Can you use a low-rider front rack on carbon forks?

[Jdsk]

Yes, there are lots of adaptors... but I don't think that we know what's available on the forks...

Jonathan

[nsew]

Re the Shand. Roberts built these forks with an M5 thread under there as well as the brake pivot hole. Really useful as I had mudguard and rack securely fitted there. They weren’t made of plastic though. I once met a young Swedish cycle tourer who was stranded by the side of the road in Italy, alu frame, carbon forks (shattered) p-clip low rider front rack, kitchen sinks in each pannier. He was nursing multiple injuries. Told me he was on his way to the cape of Africa. I told him it was luck that got him to where he was.

[RickH]

Yes, there are lots of adaptors... but I don't think that we know what's available on the forks...

Jonathan

The spec in the OP's link says the fork has lowrider mounts

Full Carbon and tapered steerer tube 1-1/8” to 1,5” with internal cable routing, eyelets for mudguards & low mount rack, 12mm Bolt- thru axle.

Re the Shand. Roberts built these forks with an M5 thread under there as well as the brake pivot hole. They weren’t made of plastic though. I once met a young Swedish cycle tourer who was stranded by the side of the road in Italy, alu frame, carbon forks (shattered) p-clip low rider front rack, kitchen sinks in each pannier. He was nursing multiple injuries. Told me he was on his way to the cape of Africa. I told him it was luck that got him to where he was.

I doubt Roberts make the carbon forks for Shand.

If the published spec for the Leveret fork says "eyelets for... low mount rack", I think you can be reasonably sure that it is safe to use one & designed to be fitted with one. Using P clips as mounts on carbon forks is an entirely different matter.

I've never encountered plastic forks!

[nsew]

Sorry I had no interest in reading the original post. Can’t the chap fit a front light to the top of his helmet? Plastic forks are quite common at roadside canteens.

[Jdsk]

The spec in the OP's link says the fork has lowrider mounts

And the second question was whether they're too low to be used for headlamps.

Jonathan

[Brucey]

. Can’t the chap fit a front light to the top of his helmet?

it won't be legal and it also won't show up potholes in the road very well. Also it is a dynamo light, so there would be wires trailing about the place. "I'm just off for a bike ride, I shall plug myself in and then start pedalling..."

Plastic forks are quite common at roadside canteens.

-so are a lot of other things that are not terribly practical....?

cheers

[andrew_s]

If the bottom of the steerer is open there's also this option
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/lighting-sp ... bm-lights/
(though I'd replace the star nut by a bung)

Like the OP, I've also refrained from buying abike because of no light mount in the fork crown.

[ossie]

Lights aside I have a Tubus Tara lowrider on my carbon forks which I think was the title of the thread. They carry two loaded panniers with no problem.

[The utility cyclist]

I've never encountered plastic forks!

They're better than non plastic forks in every single way, be it racing, touring, commuting, leisure or offroad - serious and non serious.

[The utility cyclist]

The spec in the OP's link says the fork has lowrider mounts

And the second question was whether they're too low to be used for headlamps.

Jonathan

They'll be fine, you simply angle up or down as need be like any other light

Higher setting on the BBB BLS-65 in my last photo with fork crown mount, not even angled properly pretty much as I'd mocked it up. The pic is with street lights nearby (had to do it in the block garages to get some darkness) and using the camera on my 8 year old phone so I've tried to represent actual visibility, it's probably a tad more in the pic but not far off.

it's just about getting the light where you want it for your needs and picking the light that's right for your intended use and speed of travel.

[John_S]

Hi All,

Thanks for all of the extra posts, thoughts and advice above which is much appreciated!

