Originally Posted by
badmother
A lot of peopel sell- and use the Dahon frontracks. If they were junk I am sure they would be gone long time ago. Maybe you dd something wrong or used stuff the wrong way since it failed?
I find that often it is possible to fit rear racks on the bikes front wheel, maybe with small adjustments or modification.Maybe look for a 20" steel rack, second hand or new in your area? Just remember that a tube is stronger than a massive rod same size.
We toured last summer with two bikes with the Dahon alu frontracks. I use full size panniers. I suggest if you want to bring a lot of stuff (or if you yourself is on the heavy side) you look into a trailer, maybe something like the City trailer from Carry Freedom. Also you can look into putting an extra (clickfix or similar) bag in the front like the Brompton bike in adition to the front panniers.
I won't be carrying a lot of weight as I'll be using this bike for shorter tours and relying on my converted mountain bikes for longer ones. I want to use my
Ortlieb Front-Roller Plus Greenpeace-Line panniers on the Dahon. They aren't that big, and coupled with the Carradice SQR Slim on the back, I should be able to carry more than enough equipment for three or four-day trips.
I never said, by the way, that the Dahon racks were junk. I've had problems with aluminium racks (non Dahon brand) in the past, so I didn't want to buy another one without first checking with knowledgeable cyclists like you and Abneycat. Based on your sage advice, I'll probably end up giving the Dahon rack a try.
Thank you very much indeed for your help.