I’m sure this has been done to death, but still, let’s talk front racks. Boxes can fill a bag pretty quick and make things get real uncomfortable. So I’m going to be building a new frame and want a front rack on it.
I was thinking about going DIY with it because it seems to be the cheapest and quickest way to do it.
Anyone here run front racks? Pros? Cons? How badly does it affect handling when loaded? Anything else I should know? Anyone have one they want to sell?
depends what you’re wanting to carry, and what kind of bike you want it attached to.
if you’re using a front rack that’s connected to the bars/headtube/axle/fork/whatever then you do get the issue of weight throwing it off a lot. If you use cut down, or relatively narrow, bars then you’ll really be limited by what you can carry. They’re still a handy thing to have, but a basket it even handier if you’re just carrying a few things.
The racks that mount off of the top and down tubes are a much more effective solution, the weight will still make the bike play around a bit though. But because it’s not directly playing with your steering it is generally ok with a lot more weight. The disadvantage of this is requiring a stronger and heavier frame.
aesthetically they’re pretty cool, but rear racks are more effective for weight carrying and they have less of an impact on your steering.
oh and trying to jump(or even just roll up a slanted curb) with 20k’s on a cetma is not fun.
Fork mounted front racks are fine with heavy loads and superior to rear loading if the frame geometry is designed for it, check out French porteur bikes: http://blackbirdsf.org/courierracing/velos.html
1 Blakey. I’ve not seen the top&down tube mounted racks… sounds like a bad idea for cornering to me.
Also, Velo-Orange now have wholesale accounts. Mad Hippie? C’mon! DO IT!
Chris has been great to deal with in the past and I guess he’d be into an Aus connection.
Front racks make it almost impossible to walk your bike holding only the saddle, as the front wheel flops around all over the place. I only put one on my commuter because the rear rack had the kiddie seat on it and I wanted to mount a pannier. Loaded front racks also make riding no-hands dangerous/impossible, if that’s important to you (not to mention barspins, LOL).
I’d always go with a rear rack before a front, if you have a choice about it.
i’ve only ridden an old butchers bike that had the tube mounts for a rack. it handled like a whale, much like most cargo bikes. this was an old 20" / 26" one, the precursor of sorts to the filibus variants.
front racks have a number of issues:
*expensive
*difficult to obtain in aus
*mess up the steering and handling of the bike(even unloaded they add discernible weight onto the front end)
*if your bars are wide enough to handle the loads that you’re likely to put on there then they’ll be too wide for lane splitting
*drops and moustache bars don’t work very well with them either(the curves of the bars cut into your cargo space), the best bars are either north road style or flat/riser bars, at least in my experience.
however, they do:
*offer a much wider space for oddly shaped things that wont stick into your arse or legs(I rode a 1m x 0.75m massage table across sydney on my cetma once)
*offer a view of your cargo, which came in really handy when i had a dental box slowly working its way loose of my straps
*look cool
the cetma’s are a funny one, I bought one originally planning to use it on my work bike (because of their apparent suitability for courier work), but the simply fact that you need wider bars to be able to handle the weight kills it. the wider bars means you can’t get through traffic quickly and you lose a lot of manoeuvrability as the bike acts a lot more sluggish once it’s loaded. they’re fine and dandy for everyday use, but the fact they’re advertised as courier suitable is just wrong.
the front racks that are just to hold panniers are a good idea for extended touring, but they are just a set of rails and are generally useless outside of panniers.
for $100 or so you can get a blackburn or tubus rack from the uk cycle shops that will work better than a front rack and they are about as durable as things can get.
User Plan_A uses a CETMA for work and is really happy with it, I have one and i love it, you can split traffic with one, you can split trams too, yes they are pricey, but i think they are worth the money.
it is sluggish once you get to >10kg, but you gotta put the weight somewhere and i prefer it at the front rather than the back.
been a while since this thread has been in action. anything available in aus now. that is as good as a cetma. looking for something 5 rail maybe. doesnt need to be narrow enough for heavy traffic riding.
http://www.cheekytransport.com.au/stuff-we-sell/bits/racks/
The one at the bottom of this page is pretty good, I’m gonna grab one for my shopping bike. Might not be up to hardcore use. Pm user Lewis, he works at that shop and could probs vouch for the solidity or otherwise. He might have leads on other ones too, pretty sure he’s got a cetma.
I’ve been riding with a Wald basket up with North Road bars on a bog standard old roadie frame. Because the bars sweep back so much they have plenty of leverage. A bit of weight in the basket actually helps to dampen down the inherent twitchiness and plants the front wheel to the road in corners, which is helpful considering the upright position.
That said, when I really need to carry a lot of stuff, the bike rides best with a bit in the basket, and a bit on the rear rack.
Another thing I have found is that the front seems to really bounce the load, a good net is well worth while.
