While there are plenty of rear racks available for bicycles, front racks are harder to find. The Nashbar Front Rack
works well for small loads and it mounts to the brake canti bosses. I've used this rack on various bikes of mine and my friend Matt Newlin uses one on the back of his bike as a saddlebag support.
I use that one, with it's accompanying bag, on the front of the bike I use to drag the BoB around and there's one on the front of the Footbike (don't laugh) that I use for the occasional convenience store run.
ReplyDeleteKent,
ReplyDeletehave you ever mounted it without the brake mount and using clamps instead? I want to mount it to a disc only fork and figured I would ask first.
thanks!
I couldn't get that rack to work with my older front suspension mtn bike. But its a great rack.
ReplyDeleteThey are also cheap enough to hack fearlessly!
ReplyDeletearleigh,
ReplyDeleteI've only used the rack on forks with canti bosses. I think the trick with using clamps would be to make sure they can't slip down the fork legs.
Be careful with large loads (much over 10 pounds I'd say). I've seen one or two where the tabs that go to the canti bosses tore off.
ReplyDeleteThe Nitto M12 fits most bikes that this rack works on and is much more durable. It is also 3-4x the cost.
If you want to experiment with larger loads (by strapping a basket full of groceries to the rack) then the little Nashbar is a lousy choice and the M12 is better. If the rack is just going to be holding the bottom of a handlebar bag or a little bag of food then it is fine.
alex
Me and my bright ideas...it was in stock this morning, on super-sale, but is sold out now. I waited because I was at work and needed to check my own stock of a couple other items.
ReplyDeleteOh well...thanks for the info, Kent!
There's one on the front of my Xtracycle, with a small basket zip-tied to it. It's handy.
ReplyDeleteAs Jim G pointed out, they're cheap enough to hack. I did a similar bag mounting mod with my Nashbar Elite h'bar bag to make it a rack mounted bag.
ReplyDeleteI've had my Nashbar rack for 3 years and swapped it between 2 bikes. For all the comments I've seen on BikeForums about the crown mounting tab snapping, or the canti mounts breaking, I've never had a problem with mine.
Is this even still available? I can't find any listing for it on either Amazon or nashbar.com itself...
ReplyDeleteLike many things at Nashbar, these are often not in stock. I've seen them come and go from the catalog at least 3 times in the past year. As of this writing, it looks like they aren't available, but I'll bet they show up again eventually.
ReplyDeleteThey are on ebay now. Not as cheap but still reasonable I bought 3 as front racks are disappearing. I would love to buy a few of the old blackburn front racks;.
ReplyDelete