Bikepacking HUNT for the error source! Luggage, Spokes, Frontrack?? 

Yeah sorry to say you loosened the spokes, Not tighten them Also using the valve is a good reference point

You got to give yourself some super credit for figuring out the problem and using those straps to measure the distance from the rim to the fork to check if its straight. that's a really smart road side idea. I see this whole video as a great learning success. bravo.

Yes, if your bike is in good condition with a straight frame and wheels and no play in the headset, the oscillations are indeed usually caused by overloading or uneven weight distribution of luggage. Limiting the weight of your luggage, keeping it low to the ground, as centered and as balanced (left/right) as possible are the ways to prevent this. The brand Cane Creek has a special upper headset bearing intended to prevent oscillations, the Viscoset.

Ich fühle das total mit dem Rad, ich würde wahnsinnig werden 😬👍🏻

I'm getting ready to ride rude from Reno to Vegas or Reno to Salt Lake City, but it'll be my first bikepacking trip, but I have the gear, & rode 5k miles last year on a bike, so know I physically, as well as mentally can do it, I just don't want to do it alone the first time, I'd rather have the chance to learned from someone who's done it already. Either way I'm still going through with it, it's hard enough to not make people think you went nuts doing something like this, it's a whole other to try to convince someone else who doesn't understand its outta our hands, OUR SOULS are making us do these journeys, I'll just be a willing participant! 😂

I'm happy to hear you are doing good 👍

Lovely video as always. When you tightened the spokes near the beginning it looks like you were actually loosening them. Think about shortening a spoke to make it tighter.

Hello! I had the same problem with my bike! When I let go of one or both hands, he began to vibrate and stagger in the same way. But, the most interesting thing is that sometimes this did not happen!)) For a long time I did not understand what the problem was, but later it turned out that everything was in a flask of water! I had it inside the frame. Depending on the amount of water in it, it could swing inside the flask and resonate with the bike, this led to a problem) Pay attention, maybe you have the same) Have a nice trip!))

Tighten the stem downward. Engage front brake and push back and forth to see if the steerer is loose.

Not going insane in this situation and keep doing everything calm and steady is such difficult thing to do! My bike would have had its first flight down the next bridge and I would sit next to the road waiting for a bus home.. :D

Truing wheels is such a pain. I did the exact same thing as you, except I actually broke a spoke. Thanks for sharing the problems of bike life. I really enjoy your videos!

Hey Cheerio, you are awesome, showing courage, patience and perseverance. The strap-based wheel cantering setup was pure genius :) Good insight on how painful and time consuming mechanical problems can be! Hey, life on a bike.

I hate that crazy troubleshooting loop, it goes like that some times, trouble frustrates you but that what makes you grow and be stronger! I love your attitude, safe travels, cheerio!

congrats on the awesome rim centering guide you made from those plastic straps. Genius!

Hi there! I just watched your latest vlog and as always, it was amazing! Your content is always so entertaining. I couldn't help but feel sorry for you when you were talking about your bike problems, but it's great to see that you still managed to enjoy yourself despite of this issues.That kind of positive attitude is truly inspiring.I can't wait to see your next video. Keep it up 🙂Take care 🙂

Sorry to see you had problems, these things come along to test us all. Good luck as you continue on your journey(s). I luv your videos. Keep it going 🙂

Great video, and one we can all learn from. I appreciate that you take us through the lows as well as the highs of bike touring. Hope the bike is nicely fixed now!

7:08 did you mean front rack? putting weight in front of your axle is always going to make your ride less stable. If you think about e-scooters which are almost impossible to drive one handed, its because all the weight is pushin down straight onto the axle. On your bike you can take your hands of and it wants go straight because your weight is pushing down behind the axle due to the angled headtube. The more weight you put in front of your axle the more unstable the steering is going to get and inbalances in your rim are going to show, which I think is the source of your problems. So mounting the rack further back is a very good idea and I'd recommend getting your rim trued and spoke tension checked asap you may also encounter the woble getting worse at certain speeds because of resonance frequency edit: well, well the urge of mensplaining made me comment before watching till the end once again really enjoy your videos, keep it up!

You remember me when I was kid, I had such problems with my bikes, I loved riding or driving something , but I learned many things to fix them by my self . I admire you , good job !

Great troubleshooting! An adventure within an adventure! A wheel that is true is a dream; if not, an Alptraum!

No German swearing lol... kidding. Amazing work, love your videos.

AND ….. Great home made trouble shooting skills in the development there. So pat on the back. Well done.

