Road Fan

I'm having a low-trail fork made for my Trek, to mimic the geometry of a Boxdog Pelican. I like having a front bag like an Acorn or Berthoud or Campagne.

Being a new fork I can get any braze-on I want, so I can accommodate any front rack.

So with the door open to rack mounting styles like this, what rack should I set for the builder as the model? Different V-O and Nitto racks have different mount styles, requiring different braze-ons.

I'm already adding dual dropout eyelets top and bottom, and a generator tang for a B&M bottle dyno, probably will also go for low-rider mounts as long as we are building new.

But: Mark's rack? or what? I will be using caliper brakes (so far), not cantis or fixed-pivot center-pulls, at least if the brake reach issue remains manageable.

I have a little steel TA front rack, that bolts on to a Mafac Racer. While that brake may have enough reach, but I could do better with a Nitto or VO. For one thing I could have better headlight mounts than a fork blade fitting.

thebulls

I recently bought an A.Homer Hilsen fork from Waterford, raked to 64mm. I had to decide whether to stick with the default rack-braze-on location (suitable for a Mark's rack) or pay extra to get it set for a VO rack. Looking around at various rack models, I just decided that sticking with the Mark's rack braze-on is more versatile, since it fits a Mark's rack or Berthoud or low-rider pannier rack. I installed a Mark's rack on it and it works fine. It took some jiggering to get the rack down close to the top of the fender--I used a Daruma and straightened out the steel tang to go under the sidepull brake. FWIW, I have a VO front rack on my tandem and on my '84 Trek 610, and those are nice racks.

wickedcold

Road fan, I just got a Nitto "M13" rack, the only place that seems to carry it is Bicycle Quarterly (or Compass Bicycles as they now call the store). It's a little smaller than the M12 and all the similar front "rando" style racks but mounts the same as an M12, using the hole in the fork crown and the canti studs. I think it's a better design. I have the Acorn rando bag and it's a perfect fit with no rack sticking out in front of the bag, unlike my other other two Nitto racks (M12 and "mini") which are bigger than they need to be. In addition the brazed-on bolt for mounting the fender is located more toward the front of the rack which will line up better with the fender on a low-trail fork. It seems to sit a little lower as well which is great.

Here's a picture from BoxDog's photostream that shows how it fits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/boxdogbikes/5373235189/

wickedcold

Ahh... I don't know how I missed the part where you said you were using calipers. I guess that rules out the M13. I've seen the VO rando rack and it seems to be very low profile as well. In case you care, the welds were kind of fug. But otherwise it was pretty nice.

Road Fan

Thanks, Bulls! If you don't mind, what was the V-O rack you used? They have more than half a dozen models.

Road Fan

Wicked, is that the same as the stainless rack V-O are now selling for about $55?

wickedcold

That be the one!

thebulls

I got a VO Randonneur rack for the bike that has caliper brakes, and a VO Pass Hunter rack for the tandem with cantilevers. I did not get the integrated decaleur version, because I'm worried about durability. VO says they are fine, but I just notice how many Bicycle Quarterly articles cite issues with built-in decaleurs, so it seems like a failure point. Instead I got several "traditional stem mount decaleurs" and McGyvered them into the various stems on my bikes (Nitto--that one's easy; a one-bolt threaded stem that had room inside the "pinch" area for the tang of the decaleur; and a Ritchey threadless four-bolt faceplace that took some creativity, putting one piece of metal sideways with two pinch bolts through it, and then drilling holes in the center to bolt the tang of the decaleur, see pic).

Nick