Wald basket with quick-release front wheel?
 

Anybody here have any tips for mounting one of the front wald baskets with the support legs on a bike with a quick-release front wheel?

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/584/13630ab3.jpg

It seems like they're generally made for solid axle front wheels, but they supply an extra smaller m5-sized hole for eyelets. I tried mounting it on the fork's fender eyelets but I can't attach it because the quick release skewer ends are in the way of the support legs. Should I just dremel around the edges of the support legs to make it fit? Do people usually user spacers on the fork eyelet bolts?

I've done it by stacking a few stainless washers for proper spacing; worked fine. Eventually, I put a rack on and attached the basket to that, which is a far more stable mounting method.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/...4003be68_z.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/...6f5_z.jpg?zz=1

I've done it, too, though I feel more secure using one of those quick releases with an allen-bolt fitting:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...1JA6R3XE7X762R

Neal

you can do either... dremel off the excess to clear the skewer knob, or just mount to the QR skewer. here's a wald with the legs mounted to the skewer on my wife's bike (sorry i don't have a close-up). i could have used the extra eyelet on the dorpout, but didn't feel like doing all the extra work of dremeling the leg:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/...5a4e8daff8.jpg

actually, this wald is sitting on a front rack, but is being doubly supported by its own legs.

Thanks everybody. I would like to have it mounted to a front rack (I would actually rather just have a front rack) but I don't have one so I need to use the included mounting arms.

I wasn't considering mounting it directly to the quick release skewer since the instructions from wald's site explicitly said not to do that. Are some of you running it like that, without the additional front rack for support? Have you had any problems? How much weight have you had in it with the setup like that?

Yup, I've done that with the kind of skewer I linked to above. I probably never put more than 10 lbs in it (or whatever my backpack weighs with laptop plus crap).

Neal

I've only used eyelets. It always seemed like a bit of a hassle to mount to a q/r but I don't see a serious problem with it, esp. if you use what NLerner suggests. btw, the rack I have on my Stumpjumper (post 2) is actually a rear rack. It looks slightly goofy I guess but not that bad as the basket is pretty large. I'd really recommend a rack unless you plan to keep the load fairly light.

I've had my Wald 157 mounted to the quick release for the last few years. I've never had any problems with any of the mounting points. I overload the heck out of it: 40L of compost, bags of dog food, stone dust, potting soil, clear crushed stone, plants, bike frames and wheels, groceries, bench grinders, landscaping tools, carpentry tool bags...



As far as I know, a Shimano QR can apply more force than a nut so I don't worry about clamping power. Also, I expect that once the QR is closed down the weight of the rack is being supported by the clamping force, not by resting on the thin QR axle, (which is actually quite strong anyway) so I don't think that the weight of the basket and it's load will hurt the QR axle.

From inside out it goes: hub-> fork-> basket strut-> QR spring-> QR nut or lever. You could put a washer between the fork and strut if necessary, I'd use a knurled one (might be a good idea even if you don't need the clearance). Make sure you re-adjust the tightness of the QR after you first install it as the strut will bend and settle into place the first couple of times you clamp it down. If you don't, you might not be clamping the fork very hard.


Although I feel this is safe, I would only use a Shimano QR. I've pulled out too many rear wheels with other QR's so I stay away from them as much as possible.




Those of you who have it mounted to a rack: is it more stable than just with it's own struts? I would think it would be wobbly when loaded as most racks aren't as wide as the strut mounting points.

I would go to hardware store and look for some 'P' clips and use those to mount the arms about an 1" above the dropout.

+1. I ended up using the eyelets on my wife's bike, but cheap fun little p-clips would've sufficed if'n i had no eyelets to work with...

-rob

I'd be unsure of carrying a lot of weight if I was using P-clips. They do well in a lot of applications, but lots of weight straight down, particularly if the fork is tapered, seems like a recipe for slippage to me.

It's true that the rack is narrower, but by comparison the struts are flimsy. With the rack I get no side-side sway as I did with a full load on the struts. I have the basket attached with several zip-ties.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/...e9ee2f1b_z.jpg

I have my XL Wald attached at the bars and axle, it's very solid. I'd switch the wheel to solid axle for that basket mounting system or use a rack for the basket. It's the front wheel, any failure could very bad.

Thanks due route. It looks like you have the smaller one with the lighter struts though. They really are a little underbuilt for really heavy loads. The less sway the better for control's sake.