4 Carradice super c panniers & 1 stuffsack comprising tent, sleeping mat/bag/pillow, stool, Trangia with a gas converter, fuel, bowls/mugs, water carrier, clothes, tools, lock, first aid, toiletries, towel, washing up kit, bike spares, camera, money, maps, emergency rations, etc..
18 kgs - eXp with Rohloff, S&S couplings, Sun rhynos, Schmidt dynohub, lots of lights/reflectors, Brooks Conquest, Thorn racks, Schwalbe XR 2" folders, Full mudguards/flaps, 3 bottle cages, SPD pedals, Thorn handlebars, Ergon grips.
2 kgs - 3x750 ml drink bottles full at start of day.
??kgs - food bought and carried during day for lunch/evening/breakfast meals.

I probably carried more than my share of the luggage weight on this trip.
It was necessary to carry enough food & drink for only 1 day as you could guarantee to restock at the end of the day. During the day was sometimes possible, but there are great swathes of countryside which are now without a shop of any kind.

I would say that the eXp was totally underwhelmed by the load it was carrying.
I found the load to be quite tiring going up some of the hills and on the next trip managed to take about 3kgs less of some things.

[lancer17]

Simon,

I came back from SJSC  to the Midlands on my new Raven Tour carrying just over 20Kgs of kit and a rather lardy me at 86Kgs, the bike did not even show any signs of it being to much, I am sure it will carry double the kit weight and more, just have to see if I can[]
I do hope it can because I keep looking at all the kit I intend to carry on my tour to New Zealand and its going to need to be able to do it.

[julk]

Simon,

Here are some quotes from posts that Andy Blance has made in the forum regarding loads being carried.
'I have carried 50Kg on my eXXp (most of it water) over the altiplano in Northern Argentina.'
'If you take it easy on the rough downhill bits, the Raven tour will carry 40Kg and still handle really well.'

So that is some guidance for you from the designer.

In addition, the steel racks that Thorn make are given maximum loading figures in the fitting instructions.
Rear - 45kgs, heavily qualified by 'the frame must be able to take the load'.
Front - 5 to 20 kgs per side, even more heavily qualified by 'the forks must be able to take the load'.

I hope this helps.

[Simon Ponsonby]

Thanks very much chaps - just the sort of info I wanted.
I am 100kg - I hope to lose weight (10kg?) before a planned for sabbatical tour, but all my cycling just seems to move my weight around or compact it - obviously not cycling far/hard enough!

I dont intend to do very long hauls fully loaded but need to know what a maximum load will be - I guess I wouldnt carry more than another 30kg which means both Raven/eXp would cope with it fine.

cheers

si

[freddered]

Me - 14st 7Lb
Camping Luggage 2st (all at the back)

16st 7Lb
231 lbs
105Kg

[daviddd55]

I'd say you def need to consider the best rack - I chose the Thorn ones for my current Oz tour. Therse are my weights in kg;
bike    19
me      70
front panniers (Ortlieb backroller) 13
rear panniers  (Ortlieb backroller) 22
water (max 12 litres) 12
bar bag 1
tent and tarp 3

=140 kg in all.

Bear in mind too that off-road riding is much harder on the racks / bike - the sudden jolts from potholes magnifies the weight.