Shinyville

...so I picked up this Miyata 615 touring bike, largely because I thought that it would be easy to put a front rack on it and haul 4 panniers (2 front, 2 back):

https://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/IMG_1635.jpg

..but in looking around at my rack options now that I got the bike, I'm not so sure. The ones I'm finding online don't seem to connect at the top the with the way the fork on this bike is designed.

I plan on adding fenders and a front rack--any suggestions for a front rack that will work for this bike?

Mauriceloridans

This is the type of front rack that touring bikes are usually best suited for.

Mauriceloridans

Sorry, image didn't paste. See Nashbar NA-FR

Rob_E

There does not seem to be as many front rack options as there are rear racks, but there are still many options depending on what you want to do. I've seen some pannier racks that are designed to not connect at all up top at all (but they may require braze-ons, and I'm not sure what the capacity of those style are). I really like a platform rack up front, and I believe Old Man Mountain has some front racks which will take panniers and give you a platform if that's of any interest.

I do think there's enough variety that if you determine exactly what your attachment options are and exactly what style of rack you need (pannier only, platform only, or both) then you'll find at least a couple that will fit your bike. Once you've narrowed it down that way, you can choose based on fender clearance, if that's a priority.

cyccommute 

You can use u-bolts to hold lowriders onto forks without midfork braze-ons. This is how Delta does it



That will work with all kinds of racks. Tubus makes a fork mount that works with their racks, too. Check with Wayne at The Touring Store

n4zou

Here is a photo of the type of front rack you need.

This type of front rack is getting hard to find. You can use a rear rack mounted up front the same way my rack is mounted in the photo above. All you need to do is fabricate a bracket to hold it to the top of the fork in some secure manner. I used the steel reflector bracket by drilling a hole in it and using a screw, nut, and a few washers to get it just right.

You can use large P-clamps available at a hardware store to mount the rack to the top of the forks instead instead of the seat stays as shown in this photo of how there used with seat stays.

The bottom of the rack will mount to the upper fork braze-on just like it would on the rear drop out.


I just remembered where you can obtain this style front rack!

https://www.velo-orange.com/cofrra.html

Shinyville

Thanks, everybody! I was afraid I might not get any answers one the Wal-Mart stripping thread got rolling, ha ha.

I do want to ultimately run fenders and the front rack. The fork has 2 braze-ons at the bottom, and one hole at the top, above the wheel (don't know the technical name for that location). Ultimately, I'd like to find a rack that will work for panniers and platform both, but to be honest, the platform aspect is more interesting for me cosmetically than practically. I'll just be using panniers up there. There's no braze-on in the middle of the fork, though. For some reason, I thought there were front racks made to attach with that hole in the center of the fork, like getting the fender and the top of the rack both attached at that spot, and then seperately attached at their own braze-ons at the bottom of the fork. But it's looking like I was maybe wrong about that. Then again, it looks like there are other options that will still make it work!

dalmore

Old Man Mountain racks will work too. They have a couple of models that attach via the canty brake mounts. I have used the ultimate low-rider model.

GV27

The top of the fork is the "crown".

Looking at n4zou's photos, it sounds like you have the fender eyelets but not the rack eyelets. Most bikes - at least most bikes that have eyelets at all - seem to be like yours rather than n4zou's.

cyccommute 

Lowrider racks, like those shown from Delta, improve handling over a load carried high. With 60% of your load in them, the bike is easy to ride and handle. Most tourists carry lowriders for this reason. The front deck is usually of little utility in my experience. In other words, if you need the deck to carry stuff, you are carrying too much stuff