Panasonic Frankenbike. Old Blackburn, center-mount, front rack with an old desk wire letter basket zip-tied to it. I have Wald folding baskets attached to the Blackburn in the rear and wanted something not-to-big in the front that would hold an additional bungied bag or two without the bags flopping over the side of the front rack.



Same thing with the front Jandd rack on my LHT. Since this rack has no backstop like the Blackburn above, I oriented the basket forward and attached the plastic handle from an old boombox radio on the open end of the basket.



The letter baskets weigh next to nothing but are solid. Everything is zip-tied with an additional round pipe clamp or two thrown-in.

that is SWEET!

freebie out of the junk-
Was a mangled rear Voyager rack and when I tried to straighten it, still looked ugly and the ally rod was cracking. Decided to just hack the damaged portion off. Solid mount. Quirky, low budget, intentional low-end component, no worry and fun bike.

Thanks rumrunn6! Here it is with the Acorn Mini-Rando bag and Gemini Duo headlight added. The battery pack for the headlight is inside the zippered pocket on the side of the bag. The Gemini Duo headlight despite its small size is a flamethrower, putting out 1400 lumens on high. Unfortunately, Acorn has discontinued the Mini-Rando bag. Its too bad because its a nice size for these small front racks.

I've got a Jim Blackburn "wrap around" front rack on my Trek 620.









There's a Jim Blackburn single point rack on my Voyageur SP:








And a Vetta wrap around on the Trek 720:

The green bike is a 1987 Panasonic Tourer with a Rivendale "Mark's Rack" made by Nitto. Sold the bike last year, regrettably. Can you see the braze-ons I had put on the front fork specifically for the rack?
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1972 Peugeot PX-10 with Mafac knock-off front rack. A beautiful bike but no longer mine.
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Three pages of front racks and none of them attached to mid-fork bosses.
Does anyone even make a front rack designed to mount to mid-fork bosses?

Wow, the racks and bikes I posted over four years ago have mostly moved on to greener pastures (or smoother roads?). But here's my daily commuter: a '71 Raleigh Int'l with Nitto M18 front rack and a Wald basket attached with small hose clamps:

[MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] - wow, am I coveting those Jim Blackburn wrap around front racks! I have early silver Jim Blackburn racks on 3 of my bikes and have searched high and low for the front kind. Very nice.

Ive been toying with the idea of a front rack, but nothing excites me (except the Blackburns).

Here's another Jim Blackburn wrap-around. If you look closely you can see I had to carve out a little notch in the front fender so the rack wouldn't push the fender into the tire.

@Velocivixen: A note on the Jim Blackburn wrap-arounds. I do like them a lot, too. However, depending on the frame geometry and handlebar setup, you have to be mindful that there is a chance the wrap-around racks may impact the down tube. In my example above with the Nishiki Competition, the rack is blocked from impacting the down tube by the cable guide. If this was not the case (say, if the cable guide was mounted lower on down tube, or if used on a single-speed with no shifters/cable guides) I'd be concerned that the rack might cause a dent from an accidental strike to the down tube, all the more likely if a heavy front bag is mounted to the rack.

[MENTION=175208]gaucho777[/MENTION] - thanks for that great piece of advice! Two of my bikes are Mixtes that sport the rear rack. One has stem shifters & one has brazed on down tube shifters. I can see how the wrap around metal portion could contact the down tube. I will keep that in mind if I get a chance to buy the Blackburn front rack.

There hasn't been an update on her flickr since 2011, I wonder if she is still around.

This one looks like it might be attached to the fork:

I'm wondering the same thing, though. I have mid-fork bosses and I don't want to see them unused!

[MENTION=355580]Velocivixen[/MENTION]- I like that the "wrap around" rack seems more 'attached' and more of an OEM appearance, but for my porpoises (using the Acorn front bag)- the single telescopic strut actually works better for holding the bag away from the handlebars. I actually still have a NOS Vetta single point rack that I'm planning on putting on either my 78 or 86 Trek. I don't know at this point whether I should put that one on the 720 and the wrap around on the other bike... decisions...

As a side note- a lot of people mount the rack to the upper eyelet of the fork end if they have two. When you do that the rack will lean backwards instead of sit level. You just have to use the lower eyelet and a spacer to clear the fork. On the 720 I have the fender hardware acting as the spacer. When I get around to fenders on the other bikes, I'll do the same.

As a side note aside from the side note, I've been fine with the handlebar bag- even loaded down. However, I've also mounted my small panniers on the rack- and those throw off my steering. It could have been a weight thing, or just that the load was lower or farther out to the sides. I've never ridden with low rider racks.

Not on my wife's vintage bike... but on her vintage "looking" bike


Minoura King Carrier to match the pdw rear rack

Low riders tend to be made for mid fork bosses or clamps... upper racks usually mount at the dropout.

Check the dark green Panasonic. I had mid-fork barrel fittings brazed on for that rack. Here is a closer view.
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[MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] - ok that makes perfect sense. I tried to mount a Wald basket to a couple of my bikes but the fork blade was in the way of the arms of the basket. Never thought to use spacers. Hmmmmm......maybe another project.

Unknown rack mounted to Universal model 61 brakes. Handles a light load OK and has a wider platform than the fancier TA front rack.

Let me know if you want a close up pic or anything.

If you're not too wrapped up in it being either "vintage" or a "jim blackburn," the Soma Mini Front Rack has the right look, it's got eyelets all over it, but it's just not old and not a jim blackburn. When I see pix of them on people's bikes, I'm always surprised when they mention they're the new Soma racks.

When I got the Vetta racks, I was kind of bummed that they didn't say jim blackburn like my other racks- it barely even crosses my mind now.

Soma Mini Alloy Front Rack

Damn, that Soma rack is nice, and the price is surprisingly low! You could use one of those eyelets for mounting a headlight.

It is pretty nice, I had one on my trek for awhile just for fall light and battery holder duty. It would be good for a top bag, but not too much weight. It's just right for credit card touring, or fall rides where you need to stash extra gear for the weather.

[MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] - I have seen the Soma racks in person and don't care for their finish. It's like some sort of painted on finish. I want raw aluminum or stainless. I don't care about the name, but care about design and finish.