I have front and rear racks on my Dahon Mariner. The rear came with the bike, while the front rack, which is basically impossible to buy new from anywhere, came from another forum member to whom I am very grateful.

I commute on it daily, and on about half the days I only have the rear rack in use; I have the backpack strapped to it by using an S-Caribiner to clip the backpack's top handle to a seat rail, and then a bungee net to secure it to the rack. This way, I have no heel clearance issues, and I can get the backpack off the bike and on my back in around 30 seconds, which I need to do midway through my commute since folding the bike with the pack strapped on isn't really possible. I have a little saddlebag with tools and a tube always attached to the rear rack right up against the seatpost.



I use the front rack about half the time. Usually I just use one pannier up front or a rack-trunk on the top, so I can still fold the bike when they are attached. Occasionally I need to use both panniers up front, such as pictured here (I was bringing in two dozen donuts into work - one boxed- dozen in each bag), and when that's the case I need to unclip one pannier to get a fold, or I just don't fold (which I can get away with when the trains aren't crowded.)

Steering is obviously slower when there are bags installed up front, but really, it doesn't feel much different than a full-sized MTB; I find it takes around 30 seconds to get used to it.

A front rack along with the right bags really increases my commuting flexibility, and I recommend them if you can find them.

-Warr