are front racks actually practical on our bikes?
 

I'm looking at you guys on Steamrollers and trackish (not track, trackISH) frames. Are you actually able to carry much of anything in your baskets/racks before the bike behaves like doo-doo? On my Salsa Vaya I start to feel the weight after maybe 3-5 lbs. I cant imagine my Big Block would be much fun to ride under the same load.

You'd rather wear it on your back in a big stupid bag?

Oh Scrod, you are an encyclopedia of threads past.

It's a lot easier to access your beer in a front basket. So there's that.

My Cinelli Work has a rack and front bag and last night it was pretty loaded and no real issues. It still rode just fine. I wouldn't say overload your stuff on the front but some weight isn't so bad.

I have never liked weight high in front and haven't used HB bags for 40 years but love the way my fix gear handles with Lowriders. I love that even large amounts of cargo weight down there barely affects how the bike handles when I come out of the saddle for hills, even very hard hills. I've weighed my panniers at 20 pounds each a few times.

If I ever have a basket on a bike it will be a pannier style basket on back on a geared bike. Now if you need access to beer, why not a 1950s style HB bottle cage?

Ben

What do you usually carry? What rack/bag are you using? I'm considering an nitto M18 with zip ties and a basket.

Thanks

I usually carry rain pants, jacket, tube and tools, a bar of some kind, iPod, Boombotix, work shirt, hat and on my way home I sometimes carry leftovers or a few small grocery items. It sometimes will vary as it is a new set up, I have only used it commuting but I plan some summer trips on some gravely paths and maybe some light camping or just hanging out for a while along the way with a hammock. I use a Nitto M12 with a Swift Industries Ozette Rando bag size M.


Here are some crappy pictures because I can't take good pictures with anything:
http://www.bikeforums.net/19319866-post154.html
http://www.bikeforums.net/singlespee...l#post19319852

BITD (way back) I did a fair amount of light touring on my track bike. To be clear, in that era there weren't "street" fixies, except of home road bike conversions. So those of us riding rixed were mostly riding TRACK bikes with track geometries.

I never liked carrying any weight up front because I felt it added more polar inertia to the steering axis than I felt happy with. I'm not saying it's material, but it was for me. So, I carried my load as close to the saddle as possible, so the bike had similar seat of the pants handling properties as when bare.

Never ran a front rack on the Kilo, but I do have one on the Tourist. The bike will handle a bit different, maybe even better (hard to explain). It'll track a bit different.

Personally, putting a rack (front or rear) on a skinny tire bike just looks odd to me. Just my opinion, though.

the velo orange porteur i have on the front of my paramount literally weighs as much as my bike.

Love the front basket on my fixed city bike, it's an old conversion , maybe with lower trail. But even when it's overloaded, it's an advantage to be able to see it and what's going on.

I have a VO Passhunter Rack with a Wald 137 zipp-tied to it on my Mash Work Frame. I gosh damn love it too. With a six pack and stuff I prefer to keep my hands on the bars. But with lunch, tool rool and extra shirt for work it's great on my commutes and I'm getting comfortable with no hands riding. I can remove or install rack on bike in like 2 mins, literally involves loosening/tightening 3 nuts.

I did install the Wald 137 on my Samson NJS track bike when I first received it. It rode fine but the weight was noticeable even with a small load. I think if I had had the tools to shorten the legs that connect to the front axel, to lower the center of gravity it would have been less noticeable. I would highly recommend purchasing a Wald 137 and riding with it first to see if you appreciate the basket enough to further invest in a front rack and more expensive setup. Or if you have tools you can get a pretty nice setup with the Wald itself.

But to just to re-iterate: VO rack was originally bought for my Gunnar Crosshairs & a Swift bag + decauler? setup, which I loved & used extensively when i first got it. I rode that bike 80% of the time just because I loved the bag-decauler-rack setup. It helped lead me to get the Wald for the track bike in the first place, and if I'm being honest I currently have no clue when that setup will get used again because of how useful the Basket+Rack setup is on the Work frame.

TL:DR Front racks+baskets are sweet, even on track bikes

hmm I am hoping to cop a Big Block soon and was thinking about throwing a front rack on there for a small duffle with EDC type stuff...nothing major