Originally Posted by fatbat
Not talking about front versus back racks. I've seen some euro bikes where the rack is in the front, suported by an extension from the top/down tubes, not the front wheel. This gives you the advantages of the front rack, without having to actually wrestle all that weight around whenever you move the front wheel.
Ah, like
This is sort of a take on the traditional butcher's bike:
I'll let Matthew speak for himself, but I suspect it's because the above are really optimized for carrying heavy loads and not much else. They're cargo bikes and don't really lend themselves well to just cruising around.