Miss Jane
Last time I mentioned the Pass and Stow, Halbot bagged it & recommended the Haulin’ Colin.
I still think horses for courses. Stainless or just steel, high eyelets, fork eyelets or axle mount.
It’s great there are so many options.
It sux so many are US based with a low AUD, freight & the (some times) troubles with dealing with H’merica.
Wald basket will axle mount and cost about $70 delivered.
Snot a Cetma/Soma/Colin/Custom hardarse front rack though.
Pass & Stow can be flat packed, which is worth considering if you ever plan on taking it on travels.
It’s a townie tho I reckon just get a basket coz everything esp HC will be like tree fiddy AUD landed
I used my one like this for 5000+kms of riding, including 2000kms of loaded touring with 30kgs hanging off the rack with some gnarly off road stuff. Worked a charm, but the rack is ready to retire now.
This is worth considering. I chopped the sides off my Soma rack to fit it in a standard bike box with my bike.
The Soma racks are out of stock with SCV at the moment (they’re a hot item). Call commuter cycles, they hold them in stock.
I have a Wald basket on my fixed townie and rate it. Got it for $20 overseas and it’s awesome for carrying day-to-day stuff. Get a cheap elastici cargo net and you’re set.
no
No
NO
What bike is this and why does it have to axle mount. IMHO axle mounting is the pits, it’s a total PITA for removing the front wheel and setting things up, I’d much rather fit a couple of burly P clamps to the blades and bolt to those if there were no eyelets and no ability to braze them on.
mytownie got an old jimblackburn rack plus cut down basket stays to the lowrider mounts and a medium wald. It’s the best.
shame even a wald is fairly expensive here for what it is unless you’re flying back from the USA where it’s more like $20. There are lots of great baskets at howards storage world though…
If you have the right upper fork mounts (NFE/Rawland/Soma/Riv) a HC is tops, but it’s not cheap.
Don’t forget about orcracks.com, can flatpack too.
The bike is a Steamroller and doesn’t have any fork eyelets, bottom or upper. I like the SOMA and the fork blade option would work, but I am less of a fan of having to share the fork crown center hole for both the rack and the brake calipers. I know it’s doable/been done many times. P&S is out because it mounts to the center hole at the fork crown, which is already used by my calipers. Yes, walds are exxy for what they are in Aus, but I’m considering them. Would make things cheaper & simpler, P-clamps and roll away.
The wife is going to Seattle soon and I’ve been talking to the Cetma guy, he’s happy to send one there. That would be a much much cheaper option than having it sent or buying it in Aus ($250 @ Omafiets). Would also be cheaper than a Soma (also $250 @ Omafiets) or VO ($280 @ Commuter), so I’m seriously considering it. Wald would still be cheaper, by far.
Blakey, any other gripes with the Cetma racks other than axle mounting?
The Soma also mounts at the brake hole as part of the fixing.
Lane (Cetma) is a flake
the racks are built from heavy weak steel
generally meh in the face of actual good options made from cr-mo.
Get the latest Soma, use the axle mount plus the added side mounts (to p-clamps from autobarn), add basket.
Haulin Colin is based in Seattle…
If you want to make some money, send your wife to a local bike shop, buy 10 wald baskets, nest them all in a box, bring back and sell 9 off.
You do realise that a wald with just the bar clamps and axle stays is going to be more flexible than a debonded vitus right?
your objection to sharing the fork crown mount is strange, but whatever. Orc can make a rack that wraps around the back of the fork btw.
Why not get someone who can operate a torch to add some eyelets to your fork. at the dropout/mid or upper blade/ fork crown.
also food for thought:
1 1/8" steamroller AC 375mm, offset 38mm
LHT 700C rim 390mm, offset 45mm
LHT 26" disc 376mm, offset 45mm
Pacer 371mm, offset 45mm
So a 26" LHT disc fork will let you run a disc 700C with similar A-C (little/no change to HT angle, BB height blah) and reduce trail a little to help with the front load, AND it’s got brazeons everywhere.
Thanks Blakey and JLN. I reckon Soma might be the go.
JLN: you’re right, the Soma allows mounting calipers + rack in the same hole, but the P&S will not.
Blakey: all good info here. Yes, HC is in Seattle but there won’t be enough time to have the rack made. If he had some ready made stuff I’d look into it but his site doesn’t say. I also find my own objection to sharing the fork crown mount strange, but that’s the kind of strange objections you have when you’re a n00b. Just need to challenge them.
Asked the same question on LFGSS and was suggested these for eyelet mounting.
Not sure what I’m going to do yet. Can’t be arsed buying some online from the UK right now. May do the Ocean Air Cycles mod.
Also, did not expect to see this… http://www.reidcycles.com.au/reid-porteur-rack-kit.html
Do this. It’s 5min on a bench grinder.
The pictured setup with thorn bits is too high. huge gap between guard and rack, plus it forces the straddle too high and detunes your brake.
Using the axle mounts will push the rack forwards as well as too high.
Plus, when you cut your steerer down, hammer a star nut into the offtcut and all of a sudden you have a nice light mount to bolt to your bike.
The reid rack is a POS.
Yeah, didn’t even think about the straddle cable for the canti’s. That’s already going to be reasonably high with the rack mount as it is. I like the steerer tube star nut idea too. I have a spare star nut as well.
And yeah, that Reid rack looks terrible. I found it funny that they’re selling them though.
EDIT: The star nut won’t work. The eyelets are too small for the bolt. Have rigged something up to hold my light with a cut off from an old seat post and a Velo Orange screw expanding bar end plug.
For forty clams I’d palp that Reid pos on my pub bike.
Looks like you could strain french fries in it too