canklecat

I'm considering a mini front rack for my early 1990s Univega Via Carisma. The previous owner mounted a couple of decent Corratec labeled racks (presumably rebadged in Germany, as the racks themselves are identical to those sold under other brands -- the bike itself appears to have been purchased from Raven in Germany, possibly by a US serviceman, and brought back to the US).

Unfortunately the front rack was intended for rear mounting and was attached via P-clamps, an inelegant solution. I removed that rack years ago.

But the bike has lugs on the fork for properly mounting a rack with shorter legs. It would offer a better way to attach my AGU weatherproof handlebar bag. The bag came with the KlickFix system, which is clever but awkward. It blocks too much of the handlebar and makes riding feel a bit off balance with a loaded handlebar bag.

bulgie 

I put this TA rack on my '71 Super Course in about '77, been on there ever since.


I modified it to fit the Weinmann brake, and added the headlight support. Which I'd do differently today, to allow a longer fender, but that's how long the fender was, I didn't shorten it to clear the headlight...

Anyway the main thing I wanted to say is how badly I've overloaded it. Many 6-packs but also a few 12-packs. Full grocery bags including canned and bottled, stuff, whatever that weighs. When I was poor in my 20s, lots of trips to the laudromat with all my clothes in a duffle, sitting on that rack.

Being aware of how that's all cantilevered off one 6 mm bolt, and being less immortal, more breakable now than I was in my 20s, I limit it to light loads these days.

Maybe a Weinmann bolt is stronger than a Mafac bolt? Swiss steel > French? Either way I don't recommend overloading one of these racks (without brazed-on brake pivots), because the stakes are too high if it breaks.

EDIT: the green bungie in the pic is not there to help hold the rack up. Well I supposed it does, a tiny amount not worth mentioning, but it's purpose is to stabilize a bag of groceries. I use a canvas shopping bag with cloth handles that I drape over the back of the stem, where the handles naturally hook and stay put due to the shape of the stem. Not a highly-evolved cargo system, just a low-effort, ad-hoc, git 'er done kinda thing. I should have taken the bungie off for the photo, it's a distraction from the main focus.

Mark B

ehcoplex 

Quote of the day...!

non-fixie 

There was a reason I was checking my rack stash, of course. I wanted one for my Gazelle 'semi-race'.

Decided to play it safe and go with MAFAC brakes and the T.A. rack.