I need to equip a Specialised Crosstrail Disc with some front end cargo capacity. The suspension fork has neither brake bosses nor any eyelets.
No bosses rules out the Zefal Raider.
The Surly rack appears to need eyelets.
I stumbled across a rack by Axiom. Q/R mount with clamps above. Useable, but only 9kg a side, and I'd feel a lot better about it if it had a brace over the wheel.
Tubus Swing - discontinued and none left in shops
That seems to leave me paying £90 ish for an Old Man Mountain rack. Choice of three...
Any suggestions?
Front rack for suspension forks
Front rack for suspension forks
Trying to retain enough fitness to grow old disgracefully... That hasn't changed!
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
I use the Axiom on extended tours and they have never failed me yet. I didn't know they had a weight limit
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
Tortec is a possibility. http://road.cc/content/review/58637-tor ... front-rack Comes with clamps to subsitute for low-rider bosses, and you can use P-clamps in place of eyelets at the bottom. Retails at £40.
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
the only really intelligently designed front rack for suspension forks I have seen is the Tubus Swing. This carries the weight on the bike, not the fork, thus adding to the sprung weight not the unsprung weight. But for some reason the Swing is presently NLA... so go figure....
cheers
cheers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
Ideally, as Brucey says, the weight should be suspended.
In the absence of that option, I can recommend the OMM racks, I have a Cold Springs, now discontinued but in the style of the Sherpa/Pioneer models. They may not be cheap but will fit virtually any bike with a 5mm QR skewer (you can even take the QR bit off if you subsequently want to fit it to a fork with eyelets). Remember that, at least with the hi-riders(?), the fork mount is only really a stabiliser and the weight is carried on the bottom mount. The top mount therefore doesn't have to be mega strong.
Rick.
In the absence of that option, I can recommend the OMM racks, I have a Cold Springs, now discontinued but in the style of the Sherpa/Pioneer models. They may not be cheap but will fit virtually any bike with a 5mm QR skewer (you can even take the QR bit off if you subsequently want to fit it to a fork with eyelets). Remember that, at least with the hi-riders(?), the fork mount is only really a stabiliser and the weight is carried on the bottom mount. The top mount therefore doesn't have to be mega strong.
Rick.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
The Toetec isn't going to suit, I'm afraid. I think at least one mount needs to be better than a Pclip. \there's nothing to stop the whole thing sliding down. May be it won't. but certainly I couldn't stop worrying about it.
OMM it is then
From the Tubus site:
Cause of the broad variety of suspension forks in the market, it is not longer possible for us to offer the SWING suspension fork carrier with a standardized mounting set for all forks.
An individual offer of different mounting-sets is cause of the number of different forks not possible.
A self made adaptation by the consumer is cause of liability reasons not allowed.
Cause of the above reasons, we had to stop the production of our SWING carrier.
I'd have been happy to buy one of these simply because of the companies reputation. Reliability in use is my principal requirement. Sadly, I doubt it will be back
I'm not sure that I agree about the sprung/unsprung weight issue. I do understand that unsprung weight is undesirable on a high performance motor vehicle because it tends to reduce the grip of the tyres on the road. I'm not sure if that is likely to affect a touring cycle in quite the same way. Not at the speeds I tend to favour, at any rate! I'd be more concerned about losing comfort because I had overloaded the suspension...
OMM it is then
From the Tubus site:
Cause of the broad variety of suspension forks in the market, it is not longer possible for us to offer the SWING suspension fork carrier with a standardized mounting set for all forks.
An individual offer of different mounting-sets is cause of the number of different forks not possible.
A self made adaptation by the consumer is cause of liability reasons not allowed.
Cause of the above reasons, we had to stop the production of our SWING carrier.
I'd have been happy to buy one of these simply because of the companies reputation. Reliability in use is my principal requirement. Sadly, I doubt it will be back
I'm not sure that I agree about the sprung/unsprung weight issue. I do understand that unsprung weight is undesirable on a high performance motor vehicle because it tends to reduce the grip of the tyres on the road. I'm not sure if that is likely to affect a touring cycle in quite the same way. Not at the speeds I tend to favour, at any rate! I'd be more concerned about losing comfort because I had overloaded the suspension...
Trying to retain enough fitness to grow old disgracefully... That hasn't changed!
Re: Front rack for suspension forks
Thule do this but i don't know much about it "Thule PACK N PEDAL" apparently it fits front or back and has attachments for thin, medium and large (suspension) tubes