Originally Posted by
m_yates
staehpj1: Do you mind saying what front rack you use? You and I have the same touring bike I believe and I am thinking of getting the Nashbar waterproof front panniers prior to my tour this summer. Last year I toured with rear panniers + camping gear strapped to the back and the bike didn't handle too well. I want to even out the load, preferably with a lowrider rack on the front.
Between the three of us 2 used the Nashbar clone of the Blackburn Lowrider and 1 used the Performance version. The performance one was lighter and stiffer. It had larger diameter tubing. In fact the Nashbar one might even be rods rather than tubing.
In any case both were fine. We did use some additional spacers between the plate and the mid fork braze on for best fit.