Question About Carbon Forks and Front Pannier Racks

[Jon Forrest]

I have a 2008 Specialized Sirrus Comp and I'm looking for a front
pannier rack for it. I'm having a hard time finding one.
I think the problem is that it's a carbon fork, and it
only has eyelets on the bottom of the fork.

Here's a description of the fork (from the Specialized web page):
"Specialized FACT carbon, bonded carbon legs, Cr-Mo threadless steerer,
Zertz inserts, fender mounts".

I'm looking at the Delta FrontLoader which looks like it
might fit. However, several places are saying that putting
a rack like this on a carbon fork isn't recommended, but
they can't tell me exactly why.

Does anybody have any ideas about this? Is the fork not
strong enough? Might something get scratched?

Thanks,
Jon Forrest

 

[Joel Mayes]

On 2007-10-09, Jon Forrest <[email protected]> wrote:
> I have a 2008 Specialized Sirrus Comp and I'm looking for a front
> pannier rack for it. I'm having a hard time finding one.
> I think the problem is that it's a carbon fork, and it
> only has eyelets on the bottom of the fork.

> Does anybody have any ideas about this? Is the fork not
> strong enough? Might something get scratched?
>
> Jon Forrest


Usually putting a front rack on forks without proper eyelets means some
sort of clamping arrangement on the fork blades. Clamping carbon fibre
tends cause cracks around the clamped area.

I'd look at replacing the fork with a cro-mo fork with eyelets if you
need front panniers.

Cheers

Joel

--
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[landotter]

On Oct 9, 5:24 pm, Joel Mayes <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 2007-10-09, Jon Forrest <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > I have a 2008 Specialized Sirrus Comp and I'm looking for a front
> > pannier rack for it. I'm having a hard time finding one.
> > I think the problem is that it's a carbon fork, and it
> > only has eyelets on the bottom of the fork.
> > Does anybody have any ideas about this? Is the fork not
> > strong enough? Might something get scratched?
>
> > Jon Forrest
>
> Usually putting a front rack on forks without proper eyelets means some
> sort of clamping arrangement on the fork blades. Clamping carbon fibre
> tends cause cracks around the clamped area.
>
> I'd look at replacing the fork with a cro-mo fork with eyelets if you
> need front panniers.
>

Something like this *should* do do the trick:

http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/p/COMPFKHYBRID/FK2476


$45, and being a Tange, strong as hell.

the existing eyelets are intended only for fenders AFAIK.

 

[Ryan Cousineau]

In article <[email protected]>,
landotter <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Oct 9, 5:24 pm, Joel Mayes <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On 2007-10-09, Jon Forrest <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > > I have a 2008 Specialized Sirrus Comp and I'm looking for a front
> > > pannier rack for it. I'm having a hard time finding one.
> > > I think the problem is that it's a carbon fork, and it
> > > only has eyelets on the bottom of the fork.
> > > Does anybody have any ideas about this? Is the fork not
> > > strong enough? Might something get scratched?
> >
> > > Jon Forrest
> >
> > Usually putting a front rack on forks without proper eyelets means some
> > sort of clamping arrangement on the fork blades. Clamping carbon fibre
> > tends cause cracks around the clamped area.
> >
> > I'd look at replacing the fork with a cro-mo fork with eyelets if you
> > need front panniers.
> >
>
> Something like this *should* do do the trick:
>
> http://www.bikemannetwork.com/biking/p/COMPFKHYBRID/FK2476
>
>
> $45, and being a Tange, strong as hell.
>
> the existing eyelets are intended only for fenders AFAIK.

I'm sure it is very strong. It also doesn't have mid-mounts for front
racks. If you're going to buy a whole new fork, at least get the one
that does the job best.

Numerous bike makers sell carbon forks with mid-mount eyelets. And of
course, there are plenty made of steel, too. Choose what suits your
budget and your aesthetics.

Here's a fairly typical eBay find:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170151704085&ih=007&ca
tegory=56196&ssPageName=STOREROMOBOX:NEWLIST#ebayphotohosting

Carbon fork, metal steerer, mid-mount threaded holes. Go touring.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email protected] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

 

[[email protected]]

If you use the type of U-bolt attachment that some rack have, you
can't set it so that it becomes vibration free by being compressed on
the legs. Avoiding that would be a mater of adjusting the screws so
that they aren't over tensioned on the legs and so that tightening to
the rack doesn't provide that additional tension. There are often
three bolts provided for this purpose. Another thing that might work
would be using a little epoxy putty to bed the U-bolts.

Another option is to mount the upper rack via the canti boses if you
have those. Old man of the mountain makes rack like that, but some
regard them as being an overreach on the strength of canti studs to
start with (doesn't seem to be a problem on most frames), but whether
that additional load could be taken by a carbon fork is another mater,
seems unlikely it would have been designed that way.

Another option is to work out an attachment for bolts so you can bolt
it to the upper fork. I can think of a good option here, but it would
look pretty ugly when the rack was off. I don't really remove my
racks though so it wouldn't bother me.

There are a few racks that attach to the crown area through the fender/
brake mount. One is rather cheap and a lot of people like it, but I
am not sure it works with front paniers. Contrary to the blurb I
don't think you want to epically load this one! A lot of shops have
this style under some brand:

http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_...older_id=2534374302693083&bmUID=1192135441823