I never put racks on my own bikes, but I know things would be easier if I had them, and I don’t know how many times I wished I had a basket. lol
I just don’t like having the rack on when I don’t need to load anything and it’s a pain to remove the rack, just because I won’t be using it for a day or two. So I’ve sticked with rackless bikepacking for the past few years. I would carry a bag on my back or have everything in my bar bag in my daily life.
However, I have decided to put a rack on my Evasion that I rebuilt. The reason for this is that I’ve came to the conclusion that it won’t hurt to have one bike that is good for hauling, and I wanted to try out pannier bags for the first time.
Here are the ket points for choosing the rack.
– Has to be a front rack
– Doesn’t bother me when it’s on the bike all the time
– BUT, it has to be easy to remove
– Has to look cool.
The rack I chose was the Nitto S-Rack.
The reason I chose the rack is because I like how this bike looks.
I like how the rack looks clean without any bags on it.
Looking good!
I went on an overnighter trip, so I got a pannier bag set up.
This is all the stuff I wanted to pack. Just some sleeping gear, a chair and change of clothes.
The Pannier bag I chose is the Fairweather All Terrain Pannier. I like how it’s compact.
There’s only one large main compartment with a roll-top closure and two small pockets on the sides. It’s just enough for an overnighter.
Here’s the view from the saddle. The bag sits low on the fork, so the handling wasn’t too crazy. I was able to ride 30km in the dark safely. The side pockets came in clutch to stow the tent poles.
I really love that pannier bags are very easy to remove. It just takes a couple of seconds and the bag is off the bike!