A wonderfully stimulating series of videos. I hope your well - your wheels are turning and life is spoiling you. Best wishes 🙏

When you want to tighten the spokes you have to turn them counterclockwise. It looked like you turned them clockwise which lowers the tension. I know its counter intuitive. Edit: Crap reading the comments now I feel bad pointing this out his way. First of all props to you trying to fix your problem! I love that mentality. Second, the reason I know this is because I've done this wrong myself dont feel bad about it.

Wow, thats amazing! You took care of the wobble! Even the repairs are still part of your life adventures and journey! I enjouy your vids, makes me wa t to go on bike trip too!

When you're tightening spokes think in units of 90 degree increments. An old spoke-jobber taught me that.

looks for great fun !

Hi, I see you always are, look, as a very positive person. To have problems with a bike while a long journey is normal but to face those problems in a positive and calm way is your better goal. Thanks for your videos. Go go go, come on!!!! Take care, always.

Really liked the content. I was searching for channel like this. Love from Omar/Pakistan.

9:09 genau bei dem Laden war ich im Mai auch mein Leihrad wegbringen 🙂Du bist immer so fröhlich und positiv. Ich versuche auch immer zuerst alles selbst zu machen, aber am Ende ist es auch gut, dass es Leute gibt, die das beruflich machen und sich besser auskennen als ich. Die Räder hab ich noch nicht selbst zentriert. Gute Fahrt noch!

Hi Laura, I am privilege to see your bike adventures, wishing you your best experience on the road on days to come, I have watched all your videos, your life on the road is becoming like I am part of the travel... very entertaining and mixed with rarest adventures...

An interesting parallel between bicycles and drums is truing wheels and tuning drums. A wheel is true when the tension on all the spokes is theoretically equal, and a drum is tuned perfectly when all the bolts or ropes are pulling on the rim equally on all the sides. Truing a wheel also has this left side/right side component. Half of the spokes pull the rim to the left side of the axle, and the other half to the right. Most people check the tension only by tugging on the spokes to see whether some of them are very loose, but a more detailed way of determining whether to tighten or loosen spokes is by tapping on them with the key. The looser the spoke, the lower the pitch of the tone it makes. Sometimes pulling the rim to the right requires loosening the left-hand-side spoke, and not necessarily tightening the right-hand-side ones. How do you know? Tap the spokes and get them to sound the same :) Just a bit of weirdly transferred understanding from drums to the bike. BTW, your use of straps to simultaneously display deviation on both sides is ingenious!!!

This is why I watch your videos because it is very helpful thank you

i just watched all the videos is your channel haha, i love the way you travel!! I started not so long doing some bike trips, now I can´t stop. I want to explore everywhere! but the thought of dismanteling my whole bike and putting it together again makes me so nervous, I´m scared of not being able to put it together right again. then also i don´t get how to go the airport with a huge box and whether I will find a place to get a new box for the return. And how do you carry all the camping gear. Sorry for so many questions, my mind races. It would be so cool if you made a video explaining us how you did everythnig. it´s inspiring the way you try to always keep calm and take obstacles that come along as opportunities to learn

Have a safe ride... you are amazing 👏👏👏💪💪💪

I had a similar thing on my bike. I think problem is that the bike frame isn’t stiff enough for the load you’ve put on it. With a heavy load front and back the bike wants to twist the frame. It’s like if you hold a glove in your hand and twist it. The frame acts in the same way. If you move the handlebars left and right quickly and you feel the frame wanting to twist it will confirm that the weight is too much. If you can put more heavy stuff on the back and reduce the load on the front forks it should stop the wobbles. Good luck and thanks for the videos. They’re brilliant.

Another fab video! Showing us the nuts and bolts of bikepacking 😂❤

Bravo nena ...!!!!!!

Don't feel bad, that's how you learn. Every time I try to work on my bike, especially the rear derailer, I mess it up and end up taking it to the bike shop but I always learn from it. They like selling me tools and parts because they know it will mean more work for them when I mess it up. It's a running joke between us.

Thx for sharing. Yes you said it: The "weight distribution" is very important indeed. Rule of thumb is 45% of the weight on the rear rack and the rest on the front. But, for better balance, left and right side have to be of equal weight load.

Awesome! well done

Check the Rear wheel trueness, wheel alignment, uneven tire wear and test ride without luggage. Unfortunately the wobble is often a combination of minor adjustments. I love your video, travel and life style philosophy.

Looks like you did a pretty good job on true-ing the wheel... don't be modest, you're good at this! The resonance could be any number of things, the only advice I have is: if it starts wobbling scarily, sometimes you can stop the resonance by squeezing the top tube between your thighs. La Gomera is a cool place, I have been there a couple of times. It was long ago but there used to be hippy caves at Playa Chinguarime, a few bays east of Playa Santiago. You have to wade a bit to get there though... maybe not possible with the bike. Playa del Medio is accessible.

