I have this milk crate and I'm thinking about mounting it to the front of the bike if possible. It's about 12" in every dimension. You can see here I'm holding the measuring tape a bit away from the fork to leave space for the brake cable.
I'm thinking I could run a custom bracket from the fork crown under the cantilever cable bridge and bolt it to the underside of the crate. Then I'd attach the rack struts at around the 8" mark.
Some concerns I want input on:
4" of the crate would be hanging in front of the rack struts. