Anyone got that Bicycle Quarterly mag where they put a rack on the front ? I’d love to know what it is.

Thanks

(Just bought some Gorilla Cages. They don’t fit. 🙁 )

I have that issue somewhere… if nobody replies before I do I’ll dig it out later, however I think it has standard* low-rider mounts on the fork legs so most decent low-rider racks should fit, Tubus Tara is normally a pretty good bet and can be finagled onto most forks with low-rider bosses.

EDIT – just found the issue under my desk 🙂

They say they had issues fitting two Tubus racks (didn’t clarify model), one because it need a ‘through leg mount’ so I’m assuming that was a Tubus Duo as that needs LR mounts on inside and out, the other they said wouldn’t fit correctly as it was intended for curved blades and the straight blades on the Diverge mean that the upper mounting bar ended up at a funny angle…

The Nova/Ergo can be a bit picky about mount placements so maybe it was one of them they struggled with?

I’ve never had issues fitting a Tara although on some (especially disk) forks you have to use the guard mount rather than the proper one and stick it on the front of the fork mounts instead of behind (or invert the rack which doesn’t actually cause any issues and allows you to use the correct reinforced mounts). That’s what I’ve done on my AWOL, which although steel is likely to have used the same mount locations.

The rack they actually ended up fitting was a Bruce Gordon, probably this one (based on the pics) which is a whopping $207!! They also said this didn’t fit perfectly either and they had to use a single mount bolt instead of the two it should have used, and it obscured the through axle, meaning you needed to remove the rack to get the wheel out, so also not ideal!

*not that there actually is one, just a rough area where people put them all within a few mm of each other.

Many thanks, amedias.

Like everything else on this bike, Spesh have devised a new ‘standard’. I wish I had the nerve to drill through the fork leg to be able to fit individual racks (I have some old Thorn ones). I’m sure it would be OK…

After a bit of faffing I ordered the back issue of BQ with a few others taking advantage of their bundling. They look really interesting.

Any confirmation on a tara rack fitting a diverge fork?

I have just installed the Tubus Ergo. It is very light and looks good. Don’t have panniers for it yet. One massive warning: the mid fork eyelets have very weak hex heads. I stripped one trying to remove it (with an allow key!) and had a scary 24 hours working out how to remove the bolt until I built up the courage to try a drill-mounted screw remover. Go easy with those eyelet covers! http://goo.gl/photos/uBH91SzSF4T4dxRF9

Tara fits perfectly. Though, if you can find a similar rack with a 2 inch taller pannier rail mount, then you’ll have a far greater range of bags to choose from.

Tara fits perfectly

Did you manage to fit it correctly using the reinforced mounting tabs and fitting them to the rear fork eyelets? Or did you have to do the normal thing with disk forks and fit it on the front fork eyelets using the mudguard tab on the rack instead?

specialized pizza rack work ?

looking at this my self as a mount for a shopping crate on my cargo bike :d

“One massive warning: the mid fork eyelets have very weak hex heads.”

Ive noticed a trend of late to use Alloy bolts on rack mounts and guard mounts.

stupid idea – get propper steel bolts in there.

specialized pizza rack work ?

probably

It was designed for the AWOL, which a far as I can tell has the mounting points in the same place, more to the point though…

The ones that come OEM on the AWOL have a bolt straight through the welded on (single) un-threaded mount straight onto the fork leg.

But if you buy a Pizza Rack aftermarket it has two threaded mounts welded on, and an adaptor plate with multiple mounting holes to give more adaptability so the aftermarket version should fit most forks with a mid-blade mount.

looking at this my self as a mount for a shopping crate on my cargo bike

It works exceedingly well for that, but if you’re thinking of using it for panniers as well be aware that the rails are quite high up, and the rack doesn’t extend very far down so the bottom of the panniers are not well supported and you may need to move the lower clips on your pannier to get some stability, also it’s an arse trying to tuck panniers in under the top platform when fitting, and you’ll likely have to remove them from the rack to open them, so can be faffy.

Due to the above I’ve stuck with a proper lowrider rack AND a smaller platform front rack up top for fitting a crate, it’s worth it jsut for the space to fit and remove the panniers more easily.

get propper steel bolts in there.

with a proper head on them for a 4mm hex, none of this 3mm button-headed nonsense, fine for guard stays, not so fine for racks, although in theory should be fine if you take care with torque.

My Diverge Carbon forks have just one lower threaded fitting at the front of the fork. This attaches to the rear tab on the Tara Rack (which would also be a potential mudguard mount on a different fork).

