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Recommend me a front pannier rack for wifey's bike

Old 03-15-20, 08:38 AM
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Toadmeister
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Recommend me a front pannier rack for wifey's bike

Going to do some light touring and bikepacking this summer with my pampered wife. She has a 2016 Trek Crossrip and it has eyelets for a front rack but I’ve never bought one before.

please make a recommendation based on your experience and any pannier recommendations are welcome too.



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Old 03-15-20, 08:56 AM
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Does the crossrip also have mounting eyelets on the inside of the fork blades? If so, the Salsa Down Under rack is a nice, sturdy opion. I have these on my 520, and they are solid. I just dont know about mounting on a fork that only has low rider mounts on the outside of the blades, as the rack might be prone to twisting while loaded with bags - might be okay though.
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Old 03-15-20, 08:59 AM
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Originally Posted by Toadmeister
Going to do some light touring and bikepacking this summer with pampered wife. She has a 2016 Trek Crossrip and it has eyelets for a front rack but I’ve never bought one before.

please make a recommendation based on your experience and any pannier recommendations are welcome too.

Tubus Tara. Rugged and simple. You’ll probably have to get creative around the disc caliper but you’ll have to do that with any front rack.

For panniers, it’s hard to go wrong with Ortlieb. Yes, they are expensive but they last forever. Mine have seen many a tour and are still going strong.
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Old 03-15-20, 09:22 AM
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Originally Posted by SalsaShark
Does the crossrip also have mounting eyelets on the inside of the fork blades? If so, the Salsa Down Under rack is a nice, sturdy opion. I have these on my 520, and they are solid. I just dont know about mounting on a fork that only has low rider mounts on the outside of the blades, as the rack might be prone to twisting while loaded with bags - might be okay though.
No inside mounts, just the outside mids and lower fork eyelets. Also a single mounting where caliper brakes would mount above.

I researched that Salsa rack and like you said, it really needs the inside eyelets for stability so I don't think it will work well here. A cross member is needed over the tire for stability.

Added pic

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Old 03-15-20, 09:32 AM
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
Tubus Tara. Rugged and simple. You’ll probably have to get creative around the disc caliper but you’ll have to do that with any front rack.

For panniers, it’s hard to go wrong with Ortlieb. Yes, they are expensive but they last forever. Mine have seen many a tour and are still going strong.
Thanks, that one does seem pretty simple and if it will handle the Ortlieb panniers, it might work well.
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Old 03-15-20, 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
Tubus Tara. Rugged and simple. You’ll probably have to get creative around the disc caliper but you’ll have to do that with any front rack..
I just got this, and on my bike (SOMA Saga disc) it is compatible, and looks nicer than most low-rider racks I have seen. So I second this recommendation. (Best price I found was Ben's Cycle).
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Old 03-15-20, 10:02 AM
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I use a Tubus Tara front rack with Ortlieb panniers; they work very well together. My wife rode across the country using Ortlieb Packer Plus front panniers on her rear rack.

Ortlieb Sport Packer Plus panniers used on the rear rack.


This is my set up, Tubus Tara with Orlieb Front Roller panniers.

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Old 03-15-20, 11:57 AM
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Tubus Tara here as well. Can be easily modified for non Ortlieb front panniers as well.
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Old 03-15-20, 12:03 PM
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I use a Tara on my Lynskey, I have a 2004 LHT rim brake fork on that bike and the rack fits well.

I think the Tara is a great rack if it fits well, but it does not have very much adjustment to get the top bar horizontal to some forks. My point is that you almost have to install the rack to find out if it fits well on any particular bike. The Tara was designed back when virtually all forks had a curve to their fork blades. And designed before disc brakes became common. I bought a Tara for a different bike and it did not fit well at all, but fortunately later found it to work great on the Lynskey.

On one of my bikes I found the Tubus Ergo to fit better (that is also a rim brake bike), the Ergo I think is discontinued but a few retailers still have it. It has a bit more adjustment to it than the Tara.
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Old 03-15-20, 12:07 PM
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Perhaps you should ask her. The right rack might be the one she wants to be seen with. Pampering might require a 70-30, boy-girl weight distribution.
Good luck
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Old 03-15-20, 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Pratt
Perhaps you should ask her. The right rack might be the one she wants to be seen with. Pampering might require a 70-30, boy-girl weight distribution.
Good luck
LOL, funny because it’s true!
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Old 03-15-20, 03:18 PM
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Originally Posted by cyccommute
+1
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Old 03-16-20, 12:48 AM
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The Racktime Top-it mounts on the blades and over the wheel, hassle free (racks can always be a bit fiddily).
I belive that you could hang a Ortlieb frontroller on that.
https://hollandbikeshop.com/img/prod...38785-11-l.jpg

