Mini Front Rack Hack

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javatime
Posts: 286
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:51 pm

Mini Front Rack Hack

Post by javatime »

27 Jan Update Added another photo with the bike out of the shed that may make things clearer :

I have been using handlebar harnesses with drops for a while, but thought I would give the £10 E bay mini rack, or something very similar a go to free up a bit of space on the bars, and make packing a bit simpler. Also when using my winter sleeping bag, the harness gets a bit close to the front wheel.

The attachments provided with the rack seemed a bit flimsy, and also I don't have canti bosses.

I replaced the provided bracket with a couple of aluminium plates that sandwich the vertical part of the deck and bring the load onto the outer sandwich plate where it meets the top rail. Painted black the outer sandwich plate can hardly be seen.

I used a piece of M6 stainless studding through the mudguard bolt hole, keeping this as short as possible whilst leaving space for the cables behind. I removed the canti brackets from the rack and used pipe clips instead. Size here was important...23mm was too big so 21mm worked well with the Escapade steel forks. All nuts are nyloc and threadlocked so shouldn't shake loose.

It works well with the same load I would have in the harness, pictures below and a link to the E bay rack previously found by mikejd

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aluminum-All ... ect=mobile

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Last edited by javatime on Wed Jan 27, 2021 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
woodsmith
Posts: 1010
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:49 am

Re: Mini Front Rack Hack

Post by woodsmith »

Looks good. Any idea on the weight?
javatime
Posts: 286
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 4:51 pm

Re: Mini Front Rack Hack

Post by javatime »

Sorry, no weight but it felt very light, all aluminium construction.

(A bit reluctant to unbolt it now but will weigh it when/if I do - yes, much easier to remove a harness !)
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