Front rack options with no eyelets
 

I'm posting this here because I think it is the most likely place to get a good answer. I'm getting a 2nd bike soon to use as a winter commuter (including longer, single-day-tour-esque trips if necessary). Among the bikes I'm looking at, the best contenders don't have fender mounts in the front (all rigid MTBs). I have found ways to attach full fenders without mounts, but what are my options for front racks (or baskets) short of an extremely expensive old man mountain rack? If there's some way to customize it that's fine. Possible to create a kind of attachment to the front quick release that has 2 eyelets on it or something? Let me know if anyone has had experience with this, any details/materials/instructions that could be provided. Anyone know of custom setups like this that can hold pretty heavy loads?

Edit: thinking of something like clamping something to the fork that has something protruding from it with an eyelet. The details may differ but is this principle okay to consider? The bike in question would be chromoly.

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Hi, so you don't have dual eyelets on the front dropout? There is a way to add one using a steel clip; one end attaches to and is secured through your axle bolt and the other end, which is drilled with a mounting hole, protrudes an inch or so towards the back of the bike. This is where you can attach the bottom of your rack. These steel clips were used on old bikes and should be relatively easy (and cheap) to source. Don't bother buying some organically craft-brewed, heavily-bearded-hipster fabricated and thoroughly expensive modern solution when there are alternatives.

Tubus makes just the product you're looking for: https://ortliebusa.com/product/lm-1-fork-adapter/

It's kind of pricey, but I used these to put a front rack on an MTB conversion, and they worked great for 4 years and 20,000 miles.

I have used them too, with a Tubus Tara rack on a Bridgestone MB-1 frame with MB-5 fork. I will say, with a fork taper like mine, they seem to loosen up if used on rough roads like the gravel fire roads in VT. I had to do some extra finagling to stop that.

If all you need is an attachment point at the dropout end go with a solution like prairiepedaler's. Maybe something like this: https://www.bikeparts.com/BPC412164/...-fender-eyelet If you have solid attachment points at the bottom you could probably eliminate the need for mid-fork braze-ons by using a rear rack designed for a single center mount at the top (in the picture with this it looks like the use of p-clamps at the bottom substitute for fender/rack eyelets) if you have a bolt hole at the top of your fork. Barring that you'll have to jury rig something along the lines of the Old Man Mountain to bring the attachments down to the canti bosses or slapping p-clamps on the fork blades. Note: that Pletscher rack doesn't strike me as something that could handle a "heavy" load.

For the best handling use a lowrider rack which requires the adapters at the mid-fork level.

Got it, thanks for all the help! If it changes anything, I'm most likely going to mount my (preferred, beloved) wald 520 rear baskets in the back and probably a small basket in the front. The back has mounts but I'm going to want fenders and the baskets attached, so I assume using these additional things in the back for the fenders will work easier than for anything that carries a load since they're much lighter. Its good to know I have something along these lines to use, its mostly the front load carrying that worries me. I'll check out the steel clips but the Tubus product looks good, I'm willing to spend 20 bucks if it works that well.

The component shown above is not to act eyelets on the fork's dropouts. They are designed to use for mounting front racks on forks that do not have mid-fork blade mounting braze on.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...rontRack-1.jpg

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...FrontRack2.jpg

I see, I misunderstood. I'm very new to bicycles in general so a lot of this goes past me, even though you're speaking of straightforward things, bicycle/general hardware terminology often isn't too intuitive for me. I have never seen/considered the mid-fork braze-on, or at least never payed attention to it, so it is still good to know. What are the solutions for eyelet creation, then, if any? I have no eyelets in the front and one in the back, on the bike I'm looking for, and want rear and front racks or baskets, plus rear and front fenders.

https://www.bikeparts.com/BPC412164/...-fender-eyelet this seems to do the trick, mounting to the quick release and creating an eyelet higher up, which is just what I was looking for. This seems to be identical to prairiepedaler's, correct? But just from a different source?

