do you think the to bm boys were amateurs when they went the long way round ?

Hmmmmm is this bait ?? We haven't had a good E&C rant for at least a few weeks...

It matters not when you're on a sponsored Thomas Cook holiday with a small army running behind you to touch up your make up...

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Also, nothing wrong with looking good when on adventure travel. I for one ALWAYS take my curling iron and hair dryer even on shorter trips... call me vain...

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

Clearly armatures, because it was their first really long trip. And, before them, adventure travel was hardly noticed...

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

very true rex .so would this site be here and so great if the two actors hadn't been on there thomas cook holiday ,just a question ?

In terms of what?

In terms of never having done it before and never seeking any advice, therefore no knowing what to expect in terms of riding, or how badly a heavy bike will impact handling (your initial question), yes, they were naive. Completely naive. And if you watch LWR, you see that in Mongolia, and you see it on the Road of Bones. At one point they admit as much when unloading about 30 kgs of luggage each at a hotel on the Lena Highway. They admitted they had no idea what to take and had taken way too much weight.

On the other hand, they aslo claimed the hard panniers had saved Ewans life when a car rearsided them in Calgary. Maybe thats true. So you can take out of their experience whatever you like; for hard panniers or against them, but your original question was how does loaded hard panniers impact handling in particular. And obviously the answer is negatively. And more negatively than if it were with loaded soft bags.

I suggested earlier that you really need to look at all previous threads related to soft vs hard and all get all sides of the debate and all types of opinions, and them make your own mind up, because just by asking that question on here you are opening the forum up to a debate it has already had many, many times before. Plenty of us here have many wide and varied opinions on the subject. As you have just discovered. Dont take the actual debate too seriously - its just a bunch of those varied opinions coming out - we have been here before and are used to it - its part of the circus .... but you need to look at those opinions and take out of it what most strikes a chord with whatever type of travel you have in mind.

How crucial it is to you to have the best possible handling depends on your own personal preferences. But you also need to be open enough to consider that any preconceived ideas of 'how it should be done' are not necessarily the ones you will have once you have finished your first big trip, with whatever challenges you want to put in them. Every single bike traveller / adventurer I know has different tastes and priorities. Thats why there are few simple answers to questions.

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