Porteur racks
 

I'm going to be installing a porteur rack on my Marinoni, fastening to the fork eyelets on the dropouts. I do not have "lowrider" fork mounts and would prefer not to use P-clips, hence the preference for an eyelet-mounted rack.

I'm planning to get the stainless rack from VO, and am doing some web searches for other options. My needs are: stainless or polished aluminum/chromed chromoly, with the ability to carry up to 50-75 pounds.

Does anyone here in C&V have any experience (likes/dislikes) with the VO rack, or know of suitable alternatives?

I just recently finished my search for a nice porteur rack. I ended up with a Civia Market rack, which doesn't fit your criteria, but was a better match for me—gives me a use for my low-rider mounts (although supposedly you can set it up from the dropout eyelets—I question this, but then again I have 27in wheels with fairly high-volume tires; I suspect they did not design this rack with that much clearance in mind) and the black matches my rear rack. The price was also attractive, at less than half what V-O wants from aebike.com. Combined it with some other stuff I needed and got a great deal on shipping out to the islands—AEbike has definitely won a repeat customer.

But anyway, none of this answers your question. I almost got the V-O rack, but decided against for the above reasons. That said, it is probably the nicest porteur on the market. The Pass and Stow is also a really nice rack, but I'm pretty sure it only comes in black. There's a Paul Flatbed that might look good, but I doubt its ability to carry huge loads.
However, once you're at the V-O price point, custom racks aren't much more. I recall finding several builders willing to make a custom rack for about $150, and at $200 your selection opens up even more. There are also some semi-custom shops out there. Here's some links—you're better off contacting them directly than listening to any more from me.

RacknRoll
Ucello
TCB <--I was pretty close to pulling the trigger on one of these.
BC-Rack

t seems like 50 - 75 pounds is an awful lot of weight to carry on the front end.

I just put the VO porteur rack on my Rivendell Atlantis. With double fork eyelets the rack mounted easily and allows for addition fender attachment which is nice. The rack supports a large basket which I use for grocery shopping. With 20-30 pounds the bike handles well but heavier loads start to effect bike handling. Wide bars (albatross and now bullmoose) and wide tires (2" Big Apples) really help make the bike more stable. Dyno light mounted to rack mount puts it out of the way and at proper height. I am pleased with the rack.

That's a big stack of newspapers!

I think you might need something like this.
http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...qTftYyucIWsTY=

Yes, that is what engineers would refer to as the "design limit". I won't likely need to be putting that much up front, but want a rack that could handle it if need be. It will most likely hold more like 10 pounds of groceries. The French porteurs reputedly held up to 100 pounds of newspapers on a regular basis, which I know I don't need to match.

Thanks for the links above, JT!

:lol:

Thanks for this.
I'll be running 32's and using the VO "porteur" bars, which, while not wide, should offer a good position for stability. Most of my loads will probably be 15 pounds and under.

For you dog owners out there, my max weight criteria was to ensure that, if need be, I could put a 40 lb bag of dog food without stressing the rack. Actually managing the bulk, well, that will be its own challenge ;)

canyoneagle

I had the same thought and put a 40 lb bag of cat litter on the rack when I installed it. While the rack can handle the weight and bulk without a problem, it would make the bike too unstable for me to ride. Still, walking a bike with 40 or 80 lbs is much easier than shouldering it.

Yep, that will be the big test for me.
It is my understanding that bikes with little to no trail up front tend to be less "floppy" with loads up front. My eyeball assessment on my bike is encouraging, but nothing compares to getting on and riding it with a load.

I do have plans to build up a utility bike of some kind for use on my ranch land (soon to be home) in Colorado, so the porteur-esque bike will be relegated to grocery getting duty soon enough and the "ute" would be the big hauler.

Perhaps I missed it, but what is the bike? I've a Phillips Sports that I'd feel comfy using such a bike (or something like a UO-8) with lots of trail and a huge wheelbase.

'83 Marinoni "Special". It is similar to a Raleigh Super Course in geometry - sort of a "club racer", 40-41" wheelbase. I can fit 32's with fenders, and the fork has more rake than a racing bike. I'm building it as a "neo retro" bike for running about town, more sporty than heavy duty for sure, and as mentioned I wanted a rack that was functional rather than decorative for my grocery-getting.

I was told by the Rep. for the Canadian distributor that this rack was not available in North America, ATM.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

But it is shown in at least one American distributor's (QBP) catalog and seems to be available for purchase online.

In anycase, my prompting has brought about the ordering of this rack by the Canadian distributor and I will soon purchase one for myself. However, I recognize that it is not silver, but the price is a bit more attractive.

I am getting a rack and putting it on a lower trail 700c bike because this is very floppy though manageable.
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...r/IMG_3831.jpg

Nice rack. Don't take that the wrong way ;)
When are you getting it?

^That rack above is the Minoura Gamoh King Carrier (or some combination of those words—it seems to change depending on who you're buying from). Rivendell keeps them in stock at a reasonable price. I almost mentioned it, but didn't since it's not polished metal and maybe more of a basket than a rack(?). Another one I very nearly pulled the trigger on before chickening out at the last moment—decided I wanted something with lower rails.

That is definitely one of my issues as well, and one of the reasons I like the VO - removable rail.

I like my VO rack. I don't think I have put 50-75 lbs in it, but it stands up to 6 gallons of milk.

Six gallons of milk weighs approximately 50 pounds.

6 gallons of milk is ~48lbs.

Milk is lighter than Water?.

this is probably the nicest out there: http://www.passstow.com/

although I do hope you have the proper geometry for a front-load bias, otherwise your handling will suck.

i have the VO porteur rack on my jeunet:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/...306f58_b_d.jpg

while the rack itself probably can handle 50-75 lb, easily, i wouldn't trust the dropout eyelets to support all that weight, unless you have a fork specifically designed for this type of weight. if an eyelet were to snap off, the rack leg would push right into the spokes and you'd go straight over the bars... not desirable! it might be better to get a rack that mounts directly to the front axle. but as for the rack itself, yeah, it can handle some serious weight.

If I was going to be repeatedly loding the rack to capacity, I'd go with a different bike alltogether - something like the big dummy or a utility bike.

I hear ya on the eyelet limitation - I would feel comfortable loading up to 50-60 pounds on the eyelets (25-30 pounds each, static load), but as mentioned several times, am unlikely to actually do that much, if at all. I probably should not have mentioned any weight because so many people seem to be focusing on it. I should have just said "rack that can handle a moderate load and is not purely a decorative accessory" to help keep the discussion a little more on track.

Nice bike, BTW. Looks very nice!

The frame or fork eyelets are not going to be a fail point. Eyeletted dropouts are all generally built in the same way using similar materials. It's a pretty small thick piece of steel- we aren't talking about a pressed end Huffy fork..... Millions have been built with the same dropouts and ridden all over the world with all sorts of crazy loads- 60-70lb loaded touring bikes, mountain bikes, tandems, etc. If there is going to be a failure point, it would be the M5 bolt. But how often does that happen?