Can baskets put too much weight on a head set?
 

My wife's new city bike has a basket that clamps about the handlebars, adjacent both sides of the headset.Carrying couple gallons of milk,etc. Can this be too much weight coming down squarely upon the headset. Are headsets ( threaded) designed to have that much weight directly atop headsets?

i think she should be okay. many of us lean way over our hadnlebars, putting much of our body weight directly onto the stem. compared to that, a couple gallons of milk are quite light. your wife should, however, remember that a lot of weight in the basket will interfere with steering. greater rotational moment of inertia means it's harder to steer the bike where you want it to go. it's not impossible, just requires a little more concentration, and remind her to give herself room for nice wide turns. to avoid this steering issue, try a rear rack. if your frame doesn't have the proper eyelets (your bike shop can determine this for you) they make racks that clamp only to your seat post. good luck and ride safe!

Headsets take a lot of pounding from bumps and curbs and such. I suspect the milk containers will fail long before the headset.

is it my imagination or does a rack clamped to the handlebars put no additional weight onto the headset ?

anyway, i think it will take very heavy loads before you are over-stressing things and these will probably be the wheels (spokes) and actual stays on the rack first

i carried a huge load of books to sell to the used bookstore on my front rack and the only problem i had was the rear wheel trying to lift off the ground everytime i took pressure off the seat

The potential problem isn't with the headset, it's with the steering. All that weight (a couple of gallons of milk weigh about 17 pounds) on the bars will have a definite effect on steering response. the general guideline for touring riders is to have no more than 5 pounds in a handlebar bag and less if possible.

As recommended, a rear rack is a better place to carry heavy things and there are even rear racks specifically designed to hold grocery bags.

The handlebars are attached to the front fork via the steer tube, so the extra weight is on the front fork not the headset bearing.

While I agree that 17+ pounds is too much to mount that high on a bike, that much weight on the front wheel, if carried lower and split between each side, is not detrimental to bicycle handling. Touring cyclist regularly carry that much weight and more on lowrider mounts. It actually improves the handling especially over carrying lots of extra weight on the rear wheel.

True, but the question is about a handlebar basket and here the weight is poorly distributed and in a bad place. Low rider front racks/panniers are an effective way to carry weight on a bike but that isn't an option in this case.

I addition to 2 gals of milk in the basket, she should try hanging a couple of bags of groceries from the ends of the handle bars. Steering the bike will be interesting.

Dave's point is a good one to know. I assumed all the weight went onto the headset. Headsets consist of bearings, bushings. Thought weight here might be detrementral to it's wear. My wife's bike came with a rear rack, but it has not braze ons. Often when she goes on errands, I go along with her on my bike, which has rear panniers; and that takes off some of the heavy load for her.

This thread reminds me when I was a delivery boy for my dad's grocery store. I used to carry the milk, meat, vegatables, the whole darn order on my front basket on a 26 inch fat tire, cruiser type bike. As I was small, under 5 foot, under 90 lbs, it was always interesting to carry all these groceries on the front of the bike. My point is, I don't think a couple of milk containers will cause much trouble, provided they are secured. I always made sure the load was secure since shifting can cause the bike to swerve without warning. Otherwise, I don't see much of a problem here. (Darn, I wish I was that thin again!)