Fork mount front rack suggestions?
 

Hey y'all. I'm looking for a small, porteur style rack which would mount using only the braze-ons on the upper fork legs. I don't really want anything which needs to mount to the fork crown or that runs long struts to the dropouts. I need only a small, light-duty platform above the wheel (700c/650b), no pannier mounting or anything fancy.

Do you know of such a thing?

The Velo Orange Flat Pack Rack mounts to mid fork mounts:
https://velo-orange.com/collections/...andonneur-rack

It does require the fork crown brake bolt to be the third mounting point though.

Thanks. Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m looking for, though not quite. I’m not sure what I’m envisioning does exist, but thanks for the help looking!

The cleanest rack, and which is the most popular here in Japan, is the Nitto M-18. It mounts to braze-ons, but has adapters for forks without them. It does need to be attached to the fork crown, but it is clean, minimalist design, is sturdy enough (I use on on my All City Space Horse), and is adjustable for precise positioning.

Are you looking for something with only 2 total mounting points?

I suppose you could build, or have someone build for you, a rack that mounts to the dropouts and to the mid-fork mounts on both sides.

The problem with just two mounts is that if you accelerate or decelerate rapidly, the rack can swing wildly fore and aft. Especially if one or both mounting bolts are loose -- and if you only have two mounting bolts, and little bit of motion at the mounts will unscrew the bolts. Or just wait for Murphy to get to work.

A rack attached only mid-fork (two attachment points) is a bad idea for the reason given by pdlamb. Please heed this advice. The potential for disaster is simply too high. You need that third attachment point, most easily at the fork's brake hole, but around the back of the head tube at the lower headset cup works, too.

Thanks everyone. My fork has 4 braze-ons, 2 on each leg, spaced like standard water bottle cage mounts. So 4 potential mounting points.

I’d like something like this. The extra-wide braze-on spacing is custom for purpose here, but maybe something fitted to standard bottle cage braze-on spacing could work, albeit with a lower load capacity.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4677a5d95.jpeg

Found it! Sorta… There’s a guy up in BC called Mica Cycles who is prototyping and developing this trick rack right now. He says probably 6 months out from production ready, but he’s got some very smart features in the mounting plate design for adjustability which make this one to wait for!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...231cbd6e5.jpeg

I’m using the aforementioned Velo Orange flat pack rack mounted the way you describe and it works great.

The rack in your earlier picture looks interesting. If that itty bitty rack in the second picture can do you for, I submit that you don't need a rack. A mid-size handlebar bag will work very nicely. I'm thinking about getting one for my racebike since I'm always running errands with it.

Without the foot, eh? It looks like the fitting would be a bit fiddly; I’m not in love with having to mind 4 strut pivots. Do you think it would work with dual braze-ons, or need triple braze-ons for wider strut spacing?

Yeah, it's nice having options.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b1703180d.jpeg
No foot. Lots of adjustability with the 4 struts so it should fit just about anything with threaded mounts.

Oh, you’ve got great mount point locations, providing a very sold, stable rack. With my mount location and spacing, it would be considerably less solid because the geometry is much less ideal.

I suspect that only two mounting points so close together and in the same plane will not work. It wouldn’t spread the load enough.

The earlier recommendation of the Nitto is solid advice.

whatever you do, don't make your own
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d6de2d0177.jpg

I thought we're supposed to use carbon when we DIY nowadays 😅 E.g.

There is a less complicated way to mount a rack to the fork using just the 4 braze-ons. I played with it this past year and eventually abandoned it as I did not like the weight above the tire as it affected the front end more than I cared for.
I used aluminum tubing 3/8 diameter and ran it across the mounts on one fork leg then bent to shape to elevate above the tire and to support a flat platform area, and down the other fork leg and across the two mount points. I did not keep it as it was repurposed, but if I had you would see how absolutely simple the design is. It was solid and lightweight. I think 1/2 tubing or steel tubing would have made it bombproof and super stable with over 20 pounds on it.

With the Flat Pack Rack, they give you 4 struts like this:
https://velo-orange.com/cdn/shop/pro...g?v=1612983945
If you configure the struts as shown here, in a V shape, then you'll need a fifth point on the fork crown brake mount, to stabilize the rack.
But, if you instead have the struts cross each other in an X shape, such that the front strut goes from the front of the rack platform to the higher up fork mount, and the rear strut goes from the rear of the rack platform to the lower fork mount; now you no longer need the mounting point on the fork crown. Now the rack is fixed and stable.

nice, I've got a gopro boom mount that uses those components. they aren't cheap
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e619e50c0e.jpg

If simplicity is the goal.

​​​​​​https://wholegraincycles.com/en-international

Having had a fork mounted front rack before, I think I'd prefer a frame mounted one like that too. Otherwise adding a heavy bag causes the steering to swing strangely.

There seems to be a company selling them here:
https://dutchdogdesign.com/product/britch-rack/