>>910759>I was talking about racks only.Sorry dawg sloppy reading on my part.
Yeah you're right but you should carry spares regardless. It's still a slow wear so there's no way you'll run out of brake pads. You can get rim brake pads anywhere in the world but if something breaks on your disc brakes in the middle of uganda you're fucked. If you're just touring through europe/north america then of course it's no issue but the guy wanted to go around the world so he'd want to use as standardized equipment as possible.
I actually love being frontloaded. However my bike geometry is such that it handles well when frontloaded. 18kg was a bit over the top though when I had to stock up on food for several days, my rack is only rated for 15kg. However I feel way more stable at average speeds. It feels a little bit wonky when going really slow (like walking speed) but I do that so seldom it's a non-issue for me. It feels more responsive altough it takes more effort to steer. Climbing steep hills also feels way better frontloaded, your front wheel never lifts whatever steep the hill. Iceland had a lot of extremely steep but very short climbs. But also Most people pack way more stuff than I do. Some people like it and some people don't but different bikes handle differently with different loads.
