Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
Front can be harder choice.
Building a bike and not being totally weight conscious during the build, and not totally worried about it either, I did get a
Surly Front Rack 2.0
I am coming from an Aluminum world, aluminum frames, aluminum racks, etc...so I am not use to all this steel, but understand why. I could have went with regular Tubus racks, but specifically went with this rack for multiple options of touring with panniers, bike packing, and utilizing the top of the rack for either. That top rack is actually bigger than I thought and pleasantly surprised there. I can strap down a lot to the top of that, or even expand it with something like the
Surly TV tray. This bike was built with versatility in mind because I wasn't sure which direction I would go eventually. This gives me the option to do whatever I want, including taking the racks off for even lighter touring. The rack is heavy and makes the bike look like a tank. In some ways I hate it, in some ways I love it. But I haven't been on it to know what it feels like yet, as I don't have a wheel set ordered yet to ride it. The bike is almost even looking to cool ride in some ways.
And you could use either a conventional handlebar bag
I can't. Jones Loop Bars. But I am thinking of switching over to this down the road and doing just that, and for exactly that:
KOGA Denham Bar
[/QUOTE]or a newer style bikepacking harness type of system that hangs from your handlebar.[QUOTE]
That I can do, or mount it to the Surly rack top bar.
And some of the newer bikes have a three bolt system on the forks for Salsa Anything cages, thus a dry bag on each side can be used instead of panniers, this is lighter than panniers but less volume.
Ogre forks are loaded to the gills with
dual Three-Pack Mounts on each leg. I was looking at those Salsa or Blackburn Outpost Cargo
First step, figure out how much volume you really need at this point.
I don't have practical experience, and just knowledge based on these forums and videos of folks I follow. I think that will be fined tuned as I am walking out the door that day to go. I also think that will always be evolving. If I find a place that I want to stay a little local for a bit, I won't be carrying as heavy of a load, and at that point, I would like to convert down to more just rear panniers or bike packing setup. That's one of the reasons why I got that front Surly rack was for more options.