I’m looking for a front rack to distribute a bit of weight but it doesnt need to hold any panniers as I opted for rear only after lenghty discussions with myself. I only want to put my tent on it or my sleeping bag, or a drysack, you get the picture. A bit like the below but firstly it needs to be black and it could secondly even be a bit less if you know what I mean. A porteur rack maybe but they are mostly too small. All I want is a plattform as close to my front tire as possible, 10-15cm wide and maybe 30cm long. And I did mention that it has to be black didnt I.
From my experience, I have summarised the following:
VO racks: Fiddly, expensive, probably more form over function.
Soma Porteur: Good, can take future panniers, big tray, I have one and like it, works with most forks, watch out for it on bolt up axles as the axle will be too short. QR is okay.
Wald: Have seen these used for light touring. If you get a 137 you could potentially mount it under drop bars but doubt it.
Nashbar rack: Fine if you have canti’s, perfectly functional.
Gomoh/Basil: Also okay, a bit numpty looking.
Cetma: #messlife cred, agricultural, functional, probably not for touring.
Nitto/Tubus: Meant more for panniers, not big enough real estate, need braze ons on your fork.
Thanks guys. The Blackburn doesnt look too bad and I will try to find out if it fits 700er. I have a Tubus on the rear but they dont make anything for the front with a platform.
The Nashbar thingy might be enough for what I’m using it and I’ll have a closer look at it. I do like to buy that kind of stuff from companies that I trust though.
I’d go the Blackburn over the Vavert. More triangulated and cleans up the fork crown area. If you don’t have lowrider bosses and have to use P clamps, then it’s less good, but still ok. Wouldn’t ever put panniers on it but.
How good are you with a rattle can? I used a nitto m18 with the supplied p-clamps and it was pretty sweet. It had an SLR/Feck off Lens/ipad/ipod/language book/sunscreen on it all the time and at one point it had a piss off tripod strapped to it. the only problem for you is that it’s silver.
If you want tougher mounting, Tooobus make these in lieu of P-clamp type things. depending on the shape of your fork they can be fekin good.
I did shit like this with no problem:
These next two photos are to demonstrate how heavy the bike was. I spent like half an hour trying to get a photo of it loaded above my head(so many weird looks from motos). couldn’t, partly due to dead left hand, but still yeah, rode the crap out of it over shit shit roads with lots of weight and nothing ever slipped or broke or blah.