I apologize (if any apology is needed) for my intense annoying newness to all things involving fastening pieces of metal to other pieces of metal. Just trying to get clear.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/...oc_id=6090&v=w

shows another option I have used for many years in the past when my forks did not have mounting eyelets. There are some photos down the page showing how you can use a U bolt to mount to the fork to support the weight, and some brackets which attach to the brake attachment points to stop the rack rotating. The brackets are easy to make or to get someone to make them for you.

There is not any apology required on here for honest questions. Actually, it is nice to see a real question once in awhile:) We all benefit from them. It looks like you have found something that meets your needs, and made me aware of a work-around that I was unaware of.

There are lots of racks that mount on the quick release skewer. I would look for one of those!

Also, FWIW, I love my Old Man Mountain rack and would highly recommend one if you want something really solid.

you could always drop by your local lbs.
i'm sure they have loads of forks lying around in the storage room.
should be able to find something with dropout and mid-fork eyelets
at a reasonable price including labor to switch out.

if you can do the labor yourself, should be able to find a useable
fork on ebay or lbs take-offs, perhaps even goodwill.

Any chance that would mess with frame geometry and handling?

Blackburn has Outpost and Local series for different type of mounts. Newer Local racks can be front or rear rack as well.

I have also used the Tubus clamps with great success. Highly recommended.

In my experience, the lack of mid-fork eyelets isn't a big deal. The Tubus LM-1 is a great solution.
However, I find the lack of dropout eyelets to be a big deal. It makes running fenders and racks very tricky. You can add some hardware that clamps into the skewer, but then it comes loose again whenever you need to remove the wheel. A big pain.

Personally, if I decided that my bike should have fenders, I wouldn't settle on a bike with out dropout eyelets. I bought a carbon 'cross bike last year, and a huge selling point for me was that it was designed for fender-ability, with proper eyelets.

I do not know if there would be a good way to mount the lower part of this rack on your fork but this rack does not need the upper mounts if you have cantilever brake mounts. You would have to to talk to someone that knows more about it than me to find out if you could use your skewer to mount it.
tubus - Smarti

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm looking at two bikes, a Barracuda a2f and a giant butte. I haven't considered the giant butte much because I can find no information about it, but it notably has all of the mounting points I could ever dream of, the Barracuda has only one eyelet on the back. I was reluctant about it because I can't find information about it, but they seem otherwise extremely similar (the barracuda is slightly post-ross, if that means anything to anyone).

Pics attached, in case its relevant/can be used to provide me with some help!

https://images.craigslist.org/00K0K_...Ru_600x450.jpg
https://images.craigslist.org/00808_...HU_600x450.jpg

Here's something for the fork dropouts which don't have eyelets (aside from the Axiom offering). This photo is from online in another forum, the hardware originating from a Minoura "Gamoh" rack. It really shouldn't be hard to fabricate something like that. The tab kind of looks like mickey mouse in a way doesn't it?

What about on a carbon fork? Seems like a few forks have wider tire spacing and fender eyelets, but not mid blade eyelets. Even lyndsky's, very nice Ti bicycles, their touring fork is steel. I've heard about issues with clamping on carbon

Probably not a good idea.

A) Replace the fork with one having all the features you Need.

B) Keep your load small and light if you feel you 'need' a carbon fork, Handlebar bag & Rear panniers should suffice.

Could give this one from Thule a go.

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content...5D=1;orderby=3

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content...5D=1;orderby=3

Maybe I'm crazy but I do not get all the overly expensive suggestions for what is a $5 fix for a used 20+ y/o bike.

Buy a P clamp.

The OP'S says he wants to mount a front basket. This requires the most simple front rack available without lowriders. New, about $32CAD.

Really, replace the fork on a used mtb with carbon fiber because there isn't a fender eyelet to mount a basket...

I didn't want to mention this in lieu of the fact that any information about this stuff is useful, but the wald baskets I'm looking at are specifically made to be able to mount to the front quick release skewer, which I didn't know at the time. So although all discussion about alternative mounting is welcome, I'm all set.