No need to flip the rails, it otherwise goes on fine and the rails are level with the ground.

I use the forks internal mount holes for my mudguards. Using the bolts and spacers that came with the rack. The logo branded cover bolts are made of cheese and only used as blanking bolt covers.

good to hear amadias .

wont need front panniers i hope…. Crate plus xtracycle with wideloaders out back should see me to a weight more than i can pedal 😀

Anyone have any pictures with a front rack?

How do you fit it at the top of the fork? The only hole on the carbon fork is the vertical ones the mudguard goes into…

You could maybe bend the flat pizza rack mounting strip to reach the vertical fork hole, however I very much doubt that it will be string enough to support a loaded flat rack.

This attaches to the rear tab on the Tara Rack (which would also be a potential mudguard mount on a different fork).

Binno, is that mount still smaller (not triangular) than the other one on the current Tara? While I’ve only ever actually seen one broken one in real life (that was warrantied anyway) I did query with Tubus about using that mount instead of the reinforced (triangular tab) and they said that it was ‘not advised’ to be used as a load bearing mount, personally I can’t understand why they don’t just use the beefy mount on both sides, it would add all of about 3g to the weight and give a lot more flexibility for proper mounting.

RE: Pizza Rack top mounting

The vast majority of the load should be taken on the mid-fork mounts, the top mount, whether bolted to the front of he crown or using the underside boss should only really be to resist fwd/back rotation, and that load isn’t that great, although I have no idea how strong that under crown mount is on the Diverge fork, I’d have no qualms about using such a mount (or a daruma) on a steel fork though.

One thing to consider with the Pizza rack is that pretty much all the weight is on the mid-fork mounts, unlike most lowrider racks, and other platform racks where it is shared between the mid-fork mounts and the dropout mounts.

The PR has a 15kg load limit anyway, so most forks should be fine with that but just food for thought, and worth checking for any carbon forks if there are published load limits for the mid fork mounts.

Another option for front rack on forks without a hole at the crown for top mount is the cheap M-Part front rack, it mounts to the mid-fork mounts and the dropout, and has a decent enough top platform, not that wide and sits a bit far forward but good enough for a small crate or a drybag. No low-rider pannier mounts thoguh.

Binno, is that mount still smaller (not triangular) than the other one on the current Tara? While I’ve only ever actually seen one broken one in real life (that was warrantied anyway) I did query with Tubus about using that mount instead of the reinforced (triangular tab) and they said that it was ‘not advised’ to be used as a load bearing mount,

You’re right. It is a smaller mount on the rear side, intended for a mudguard. Yes the other side is a larger triangle. I’ve not really thought about this until you mentioned it here. So lets revise my ‘perfect’ fitting and call it adequate. I’ve used the rack with a single pannier so far and it’s been fine. It would however be ideal if the mounts were the same either side. Given that they are the same single piece of metal. I wonder if mounting a larger plate to both holes first, then onto the fork via the rear tab, would be a strong and easy reinforcement solution?

Like you, I’d have no issues mounting a Pizza Rack to a steel fork. Would be interested to see if anyone has any luck using one on the diverge?

not a divenge but i have fitted my tubus nova stainless to the rear mounts with the guards on top.

So lets revise my ‘perfect’ fitting and call it adequate.

I’d wager more than adequate, like I said I’ve only ever seen one broken one and it’s not like front panniers are normally that heavy.

I wonder if mounting a larger plate to both holes first, then onto the fork via the rear tab, would be a strong and easy reinforcement solution?

Good thinking batman!

It would however be ideal if the mounts were the same either side

It really really would, the only possible reason I can think why they don’t is wanting the main load bearing tab to be under the rack, ie: loaded from above in compression, where as if they also made the other tab the same and people mounted it on that one then the tab is above the rack and in tension, although that’s how mine is mounted (with the hoop flipped) and it hasn’t broken yet either.

that’s how mine is mounted (with the hoop flipped)

So you’ve flipped the 14mm hooped rail so that the ends point into the bike?
Sounds like a good fix if the rack ever breaks on my set up. I’ll keep an eye on it and see how it holds up.

I’m not likely to ever load it up with that much weight. though i do intend to ride rough ground at speed. Nice to know there’s a get home option if i survive a tab failure.

Thanks for the great input, you’ve really opened up more than i’d ever considered.

