Lowrider front pannier rack fitting

Carnmore

I’ve fitted Blackburn Custom Lowrider front pannier racks to my Cube SL Road Pro.
The forks have only one eyelet on the mid-fork outer side so there are two fixing points - the mid-fork eyelet using the spacer between the rack bars and to the fork dropout eyelet with a clip around the diagonal bar (wrapped in insulation tape for friction).

I used Ortlieb Back Roller City panniers on the racks today but was concerned about how secure the fitting is. The bolt used in the mid-fork is an M5 with thread lock applied. I’m also going to diagonally affix two cable ties as a fail safe.

Pics attached.

Thoughts?










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Charlie_Croker

Carnmore said:

Thoughts?





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With only two fixing points you’re going to be limited (weight wise) on what you can carry, it will flex
I feel it would be better if you could link the separate sides with a hoop to increase the rigidity of the structure…

mercia_man

That looks very unsafe. A heavy load or knock could bend that spacer and put rack into the spokes. The Blackburn custom racks were designed for forks with a threaded hole going all the way through or a special braze-on mount on the front of the fork leg. You screw in a long bolt from the outside and secure it with a locking nut on the inside of the fork. Not sure what racks Blackburn sells now but its original standard rack had a strong U clamp which fitted round the back of the fork plus a hoop over the tyre to give rigidity. This meant it could be fitted to forks without through hole or braze-on. I have the custom low rider rack on my tourer which has the braze-ons needed. I used the standard rack with U clamp on my wife’s bike which didn’t have the fork fittings.

mercia_man

The more I think about this, the more dangerous I realise it is. The V arms of the rack should fit either side of the fork.

Charlie_Croker

Yes, I agree. I would not trust the above setup





better still



but not ideal