First off, I just want to say thank you to everyone for the help!
Originally Posted by
fishboat
The (one) alternative of course is the bikepacking route where everything is mounted up high on the frame. This solves the technical single track issue, while trading off a much higher CG..and experiencing any potential associated handling issues everywhere except on technical single track.
I already have a (short duration) bikepacking setup on my Salsa Fargo
Well the bike certainly has lots of frame space for one big frame bag.
How does the bike ride? Are you happy with the bars at that height?
why are you considering an extra wide rack for a fat bike? It will put the bags outwards a fair amount.
Actually, I'm really happy (surprisingly happy) how this frankenbike rides. I have been having a lot of fun riding it around locally and going on non-technical trails. I'm happy with the bar height because I using a dirt drop setup where the drops are the primary hand position, between that and my bad back and hips, it works for me. I may decide to go lower if I want to use the bars more like standard road drops.
The Blackburn Outpost Fat is designed so you can adjust the width, which is pretty ingenious. It's not meant strictly for fat bikes. And it can be mounted front or rear. The standard Outpost Rear, from what I've read, has a bit of a trapezoidal shape, so that the bottom of the paniers are further from the bike than the top. Regarding the standard Outpost Front, my main concerns would be the bottom of the rack striking things and the top platform is a bit on the small side. Of course, the Outpost Fat might be obscenely long for the front.
Ahhhh, analysis paralysis!
Edited to add: I think the Outpost Fat is out of the running for the front rack option - I just found a photo of it mounted as a front rack and the panniers mount way forward of the axle!