BTW: Do you have any pannier recommendations to match the Tubus?
Ortlieb Roller plus seems to be the most viable but not that exciting. Looking into Brooks John o Groats and Axiom bags, which other than the Vaudes, seem to be the only options that offer enough ground clearance.

Plus, just incase you know, are the ortlieb 2.1 mounts silent on the bike, or do they rattle about?

So you’ve flipped the 14mm hooped rail so that the ends point into the bike?

Yes, the downside is slightly less support for the bottom of the panniers, but an added benefit (if you ride offroad when unloaded) is that you’re less likely to snag small shrubbery @15mph yanking your wheel and unceremoniously dumping you into a gorse bush 😳 #youllonlydoitonce

BTW: Do you have any pannier recommendations to match the Tubus?

Ortleib every time for me, I have a pair of Back Rollers and Front Rollers, wife use Back Rollers too, they’re not exciting, but they are very well made, and very flexible with the rolltops

Plus, just incase you know, are the ortlieb 2.1 mounts silent on the bike, or do they rattle about?

Pretty quiet if you take the time to move all the clips around to get things butting up just right to minimise movement in any direction. Don’t forget you can buy extra clips as well for more security and stability.
A few wraps of insulating tape or even better, helitape on the rails works wonders too 😉

Awesome.

One last question, extra bottom support clips, or you suggest trying to squeeze another top clip in to the mix?

Thanks for all your input. 🙂

One last question, extra bottom support clips, or you suggest trying to squeeze another top clip in to the mix?

Either depending on the rack and pannier combo, for instance, on a Tara…

The single bottom clip is normally sufficient to stabilise at the bottom, but if you have the two clips at the top at each corner of the pannier (for best support) then you end up with one clip behind the fork leg, and one in front, but there’s enough extra rail that the pannier can slide an inch or so up and down the rail. If you add a third clip at the top and position it nearer the middle of the bag, but so that when on the rail it butts up against the tab where it mounts to the fork leg you can pretty much stop any movement.

same goes for rear racks, depending on the rails at the top and how the main rack legs/supports are positioned you can sometimes end up with a pannier that will slide back or forwards, you might be able to cure that by moving clips along the rails at the top but then you might not get the support you need. Extra clips that are placed to butt up against the cross braces on the top of a rack can then give support and stop sliding, or do it with a pair of the bottom tabs/clips, one pointing each way so that when the pannier drops in from above its stopped from moving by the bottom clips on either of the rack supports.

Does any of that make sense? hard to explain in words but could show in ~30 seconds in person!

Very much rack/pannier combo dependant, and you may not need to, my wife got lucky with hers and her rear panniers slot straight onto the OEM rack that came with her bike and are solid as anything. But I see it so frequently, people with panniers that slide about despite their best efforts to move clips around and it just hasn’t occurred to them to add additional clips!

Adding extra clips is also a very common mod for people that tour a lot or with very heavy loads, gives a bit more redundancy in case of a clip breakage on the road, which can be a right pain in the backside!

BTW, if you ever manage the Holy Grail of a symmetrical pannier set up where you manage to position the clips just right so that the pannier will fit on either the left or right, and front or back rack with no unwanted movement, go out and buy a lottery ticket immediately. 😀

Adding extra clips is also a very common mod for people that tour a lot or with very heavy loads, gives a bit more redundancy in case of a clip breakage on the road, which can be a right pain in the backside!

Yep, buy an extra pair of QR clips and fit one on each pannier (only did it on the rear pannier though). Doesn’t need them, but its extra security to ensure no movement and spares on hand. Odly though ive only seen one broken QR1 clip and it was someone who had the clips pushed close together and the pannier so over stuffed it was shaped like a ball so the rail was curved and the clips not straight on the rack.

I’ve managed to convince that Boss that our rental road bikes for 2017 will be the Diverge Elite DSW. We’ve got them in to build now and are looking at rack options – front and rear. I’d be really keen to hear any updates on what folk are fitting, any problems and tips. We have a couple of generic front low rider racks but the axle fouls the mount on the rotor side.

FWIW the bikes otherwise look terrific. Should be a good option for us as they will cover a range of uses/surfaces.

I’ve been playing around with front racks a fair bit lately for commuting and i’m pretty impressed with the blackburn outpost. I like the stiffness the top rack adds compared to lowriders. I had previously used salsa down unders then the down under with a minimalist rack on top. The blackburn gave me a stiffer alternative at less than the cost of a surly nice.

I run these mainly with a 13 or 20 litre dry bag on top. but if i need extra a pair of ortlieb front rollers.

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