Not to get too far offtrack, but zero trail is unlikely. That's for like circus/trick bikes? The America, Touring Series and S12-S/Ltd are supposed to have trail in the 30s, which is standard French front-loading territory.
In my metro NYC market there wasn't much awareness/discussion about trail back then, the early '80s, and between the folks I knew and what I saw in the magazines, there wasn't any awareness of French rando/front-loaders. A touring setup always started with a rear rack, and lotsa folks toured with 20-30lbs in the rear and only a handlebar bag in front. Front racks were for trans-continental, true long-distance riders. FWIW, no internet then, and whatever hotbed of rando-love was happening in the Bay Area or elsewhere didn't filter down to Jersey. Whaddya gonna do? Fuggeddaboutit.
That changed a bit when the Blackburn LoRiders were introduced, and we started setting up more bikes with low-mounted panniers, but there weren't any trail discussions that I remember. I did a tour on a Fuji Touring Series V frame with only LoRiders and Specialized Tailwind panniers, and it was the best, most natural touring setup/handling I ever rode. I was unaware that the TSV low-trail geo contributed to that.
There were a bunch of Treks that were low-trail designs as well, so it kind of feels like it was considered a viable geometry choice for non-rack bikes, without much specific awareness about biasing the frames for front loading.
Anyhow, the deal with the America was that it was marketed as a deluxe Touring bike, but it was actually a Sport-Tour bike that wasn't well-suited for touring use. Didn't mean you couldn't tour on it, but tire clearance wasn't great, not much room for fenders, shorter chainstays making rear pannier clearance difficult, not enough braze-ons for easily attaching racks and such. When the touring bug hit hard and Miyata/Panasonic started bringing in their actual long-distance touring models, we couldn't sell Americas to tourists any more. Fuji corporate higher-ups were very race-/performance-oriented, and it took several years and a lot of pushing to get them to make the Touring Series. And by the time the Touring Series came to market, the touring boom was dying.
There was a little less fender awareness overall back then, but serious tourists were certainly aware, and we sold a bunch of Bluemels. Just not to America riders, because they didn't really fit.
The good news is you could get a front rack to work on your America, and go with smaller front panniers and maybe a rack-top bag to duplicate the capacity you have now in the rear. You could use a rear rack-top bag as well. You might find the bike handles better with the front load, but as with most things, you won't know for sure until you try.
A front rack similar to this Velo-Orange should work OK on the front, mounts behind the brake and to the dropouts. And you can even still find vintage Blackburn LoRiders that use a fork clamp and the fender/rack boss.
https://velo-orange.com/collections/...eur-front-rack
I've tried low-trail bikes with big porteur-style racks and didn't like the handling at all. But I have very fond memories from 40yrs ago of riding that old TSV with the Lowriders and being amazed at how "normal" the handling felt. Staring at all that weight surrounding the front wheel, shaking my head that it almost felt like it wasn't there. And absolutely no tail-wagging like I had with rear loads on every bike I rear-loaded. I've got a TSIV in the stand right now I'm thinking of rigging that way. My youth is calling!
Bikepacking has ended all this, I suppose. I'm reduced to being an old geezer, shaking my durn head at the newfangled contraptions all these young'ns are riding.
I snagged this photo from the internet, have no other info about the bike/etc. But that's the standard Lowrider mounting on forks w/o Lowrider mounts in the blades. Looks clunky, works solid.
