Hi there! I'm new here, so please forgive my lack of bike knowledge.

I've been looking into purchasing a bike just to get some occasional exercise and run small errands around the city. I finally found one that I could afford today - a local shop was selling some of their rentals and I wound up with a cute Raleigh 3.5 Detour hybrid. I really need to put a basket on the bike before it's going to be 100% useful for me (I like to travel with a camera, so I need to put it somewhere!). I'd definitely like a basket that attaches to the front of the bike, and would prefer to go the wire mesh route rather than wicker.

I'm confused about how the baskets attach with all the gears and such running around. Does anyone have any advice on a good basket that would fit this bike?

I appreciate any advice anyone can offer!

Thanks!

I am not a fan of baskets. If you put a lot of weight on the front of the bike, it might be more difficult to control the bike. I would opt for a rear rack. It looks like the bike frame has mounting holes for a rear rack. I don't actually have a rack, so I'll let other people make some recommendations.

How much "stuff" do you want to carry? Take a look in the Commuter BIke Pictures thread for some ideas of kinds of rear racks that are available. You might see something you like.

A rack and panniers, or even those metal folding baskets, for the back. A handlebar bag for the camera.

There are several ways of attaching a basket. The traditional way is using leather straps to the bars. The modern way is to use a plastic mounting assembly that clamps to the bars.
The best mount is Rixen and Kaul. This uses a small cable wrapped around the stem to prevent downward rotation under the weight of a full load. The clamp fixes to the bar but plays no part in anti-rotation.
Most other clamps have no cable so the clamps need to counter rotation as well as fix to the bars. They are generally massive and fugly and not as good.
R&K are used by many good basket makers such as Basil.

It is possible to fix R&K mounts to most other baskets with a few nuts and bolts.

Baskets are really useful and convenient on an everyday utility bike. They do slow the steering down a bit when heavily loaded but for easy riding use, that is not a big issue. The typical campus bike in the UK is an old, rusty 3 speed with a wicker basket.