Btw. I run the Tubus Tara on my Fuji Touring with rim brakes.
​​​​
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Old 03-16-20, 06:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Patty Up North
The Racktime Top-it mounts on the blades and over the wheel, hassle free (racks can always be a bit fiddily).
I belive that you could hang a Ortlieb frontroller on that.
https://hollandbikeshop.com/img/prod...38785-11-l.jpg

Btw. I run the Tubus Tara on my Fuji Touring with rim brakes.
​​​​
There was a guy on this board about four years ago that ran small Ortliebs on that rack. I looked for the photo he posted, but it looks like it disappeared from this website.

.
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Old 03-16-20, 06:23 AM
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I would like to recommend to you a front rack, but there are many good ones out there, but the most important help you would get is from an experienced mechanic at a good bike store who is familiar with the common little work arounds that are sometimes needed vis a vis the brake caliper being in the way.
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Old 03-16-20, 07:10 AM
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Another vote for the Tubus Tara. Their design makes it so the panniers get very low. This make the bike super stable on turns. Plus they're essentially indestructible, since the panniers would fail long before the rack. I put the heaviest things in my front panniers which I'd recommend, because it gives more stability and gets some weight off the rear wheel, which already gets the bulk of our bodyweight and camping gear.
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Old 03-16-20, 07:22 AM
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Originally Posted by djb
I would like to recommend to you a front rack, but there are many good ones out there, but the most important help you would get is from an experienced mechanic at a good bike store who is familiar with the common little work arounds that are sometimes needed vis a vis the brake caliper being in the way.
This is good advice of course. I like to do more and more of my bike work myself as a general trend.
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Old 03-16-20, 07:26 AM
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Biggest concern is her disk brake housing getting in the way of rack or bags. Other than doing a fit-up with parts at a bike shop who has inventory, not sure how to be confident.


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Old 03-16-20, 07:26 AM
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Doing and learning bit by bit is normal. A good mechanic can help with ideas of workarounds that we don't think of ourselves, that's been the case with me anyway.
good luck
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Old 03-16-20, 07:48 AM
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I have run the Tubus Tara in the past, and now use the Racktime Topit. I happen to like the load being a bit higher. For your wife's bike, using the Topit would eliminate disc brake clearance issues as it is installed higher.
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Old 03-16-20, 10:37 AM
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Originally Posted by timdow
I have run the Tubus Tara in the past, and now use the Racktime Topit. I happen to like the load being a bit higher. For your wife's bike, using the Topit would eliminate disc brake clearance issues as it is installed higher.
brake clearance issues "usually" are not that complicated to find a work around
and I would add another voice to the view that riding with front panniers lower down certainly is more stable and easier to ride with, depending on load weight, surfaces you are riding on, and rider biking skills.

unfortunately, the only way for this fellow and his wife to know and judge what they are comfortable with is to actually try the setups....
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Old 03-16-20, 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by Tourist in MSN
I use a Tara on my Lynskey, I have a 2004 LHT rim brake fork on that bike and the rack fits well.

I think the Tara is a great rack if it fits well, but it does not have very much adjustment to get the top bar horizontal to some forks. My point is that you almost have to install the rack to find out if it fits well on any particular bike. The Tara was designed back when virtually all forks had a curve to their fork blades. And designed before disc brakes became common. I bought a Tara for a different bike and it did not fit well at all, but fortunately later found it to work great on the Lynskey.

On one of my bikes I found the Tubus Ergo to fit better (that is also a rim brake bike), the Ergo I think is discontinued but a few retailers still have it. It has a bit more adjustment to it than the Tara.
Yes, there's straight forks vs curved forks, forks with different eyelet spacing & racks with different spacing. Can be surprisingly tough to find a good front rack for some bikes. I have a bike with straight carbon fork, ironically the Tara fits well but I think that's due to a non-standard eyelet spacing on the fork.
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Old 03-17-20, 08:40 AM
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Thanks for everyone's input. No ordered the Tubus Tara from an area shop and will report back how it goes.
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Old 03-20-20, 10:30 PM
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Update: fit up the Tubus Tera today with no problems. Ordered some Ortieb packs for it.
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Old 03-21-20, 06:41 AM
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Originally Posted by Toadmeister
Update: fit up the Tubus Tera today with no problems. Ordered some Ortieb packs for it.
Great.
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