I just noticed after a couple of months that my fork has braze-ons, so I could add a front rack.

My commute is 15 miles each way, and I'm pretty hefty, so the notion of moving some weight from the rear wheel to the front wheel is appealing.

I'm guessing that front racks are less popular and thus more expensive...anyone know of a sturdy yet non-pricey front rack?

Also, what would you put in bags on the front rack? My laptop is 14" and probably will only fit in the rear panniers.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I just adapted a standard rear rack to mount on the fork of my FrankenVega. I had to rework the steel strap that secures the top of the rack to the brake bolt, and I had to squeeze the struts down to 100mm to fit the fork; other than that it bolted right on. Nashbar is selling these Sunlight Multi-fit racks for about $15 right now. The Multifit has adjustable strut length which helps with getting the correct mounting angle. See attached pics.

I mounted the front rack and added a basic Nashbar trunk to replace the aging (30+ years old) Himalayan handlebar bag that was wearing out. For commuting I carry my laptop and my lunch in a mailbag rear pannier, while I carry incidental cargo such as clothing and shoes in the front bag. I chose the standard trunk since it is big enough for this purpose, and a larger trunk would block my handlebar mounted headlamps. Other than than, there's no reason you couldn't mount a larger trunk, though I don't know if they come large enough to fit a laptop. Keep in mind handling issues with a lot of weight carried high up on the front wheel. You could also look at front panniers, but again, I think you'd want to balance the load pretty evenly on each side to avoid handling problems.

Look online for the Jandd Extreme rack, i'm on the fence of buying one... i don't really need it but the idea of being able to use the top and/or mounting panniers as on low rider make this rack very interesting to me.

Some people just get a front basket (I think Wald makes one). You can drop a lot of stuff in there. I've been thinking about one for a while now.