cos_jp

Hello,

I'm a bit green when it comes to understanding the different types mount for racks and am hoping for some guidance. I have a 2019 Felt Breed 30 (feltbicycles.com/products/breed-30-gravel-road-bike) and it has a carbon fork. However I have confirmed from Felt it is capable of carrying about 15 pounds on the front and it does have threaded mounting points on the blades. My intent is only to be able to carry a couple front mounted pannier bags to help balance out my rear rack/panniers for light backpacking. I don't really need a platform.

Anyone happen to have a moment to lend a hand / brand / model suggestion?

Thank you in advance!

cyccommute 

Your best bet would probably be something like a Topeak Versa Cage with a bag like the Revelate Pole Cat or something similar. It looks like the fork only has a single mounting point, so you may need more mounting points to carry the load. The Versa Cage mounts are plastic worm gear clamps that can’t be tightened as much as metal worm gear can and, thus, don’t have as much of a possibility of damaging your fork. There are other cages and bags around but they all cost about the same.

cos_jp

Hi, I'm not sure if this helps, but, I think I actually have two mounting points (pic here: //hexadecim.al/IMG_20220912_063056__01.jpg): the one up the blade from the axle and right below the axle (unless that is a fender mounting point). The Felt Broam has a similar fork/design and they are showing panniers in some of their pics. Of course they don't actually sell a rack lol. I have asked Felt too for some advice.

I will check out the Topeak though thanks!

cyccommute 

Your picture link doesn’t work but I’ve seen the braze-on on the fork tip. The fork on your bike has the mount point too low for it to work with a regular low rider for panniers. Low rider mounts are usually quite a bit higher on the fork leg as you can see in the picture below. The distance between the two braze-ones is just too small for them to be used together on a low rider rack.


Compare the above to this picture. Red arrow shows the fork braze-on while the green arrow shows about where it should be.




I also don’t think you could use the Versa Cage attached to the upper braze-on and attached to the lower one. It would work on the right side but would have to be bolted across the lever on the thru-axle. About the only thing the lower mount is useful for is mounting fenders. You could use the mount on the fork (red arrow) to bolt the lowest bolt hole on the Versa Cage and then use their clamps further up the leg.

As to the pannier pictures that Felt shows, I would bet that they are either using a fork that is regularly offered or that they are using some other adapter for the upper mounting point. There are adapters around but I would be hesitant to use one on a carbon fork. The old Blackburn lowriders used U bolts but those only work on forks with round or very slightly oval profiles. The fork above would be too wide for that solution.

Tubus makes a couple of adapters…the LM-1 and the the LM-BF but I doubt that either one would work. The LM-1 is by far the more stable of the two but it isn’t made for wide profile, aerodynamic forks. You might be able to modify them to fit but It’s hard to say how much they would need to be modified. And you have the problem of getting the adapter tight enough to not move but still avoid crushing the carbon fiber.

The other Tubus adapter used metal screw clamps which carry the possibility of crushing the carbon fiber. It’s not the greatest mount to begin with as well.

cos_jp

Thanks again - ya I'm still jailed from submitting any URL's or photos which kind of makes this difficult!

I was trying to sleuth some other photos of the Broam and I'm wondering if they're running a rack liked the Axiom Journey DLX Lowrider. This rack (not the suspension compatible one) uses the lower fork eyelet to bolt, then it clamps onto the blade above. That seem like it might be plausible?

There much be some kind of option because Felt specifically says it's front rack compatible! They just don't say with what kind of rack lol. I've still got the question pending with them though.

cyccommute 

The Axiom lowriders use the same u-bolt as the old Blackburn rack. It might work on the fork blade but carbon forks tend to be wide from front to back which makes the Ubolt harder to use. You would also need to be extremely careful about how much pressure you put on the bolts.

Germany_chris

I think those mounts are for fenders, they look just high enough to clear the caliper

cyccommute 

I wouldn’t disagree. However there are also appear to be mounts under the fork tip.

Ghazmh

Those mounts look to be similar to where mine are on my rain bike.

polymorphself 

Which lowrider rack is that? Been looking for one similar that doesn't require the fork mounts on the inside of the fork (drilled all the way through).

cyccommute 

Tubus Tara