intransit1217

I'd love to hear pros and cons of each and if anyone has used this product:

https://www.blackburndesign.com/cages...l#.Vr_1jvIrLIU

Thank you.

veganbikes

It depends on what you plan on carrying. I would go with an anything cage if I was carrying a smaller tent or sleeping pad and had the fork mounts for it in a bikepacking situation but for touring I like a nice front rack.

As far as Blackburn is concerned they certainly made some great touring stuff back in the early days but I think now some of their quality has gone down but I do like that they have embraced bike packing pretty heavily and I think some of that stuff is great. If they stopped making lights and computers they might be onto something. I have a few newer Blackburn products that aren't bad and I have a ton of lights from them that customers wanted to get rid of or warranty or buy new ones of that are just collecting dust (I probably gave away a few).

Salsa makes all sorts of great stuff and I usually hear nothing but good things from them. I am not big on their racks but then again I dislike most racks that aren't Tubus, Nitto rando racks or something handmade.

bikemig 

I've thought about these as well, Cleaveland Mountaineering: Everything Bags

veganbikes

Nope wouldn't go for them, they cannot even spell their own name correctly ; )

Aidoneus

The owner, Jeremy Cleaveland, certainly does know how to spell his own name.

I have two, mounted on my front fork, and another on order for my down tube. Extremely well made, with three boss mounts for stability with heavier or bulkier loads.

Squeezebox

IMHO a big attraction to the Trek 720 is the front fork bags. 14 L a pair I believe.

Tourist in MSN

I do not own any bikes with forks that have the right fittings for the Blackburn or the Salsa Anything cages. But if I did, I would give them serious consideration, as my front panniers and low rider rack are a lot heavier than a couple small lightweight drybags.

bikemig 

The Cleaveland mountaineering bags will work. That's why I linked to them, Cleaveland Mountaineering: Everything Bags

I've been thinking of picking up a pair for precisely that reason.

fietsbob

you may want the small heavy stuff up front , and the bulky stuff in the bigger rear bags and rack top .

so you think it will go in those things?

Might be good for buying 2 Growlers

Rob_E

They seem like very different systems with different trade offs. If you mean "front panniers" when you say "front rack," I think you'll find the rack has vastly higher gear capacity. If you were going to strap a couple of items on to a front, platform rack, fork cages may get the job done. I don't have an Anything cage on my forks, but I do have a regular bottle cage and my pump mount. They seem less obtrusive than an empty, front rack which interferes with some bike racks and the bus bike carrier. But then I can strap some groceries to the top of the rack easily while Anything cages excel at carrying very specifically-shaped loads. For me, my front rack interfered with a lot: the bus, the bike rack, the front headlight. So anything cages have some appeal. But, if the downsides of a front rack don't bother you, they will carry more and a better variety of loads.

wphamilton

I wouldn't put 9 pounds of bulk (ie wobbly) torquing against my bottle cage bosses. They aren't all that sturdy.

rex615

The Salsa Anything Cages do require 3 bolts to achieve their rated capacity. If your fork already has them, then they seem the natural choice.

If you want to mount to existing water bottle bosses (i.e. 2 bolt) then the blackburn may be a better choice.

adventurepdx

On my current custom bike, I had the front fork fitted with all the braze-ons to use a Salsa Anything cage or something similar. So I've been using the cages plus custom bags by RandiJoFab for my tours. I do like that this setup is pretty unobtrusive, and you can easily remove the cages when not needed. But no, you're not going to get as much stuff here as you would with a standard front rack and pannier setup. Even small-small panniers will have more capacity. But I find it works for what I'm doing right now.

LeeG

$.02 having never used fork mounted bags they look clever.

I wouldn't turn down having extra bosses on the forks or frame but for simplicity's sake if the goal was carrying less than a pannier load but more than a few lbs I'd rather it be in a tight bundle on top of a small front rack near the head tube than outboard the forks where a crash might torque the bosses or the mini racks enough to compromise integrity of the system or the front end of the bike.

adventurepdx

I guess that is a possibility, but I haven't heard anything about that yet. And since fork-mounting Anything cages are a fairly standard setup for bikepacking rigs these days, I'm guessing we'd hear something about that if it did happen.

veganbikes

Well he should go back to school his parent's dun learnt him wrong on his own name...LOL!

I actually dig his stuff anyone making their own gear is awesome in my book and especially if they have a proper beard (if they are a dude, bearded ladies not so much) Plus I like lightweight stuff when it makes sense and those everything bags make sense.