Front Rack attachment / Suspension Fork

[HumpTdumpty]

Considering fixing a front rack onto my carrera Crossfire 2 hybrid bike - any suggestions Re fixings as the fork (see pictures attached) as no eyelets - but does have a bolt @ the bottom ? Also mudguard eyelet space available - apologies I’m a rookie don’t know the correct “bike terms” yet. - Didn’t know if I just attach a small right angled bracket to the bolt ? Or use something like “P Clamps” Any help suggestions much appreciated - preferred choice is a Finnish Pelago Rack from Restrap

 

[Cycleops]

According to Restrap the criteria for fitting is;
" The platform is attached to the front brake hole in the fork's crown and the stays are attached to rack eyelets, fender eyelets or a 10 mm hub's axle. To install a rack onto a hub's axle, the axle should have appropriate geometry and enough thread to fit the rack's dropout between the fork dropout and the axle nut."
So looks like you should be OK but if in doubt I should email them with those pics and some dimensions for them to confirm.

 

[HumpTdumpty]

Many thanks C

 

[eswar]

Am I right in thinking that the photo shows the downward facing nut on the bottom of the fork? If so this holds the internals of the fork together and could not be used to fit your rack without making a modified bracket. In any case it should not be used for such a purpose.

 

[eswar]

Your hollow qr front axle will be too short to allow fitting by that method. When you say it has mudguard eyelets do you mean the single hole in the bridge between the lower fork legs? If so you can mount the platform here but that cross brace on a suspension fork is not designed to take that type of stress. you'd still need to use some p clips to bolt the stays to, and that is not ideal as they'd be bearing the load. Your rack would also be moving up and down with the suspension. It would be more suitable and much simpler to fit a bar bag that would be unaffected by the suspension. These can be fitted very securely.

 

[HumpTdumpty]

Many thanks E for clearing this up for me - I’m not particularly a fan of the handlebar bag option.

Kind regards

 

[eswar]

Yup fair enough. The best option would definitely be some kind of sturdy p clips or ring brackets around the bottom of the fork legs for the strut mounts though. If you used some kind of right angled brackets to fix to the threaded part on the underside ends of the fork legs they would have to be quite beefy to withstand the constant battering they'd take. That would mean that the nut holding them on would only have a few threads engaged, and they are the bolts holding the fork together!

 

[HumpTdumpty]

I will send you a pic of my vintage retro Rack I’ve purchased when I get it shortly or how I splice it together - once again really appreciate the heads up on the pitfalls, maybe a longer QR may do the trick but as I said I will attach a pic and see how we go

 

[Cycleops]

Longer QR skewer won't do any good. You need a longer axle.

 

[eswar]

A longer qr skewer would not be safe to use either I'm afraid! That way of mounting is for solid axles where the end of the axle protrudes past the outside surface of the dropout and the strut needs to fit to that 10mm axle end. With a qr wheel the axle ends are slightly recessed below the outer surfaces of the dropouts, but the weight is all taken by the fork dropouts. The qr skewer only provides a clamping force to grip the axle in place in between the fork dropouts , it doesn't take any of the weight of the bike or experience any shearing force. If you use a qr skewer to clamp the struts to the outside of the dropouts you're relying on friction alone to stop significant weight and shearing force on the thin and spindly qr that is holding the front wheel in your bike, so that would be much worse even than using the bolts on the underside of your fork! The best option would be some kind of p clips and not to take much weight on the rack. It's perfectly doable but there are definitely these issues to consider.

 

[HumpTdumpty]

Don’t know what I’d do without you guys - next rookie question - how easy is it to change to a longer axel ? Can the local bike shop do it / Re expense for a front pannier ?

Thanks again