soze

*exits lurk mode*

Aloha all,

I've become infatuated with Surly's newish 8- and 24-pack front racks. However, my venerable Cross-check only has mid-fork eyelets, no crown eyelets, for mounting. I see two options:

1. Mount rack on existing fork with mid-fork eyelets and some form of P-clamping
Pros: Re-uses existing hardware that is already dialed in
Cons: May be hinky?

2. Acquire LHT fork, apply rack to fork. Wipe hands on pants.
Pros: Might be the most correct solution
Cons: Different fork geometry might affect handling?

Please comment/assess both? Is there a third path for these specific racks, or is that it? Thanks!

corrado33

I'd e-mail surly. They have been good about getting back to me in the past. It takes a few days, but they have never NOT gotten back to me. They will surely know the best way to do what you want to do.

Gareth

Rubber lined Stainless steel P clips will be your friend.

They are a lot stronger than you think and if nylock nuts are used on the set screws they are an extremely solid fixing place, plus they will easily take the load.

I use them on the racks I make and sell and so does CETMA Cargo and neither of use has experienced an issue with them let alone a problem. The only other real advice I can suggest regarding using P clips is to get them 1mm down in size than the measurement taken on the tube you wish to affix them to.

soze

@corrado: I pinged their Twitter account a couple weeks back, got nada. Guess they're email only types?
@Gareth: Thanks! I didn't realize CETMA uses P-clips. I guess it just "looked" hinky to me. But then, there's a reason I just make bleepity bloops for a living.

DaleW

There are many porteur or "pizza" style front racks. I wanted longer and thinner and was able to mount a Blackburn Local Deluxe rack on the front of my bike.

jade408

Soma, Velo Orange and Gamoh all make porter racks that could work, just in case you need more options.

Gareth

You could always use This