I've had exactly this kind of oscillation happen with a similar front rack luggage arrangement. For me it happened when riding at speed (downhill) into a crosswind. Didn't appear to be related to front/rear weight distribution. Lowering the front bags helped a bit and riding just a bit slower during those wind conditions. Great roadside maintenance in your video though 👍

Too much weight over the front tire. I had this problem last year, bikepacking. It was fine when I was in the saddle, but when I was out of the saddle and putting more of my weight (adding to the weight that was already over the front tire), the fron would wobble like that. You're not an idiot! It's good experience. At some point, you'll do it again a bit better.

Hey!! I might have an idea. I often have this problem to. I'm quite sure it's a deformation : if you initiate a movement, the pieces that can be deformed would act like a spring (and it's even more accurate when you put weight on it). So it can be anything (wrack, bottle...) and I don't have a nice solution. You can start by load it less, get a steel wrack (wich won't moove as much as an aluminium one) and avoid plastic on the frame (and maybe even water because it have a lot of inertia) So try to put only very solid stuff on the frame, and good luck and have an amazing trip!!!

Your videos are always awesome

You’re resourceful and certainly not "idiot"

Happy journey Love From India

Me gustan mucho sus videos muy buen contenido 😊

Great job trouble shooting that wobble!

Awesome epik video 👍❤❤❤🤘

The condition is called hopf bifurcation. And as you figured out it is weight distribution related. I don’t know a lot about it I’ve just heard Josh Porter from The Marginal Gains podcast talk about it. Good luck and love the videos!

Before watching all of this i bet it about the weight placement … one of the reasons i perfer bikepacking setup than tradition pannier and racks setups is i really dont have to worried about weight placement as long as i got heavy stuff in frame bag all good …

The wobbles have to do with weight distribution. The fact that it starts when you let go of the handlebar means that there is not enough weight in the front. The front end becomes light and starts wobbling. Stiffness of the frame, luggage overweight and play around the head tube may increase the phenomenon.

Hola Lara. I had same problems as you have in your trips. You have few "problems" with your bike front. 1. First: check how many spokes do you have on your wheels. For type of no problems I would advise rear wheel to have 36H or 40H spokes. Front wheel must have 36H, not 32H spokes. With 32H spokes your wheel is to weak for the bags. 2. Next thing: It really doesn't much matter in what order you put bags on the front. Try do not put over 15-20kg on front. 3. Save your hand wrists and your back one. Use suspension front fork. Ride little bit more upright. Replace steering wheel with cheap "butterfly" or specialist angled flat bar . Yes all of this will make your bicycle heavier by 1-2kg. But you won't have such breakdowns. I haven't had this type of problems after I did all above for 20 000+ km and 10+ years. Unless your average speed is 25+ km/h you don't need lean forward posture. If you have more questions, write to me in private message

I like bikepacking too, so I should learn something about basic mechanic. Enjoy La Gomera. I was there and I camp in "Playa de Lepe"(Hermigua) It is a great place next to the sea.

I am enjoye your vlog with your smile 😊😊😊 Love you dear love from india

I guess by now enough people have told you that you were turning the spoke nipples the wrong way so I won't say any more about that. If the bike doesn't shimmy unloaded then it's most likely the way the load is put on. Keeping the heavier stuff closer to center may help. When it's further out it may magnify small oscillations. Carrying the weight up high ie. in a backpack has been known to do it. Some people find that a roller bearing headset helps dampen out shimmy. Kind of a spendy thing to try when you're on the road though. That's a good looking new bike! Worth sorting out.

I think the bike is getting excited because it's starting a new holiday. It'll wear off after a week or so. :) (I do have some more sensible ideas. :))

Nice bike

Just normal stuff : I adjust the bolt on the rear wheel then the pedal starts making a tik sound. I adjust the pedal bearings then my knee starts to hurt... etc etc ... Only my 10year old 26' bicycle seems to work perfectly after millions of customizing hours -these riddles are part of the journey :)

My love ❤️❤️❤️💯 keep going

I bet you're glad to be back on the road Lara. Too much weight on the front of your bike would have been the cause of the vibration. Take care ❤️

Wheel wasn't true dang even I was wrong I was like the spocs first then I was more wight on one side aww man at you got it sorted out yay

Would love to do some bike travels again but my cat won't be very pleased with the idea

I hade a similar problem, fixed it by never putting liquid bottles/bags in the front

try taking all your bags off and seeing how it goes and then add one at a time to see what the issue is.

I agree with the comment further down about the frame stiffness not being strong enough and oscillating due to the weight. Prob too much weight on the bike or weight distribution. I have the same thing happen with my scooter when slowing down... If I take my hand off the handlebars it wobbles. Try moving weight around the bike.... Towards the back maybe. No idea. Have fun and dont crash please. 🇬🇧

Congratulations on your trips and on growing as a person! Have you considered using SPDs?