I thought I'd report back to say that I did hear from Shand and they've said you can fit a Tubus Tara rack in order to use it for a dynamo light. They've also mentioned that one of their customers converted the front mudguard and fitted a light to the top of the mudguard. That option was mentioned above in one of the posts and I've seen it before and think that it looks quite good! Although I guess it's a custom made to order option or something to do yourself because I'm not sure if you could buy parts off the shelf to do this. I'd also want to be sure that the mudguard was strong enough to take the weight of the dynamo light and not flex too much (or break after repeated stress and movement) over the long run as you ride over bumpy roads etc. But I do like the idea of it compared to clogging up the handlebars with lights and it can look very neat. Now I'm not sure how to do a link to an Instagram photo but as an example I looked at some nice photos from Isen Workshop showing the exact solution of using a light mounted on top of the from mudguard.

Having started this thread talking about the issue of not having a threaded hole at the top of the fork crown on the front of the forks I also saw some other interesting photos in the last few days (again on Instagram and do my apologies but I've no idea how to post a link to the photo). In this case the person didn't have the problem of fitting a dynamo light to carbon forks but they wanted to use a front rack on a bike whereby the carbon forks only have a mounting point thread hole on the back of the forks. I think that this person (named: pilisiecki on Instagram) is a frame builder and they've certainly got some nice looking work and from the looks of it they custom build racks as well. And they're coming up with some nice innovative solutions where for example in this case the forks don't have a threaded hole on the front of the forks and so they built a rack which connects to the hole on the back of the forks.


Anyway the fact that Shand have said that their bike can be used with the Tubus Tara front rack is good because that gives me options just to add to the other ideas, options and solutions kindly offered above by people with suggestions on how to mount a dynamo headlight to a bike without a threaded hole at the top of the forks on the front and where I didn't really want to clutter up the handlebars with the light if I could avoid it.

However I'm still stuck between the choice of bike that I'm going to go for as a present to myself for my 40th birthday and I'm really struggling to decide between the Shand Leveret and either the Fairlight Strael or Secan. Decisions, decisions to try and make whilst for now I scratch my head trying to decide which one is best for me.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

John

[Brucey]

FWIW if you have a lamp on a mudguard (with extra stays) or on a carrier front loop there are a couple of potential problems

1) these mountings are never as stiff as others are; the result is that the lamp may vibrate on bumpy roads which makes for rather tiring night riding; I find it very fatiguing to ride at night with a lamp that vibrates.

2) apologies if this is b. obvious but if you have the lamp mounted to the mudguard or rack, you have to have the mudguard or rack mounted at all times if you want the lamp fitted as well. This can turn into a significant annoyance; the cable routing is fairly convoluted and there is quite a bit more faffing about with the lamp should you ever pack the bike down for transport. It is also one version of purgatory to ride round with a low rider rack fitted when you mightn't intend to actually use it for months.

I would therefore urge you to have reconsider my earlier suggestion of a lamp mounting that is built into the spacer stack of the headset; this has none of the above shortcomings and leaves the handlebar itself uncluttered as you desire. Indeed if you use a modified canti hanger for this purpose, with a clamp, it has the advantage that you can pack the bike (turn the bars etc) without disturbing the headset adjustment.

cheers

[Brucey]

…..I once met a young Swedish cycle tourer who was stranded by the side of the road in Italy, alu frame, carbon forks (shattered) p-clip low rider front rack, kitchen sinks in each pannier. He was nursing multiple injuries. Told me he was on his way to the cape of Africa. I told him it was luck that got him to where he was.

Blimey. I wonder if either the fork manufacturer or the rack manufacturer had made it adequately clear that this would be a catastrophically stupid arrangement?

FWIW I am not a big fan of low riders, never have been. Part of the reason is the risk/consequence balance. It varies with the rack and the fork to which they are fitted but the loading is rarely transferred into anything which is really beefy enough to withstand it whilst being completely reliable. If a rear rack/mounting breaks then it rarely results in a nasty accident. However if something goes wrong at the front you should consider yourself lucky if you don't end up with a broken neck.

I would say that when I see front rider setups being used, about half of them look so shonky (vs the loadings they are expected to endure) that I wouldn't ride them as far as the shops, let alone any further than that. The idea of using them as the main load carrying part of the bicycle when touring is about as appealing as banging nails through soft parts of my own anatomy.

cheers