ze_zaskar

Hello all,

Very happy owner of a Fairlight Secan 2.5 here, the hype about those is real. Except for one little detail, the brand states specially that the front crown thread is not to be used for a rack.

As the bike is used as an all road randonneur, I always have some sort of bag attached, generally in the form of an half frame bag from Restrap. But the more I ride it like that, and the more I think about it, the more a traditional front rando bag makes sense for me.

There are some rackless rando type bags around, like the Ortlieb Handlebar-Pack QR (looks way to high and forward, hate the "German trekking bike" looks of it) or the Restrap Bar Pack (looks floppy and hangs very low, potentially interfering with the crown mounted dynamo light).

A proper porteur rack would solve those issues, allowing for the relocation of the light to the front and providing a stable platform for the bag.

Given that the Secan's fork has triple bottle cage eyelets, is there any porteur rack that uses those as it's sole attachment point ?
I've seen the Nitro M1 mounted using only the 4 stays. The triple eyelets on the Secan are rated to 3kg per side, using 4 stays one can estimate a 4kg load rating. Could this be an option ?

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

unterhausen

Are there eyelets at the dropouts?

ze_zaskar

Yes, but those are solely for fender mounting.
only weight bearing attachment points are the triple bottle cage eyelets on each side of the fork

samkl 

There are some very good rackless rando bags that aren't ugly. I have Dill Pickle's, it's excellent and has supported me through 2 PBPs and a lot of brevets.

Atlas Shrugged

https://bikepacking.com/gear/jack-bike-rack-review/

https://www.specialized.com/us/en/sp...ext=41123-6700

I have used the specialized rack combined with the Restrap Bar Pack and they work really well together.

Tourist in MSN

I have no clue how large your frame is, have no clue if you have very much steerer tube spacers below the stem, and what your steerer tube is made of.

I like to use a second stem to support a handlebar bag. That way I can put the bag lower and further back where it is closer to the steering axis to minimize handling impairment.

The bag in the photo below has been discontinued for over a decade, and I modified it, I am only showing the concept of the second stem, in this case I used an adjustable stem that allowed me to lower it more and get it closer to the steering axis. And a short stub from a handlebar for the handlebar bag bracket to clamp to.



Stems consume a lot of steerer tube, a lot of bikes do not have enough excess. Thorn makes an Accessory Bracket (this one is 55mm long) that consume about 25mm of steerer tube. Unfortunately, shipping costs to USA have gone up with Brexit.
https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/accessor...-222-mm-0-deg/
Photo below is of my road bike with the Thorn bracket. I had 25mm of spacers on the bike before I took them off to fit the Thorn bracket.



But if you have a carbon steerer tube, I have no clue if clamping something to that is acceptable or not. I do not have any carbon frames or forks, so I am clueless on that topic.

Also, if you have a small frame size, this could put a handlebar bag much closer to the tire. My road bike (second photo above) has a 58cm frame size in the photo above, have plenty of room above the tire and above the light.

The Ortlieb Ultimate Six handlebar bag is popular for touring, I have never used one but if you were looking for a bag, that would be one to consider.

ze_zaskar

Hi all,

Thanks for all the messages.

​​​​​​Indeed I forgot to mention my frames size. It's a 58R, with 220mm between the bottom of the handlebars and the top of the tire.

In the end I ordered one of those Fjallraven/Specialized handlebar racks. Seems to accomplish most of what traditional rando racks do, in a light and simple package. Also has several holes in the bottom to mount the dynamo light on the side of the wheel