The more head tube and and rake the better. I have transitioned to bar bags and love them. I have a older bar bag on my beater Trek. My T700 has a Hunter pass rack with a VO Chapagne bag and I am also building a Porteur. Once under way the weight really is no big deal. The only time it might be a problem is when stopped and off the bike. It makes the bars want to turn but there is a fix. http://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...tabilizer.html

Another point is once underway something like 70% of the weight is on the back wheel. Moving some forward actually moves the CG back between the wheels and may actually improve handling.

Give the lady what she wants. She would probably like something like a Topeak basket. I would consider a rack to give it some more suport like the nashbar front rack if she has cantis.

My Porteur build, no current pics of the Trek or T700.



Edit here is the Trek