Lovely channel, I will have a bikepackkng adventure coming in a couple months and loving the advice on this channel. I was wondering, what bike are you using and which one did you use in your precious videos? Thanks for the answer, keep on riding safely!

Is it difficult for you to make all this videos? They are really nice and you should continue it forever :)

I know if you have to much weight on the front and going a little to fast it will shake the whole bike I learned this a long time ago. I also think if you want to take a lot of stuff with you then you should look into a cargo bike I did and I put on very low gearing it work out fine.

Overloaded rear rack has done tht to me before.. cheers

Weight distribution for shure.keep the weight low ,go back to your original set up when it didn’t shake.

As others have already said, you actually loosened the spokes. Did you check the headset tightness?

It is your rear luggage getting unbalanced when you ride one-handed. Same thing happens to me if my rear is too heavy. Also, it happens if I pedal standing up, rather than sitting down.

I think what you were experiencing is what in physics is called resonance. The vibration imposed on your bike at certain speeds were causing it to oscillate at its natural frequency. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resonance

i just subscribe to your channel and i think i make correct decision, anyways keep doing your thing and i can't wait to see more from you🙌🙌💪💪❤❤✌✌ from Malaysia 🇲🇾

ist das vibrierende Vorderrad hatte ich auf meiner Tour von Spanien nach Deutschland auch. bei mir war es auch ein ganz kleiner Mini Achter. Grüße

By the way, did you stop at that sign on purpose (0.38) it certainly suits your dilema - its certainly 'Titsup' 🙂

Head tube bearings r the first thing I'd check. $20 fix on a bicycle. Any slight play in your head tube and that's most likely your problem

In my experience it helps massively to have the weight as low as possible. when i put only weight on top of my rear rack (above the wheel) my bike starts to vibrate immediately whereas i put weight in panniers next to the back wheel it is dead stable

Check front tire pressure and if the ahead set maybe loose

Truing a wheel can be difficult on the road, especially if you've never done it before, which is where I would be.

I have some front wheel wobble (only wobbles when I take both hands off the handlebars) and noticed that the rim spins "true" but the tire is not true on the rim; as in the bead doesn't seem to be perfectly seated all the way around.

I suggest moving some weight forward. I had this problem on a motorcycle adventure and it fixed the wobble.

You need to get the spokes at the same tension. If you hit them , they should all have the same pitch which a phone app can measure.

Hi Giant Cheerio just found you it's amazing wot ur doing I love bike packing too been dreaming of cycling round Portugal How u pronounce 'spot' gets me hon xXx ❤

The wiggle is often caused by to much weight on the handlebars

Fucked it up, paniced and fixed it! Like Nike said:' just do it'

👌👍

It is important to be methodical when you are searching for errors. In the words of famous detective: "Once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Better luck next time.

For safety: am Anfang hast du die Speichennippel im Uhrzeigersinn gedreht. Damit gelöst. Grüße aus Hannover

Shaking front = (first source) too high too heavy luggage or (second source of the problems) valid left - right weight distribution. Check those and the problem should have been solved ☺️ greetings 👍 Saying precisely: there are two main reasons when front of the bicycle is shaking / dancing on the road. First when the equipment over rear wheel is much too heavy or second when the equipment over front wheel is much too heavy. To check source of the problem: 1. Take off front sacks / equipment and ride 2. If shaking has stoped You know that problem is with front baggage weight. Go to step 4. 3. If bike is still shaking take off back / rear equipment and check when bike is empty. You know that problem is with rear baggage weight. Go to step 5. 4. Put heavy staff like water/heavy food in the frame or attach to the folks as low as possible. Get the lite things on the top of the rack. It should help. 5. Read above (4) and make the same with rear equipment. The more heavy things put as low as possible. Check if both sides of your bike are loaded approximately similarly. I hope it’ll help. 🤔☺️

More vlog pls!!

Error could have been a badly fixed wheel, with axle not flush in the frame because of dirt or to lose. Didn't see you check this first. When you recently took it apart, should be the first thing to check before readjusting the spokes. Can easily be overseen and can lead to having to readjust your spokes all over again. Speaking from experience...

It is definitely not the spokes. It is the weight on the front wheel. If you move some weight from the front to the back this wobble should go away. The position of the weight on the front also makes a difference. Putting the heavier items lower in front should also help. If you have heavy items on top of the front rack it will probably be worse.

on my trike i put a greased o ring under my headset cap to increase the stiction. it took out my shimmy.

Hey, its the weight distribution between the two sides of the fork. I had this issue strapping 1.5l of water on one side of my fork