So on a quiet Boxing Day Des & I broke out the tools and built a front platform rack, based on Marc P’s P/R (pop rivet) design. Also similar to the ‘Slab-a-Dan’ rack of a couple of years ago but with more bracing/larger Al stock.
Thanks for the clamps/vice Nath, they were invaluable.
It’s sized for a ‘green bag’, made from angle and flat aluminium stock, riveted together, with stays to the lowrider mounts and a bracket to the handlebars.
Rides well with a few kgs if it’s strapped down properly.
Version 2.0 will be sized for a carton of Coopers, maybe a timber deck, and improvements are still to be made to the bar mount.
I think I might have a nicer solution for the handle bar mount:
Instead of bending a “U” shape for that vertical piece, we can bend two “L” shapes back into the handle bar and perhaps bolt clamps taken off road bike brake levers at the end. Or if you really want to be fancy, quick release mounts off front lights. We’ll probably need a horizontal flat strip (or two) somewhere in between the tray and the handle bar to stiffen it all up.
On second thought, bending may not be such a good idea since that piece is load bearing. Maybe we’ll need to rivet the whole thing together using pre-fabricated “L” shape joints or whatever you call those things.
If you don’t have high trail then it doesn’t mess with the steering (see French porteur bikes, the Kogswell P/R, A.N.T’s bikes etc).
There are many reasons for front loading, all explained better than I can by people like Joel Metz. (blackbirdsf.org)
Another reason Des didn’t mention is that having it up front helps distribute the load more evenly over both wheels.
As Des says, it’s almost impossible to get a front rack that isn’t a tiny platform or a lowrider pannier rack. If you want to put larger/bulkier items on it, you need to go custom or steal a Postie bike.
