Hi Minh, I read all the thoughtful responses, and they brought up ideas I hadn’t considered. My suspicion on the cause of any shimmy is the stacked flex points in the handlebar to load system.
Your setup looks fine and I think a basket is the height of chic. If you have a basket, you don’t need a bag, right? I do like small bags attached to the outside of the basket. That’s a nice way to “modern” up your setup. https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca_EscbLkTC/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= My Quickbeam doesn’t shimmy with a front load, but I’ve got a steel Salsa stem, with steel Sycip Java Boy bars, previously (15+) years with WTB flared drops. The basket is welded to the rack, which attaches to the canti posts and fork crown, and previously (14+ years) I used hose clamps. Solid either way. Philip Sonoma County, Calif On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 12:21:10 PM UTC-7 Minh wrote: > hey all thanks for comments. i guess part of me asking is that this > classic combo does feel a little 'old fashioned', but it is super versatile > and the shopsack is like a perfect fit for the basket. i just pass all > these cool looking front bag options! > > i may be exaggerating a little bit the shimmy and wobble, its hard to nail > down but sometimes it feels like the load will start shifting and > osciliating, its never out of control but it does make me sit-up and pay > attention--i can feel 'something'. John, makes a good point, this bike > does have pretty serious front wheel flop, so it could be that i'm feeling > too. > > the basket is held on at the moment with a mix of zipties and straps, but > maybe i can stiffen things up with some cross support? How are people > attaching the baskets? > > Re: the perilous part, i know that Riv/Nitto are very conservtive with > both weight, and warnings about using the racks as support for a handlebar > bag instead of a static load. and i am as nuts as all of you, when i had a > platrack on this setup i carried a car batttery and watermelon in my 139 > basket! > > Stephen, which front rack are you using for the 139? > > Again thanks for all the thoughts, will try to be more aware of weight vs > wobble feel. i've been riding to work so its pretty much the same load, > but will focus on it more! > > > On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 11:52:15 AM UTC-4 Stephen wrote: > >> I also think your setup looks good Minh, I'm a big fan of the shop sack & >> 137 combo, however I use the nitto m1 rack. In my experience i think there >> is always going to be some degree of flex when you have a rack&basket >> combined with swept back bars and a quill stem, especially as your load >> weight goes up. I think of it as compounding flex points: a little in the >> rack struts, a little in the quill length, and a little in the bar. It gets >> more noticeable as each of these lengths get longer. I have a basket setup >> on my ram with albastache bars and a really short 50mm technomic and the >> flex isn't noticeable unless im carrying a lot of weight. >> >> I also have an appaloosa set up with a large basket rack and a 139. I >> initially ran losco's with an 11cm stem, which felt really noodly with any >> decent weight in it, switched to the riv bull moose and it stiffened up >> considerably. >> >> I've also tried the carradice/bxb/fabs style bag up front and I'd say it >> reduces wobble. It may effect handling in other ways but it seems to me to >> be less flexy since you are torquing the front load directly through the >> handlebars instead of handlebars -> stem -> steer tube/fork -> rack. >> however, I still tend to prefer the shopsack basket combo because I like to >> just pick up the bag and go whenever I park the bike. >> >> ... >> >> I just read your post again and maybe this isn't really addressing the >> issue, if its more a problem of the bike shimmying at higher speeds. I've >> experienced that on some lighter tubed bikes, i never really had a solution >> beyond carrying less weight. >> On Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at 10:45:57 AM UTC-4 Steven Sweedler wrote: >> >>> Another thing to try and eliminate shimmy is to use a fork crown mounted >>> brake cable stop instead of the one at the headset. Its worked for me on >>> several bikes and now its all I use. Steve >>> >>> On Wed, Jun 8, 2022 at 10:27 AM 'John Hawrylak' via RBW Owners Bunch < >>> rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com> wrote: >>> >>>> From your pictures, your front rack/basket seems to be set up as good >>>> as it can be, i.e., the rack is as low as possible and all the weight is >>>> on >>>> the rack, none is on the bars. I do not see any improvements there >>>> >>>> So the shimmy is likely caused by the amount of weight on the front and >>>> the high trail & flop inherent in you QB. The QB seems to be a 56 or 58cm >>>> frame and per the RBW specs on Cyclofiend ( Cyclofiend: RBW: Frame >>>> Geometry Archive Info >>>> <http://www.cyclofiend.com/rbw/geometry.html#saluki> ) HTA is 72.5°, >>>> rake is 4.5cm & with 32-622 tires, giving a 62mm trail and 18mm flop. The >>>> trail and flop are both high, and combined with the front weight, is a >>>> likely cause of the shimmy. >>>> >>>> Suggestions >>>> Shift some of the front weight to the rear saddle bag to reduce front >>>> weight, and balance the load better >>>> >>>> Use a needle bearing headset, or a HS with needle bearings on the >>>> bottom. >>>> >>>> John Hawrylak >>>> Woodstown NJ >>>> >>>> On Tuesday, June 7, 2022 at 12:00:22 PM UTC-4 Minh wrote: >>>> >>>>> hey all, i've been using my QB more now, and started to think about >>>>> how i carry things on the front of my bike. i'm pretty settled on a rivy >>>>> shopsack+ wald137 basket + nitto mini front (with a safety strap!). I >>>>> know >>>>> this is a little perilous according to the stated specs, so would >>>>> consider >>>>> other options. >>>>> >>>>> I'm mostly happy with this, i do get a little bit of wobble or >>>>> shimmy. But i also feel like this is how i've always done things so >>>>> curious how other people are carry things--particularly on front of teh >>>>> bike. For example i see all these Fabio's Chest running around, is it >>>>> better to carry stuff off the bar? Larger porter racks and bags? >>>>> >>>>> This bike is my high security storage only bike, so i'm not too >>>>> worried about leaving bags on the bike. Would appreciate peoples >>>>> thoughts, opinions, philosophy on this! >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>>> >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2df889c-c289-4f8c-9dad-f90c99b96173n%40googlegroups.com >>>> >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/c2df889c-c289-4f8c-9dad-f90c99b96173n%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>>> . >>>> >>> -- >>> Steven Sweedler >>> Plymouth, New Hampshire >>> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/2972d7f8-1e01-44e0-a492-a0380d683f86n%40googlegroups.com.
