I've read for years on this forum that many bikes are just not suitable for front racks/bags, but that the Long Haul Trucker (LHT) is almost uniquely suited for it, and might even be better loaded out.

I started to wonder why?

So I went to Surly's website and looked at the geometry. There's nothing out of the ordinary for any non-racing road bike, most cross bikes, and most all the current crop of "gravel" bikes. A very basic and standard road bike 72deg headtube, and 73deg seattube. A very run-of-the-mill 45mm fork rake. The chainstays are a touch long, but nothing else stands out.

Near as I can tell, darn near any bike can be suitable for hauling stuff. There is a mythology around the LHT that just isn't verifiable.

In fact, that 45mm rake fork actually makes the handling twitchier. So...

Upshot is that I'm going to throw a front rack on my Nashbar-frame utility bike. And I don't foresee any issues.