The first one was for my mtb and really isn`t very strong, though it only weighs 650g. I designed to carry my favorite water bottles (big mouth 1 liter from Aquafina or Schwepps) but the bottle rings and rear stop can be easily removed with a 4mm Allen wrench. Aluminum rails with 10mm hydraulic tubing for legs.

The front and rear racks for my frankenbike are very sturdy and weren`t particularly dificult to build. They`re both made mostly from 8mm and 10mm hyd tubing and a little bit of 1/8 X what-ever flat steel. The hydraulic tubes are probably pretty much the same as the brake lines used for the rack in one of the links above and are easy to work with. Cromolly tubing is probably a good bit stronger and easier to braze or weld, but I would guess it`s harder to bend smoothly. Next time I make a rack I`ll probably order cromo instead of the hydraulic stuff (the hydr tubing was what I had on hand). Mine are all TIG welded because that`s what I knew how to do- brazing is probably easier and just as strong and now that I`ve done a litte I`ll most likely go that route in the future. The rear rack here weighs in at 1270g, didn`t weigh the front one. I used a hand bender just like the kind they sell in auto parts stores (except mine is metric) and built the basket/platform first then held them on the bike with Vice Grips and blocks and tacked the legs in place.

brucewiley- how did you mount your rack to the fork arch? I like the idea.