Rack on a Kona carbon fork?

[d_douglas]

I am putting together a new fun commuter - an aluminum Kona Libre. Ive always like these bikes and got the frameset cheap.

https://www.cxmagazine.com/gravel-bi...ture-easton-ax

The frame is alloy, but my bike will have the same carbon fork. If I want to put a front rack on this bike, how do I do it? I bought this heavy, solid, Blackburn one for my kids bike and never ended up using it, so thought itd be fun to use it here, but now realize there arent tabs for racks or fenders. It has brazeons for multiple things on the fork legs. Are those brazeons strong enough to support a rack and a backpack full of stuff in it?

[d_douglas]

Do these types of mounts and forks support a full on bike rack? I assume they do, or why would they be on the fork in the first place?

[benb]

You want a rack that mounts to the thru axle plus the mounts on the fork. Usually you get a longer axle to make room for the rack.

You would need to check with the fork manufacturer and the rack manufacturer to find the weight limit.

I just got an Old Man Mountain rack that mounts this way.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Do these types of mounts and forks support a full on bike rack? I assume they do, or why would they be on the fork in the first place?

I think this really comes down to your own personal use history and risk tolerance. Most forks I've seen with bosses in the legs have a very low weight rating or post none at all for those.

I have a Rawland front rack on a $100 Chinese fork that mounts to both the fork crown and mid-leg bosses (which distributes the load a bit) and I've loaded it up with lots of weight in the way of groceries and runs to the bottle shop. All good thus far.

[d_douglas]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

I think this really comes down to your own personal use history and risk tolerance. Most forks I've seen with bosses in the legs have a very low weight rating or post none at all for those.

I have a Rawland front rack on a $100 Chinese fork that mounts to both the fork crown and mid-leg bosses (which distributes the load a bit) and I've loaded it up with lots of weight in the way of groceries and runs to the bottle shop. All good thus far.

Thanks! Are we talking a $100 carbon fork? The Kona forks are pretty stout if I recall.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by d_douglas

Thanks! Are we talking a $100 carbon fork? The Kona forks are pretty stout if I recall.

Oh, no. I thought we were talking about bamboo forks. Yes, carbon.

Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr

I once weighed the contents of my grocery bag and it was maybe 18 pounds. I would've thought 30; it was egregious.

[d_douglas]

Great! So this rack was attached at the throughaxle and on the mid-fork mounts?

Do you have a photo of the mounting setup?

[ColonelJLloyd]

No. Fork crown. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBsDqv

Untitled by ColonelJLloyd, on Flickr

[Alistair]

You have two options, and which you pick will depend on planned usage (weight and size of rack+contents).

The first option is using the mid or low fork mount + crown. Lower total weight capacity, but clean install and no impact on wheel removal. I’d pick this option for a small basket, support for a large bar bag, or smaller front panniers. As mentioned, these fork mounts usually don’t have a huge weight rating and are intended for cargo cages (Manythings and similar). But, they do work fine for smaller front racks.

If you want fully loaded bags/cargo, like 30+ pounds of stuff, the TA mount is a better option. Something like an Old Man Mountain Divide…
https://oldmanmountain.com/product/divide-bike-rack/
For this second option, you can use either the crown or the mid-mounts. And of course, loading up 50lbs of stuff on the front will impact handling, so be careful until you see how it handles.

[d_douglas]

Thanks. I would say the rack is 3lbs and I am thinking I would commute w laptop, spare shirt and lunch for another 12lbs. That is definitely not a loaded ride. The Rack is what appears to me to be a very sturdy Blackburn model that I picked up about a year ago. The woman I bought it from bikepacked with it though it wasn’t all beaten up at all…

[ColonelJLloyd]

Do it.

[benb]

That’s exactly what I bought my rack for. One issue is laptops are huge.