Add a load of any kind to a bicycle and the delicate balance can be upset. As club riders become more comfortable with bike-mounted luggage, like handle bar and trunk bags, some have noticed a change in the stability of their machines. Some frame builders plan for these loads. Touring frames, for example, are engineered for the front-and-rear loads they will bear. Racing frames typically are not.One of the claims we heard about the new Kogswell Porteur/Randonneur frame set is, that it has been tuned with the expectation that the rider will mount a bag on the bars, and load it with food, clothing, spare parts, cell phone, and other goodies. If that were true, then the bike would be less stable without a load, and more stable with one.

Kogswell rider, Nate Armbrust, put the theory to the test by riding down the backside of Rainy Pass ‘hands free’ this summer. Check out this video clip of the results here on Nate’s blog.

Oh – by the way – that is yours truly up in front of him, white-knuckling my handle bars. A no-hands descent into Skagit River Valley? I don’t think so.

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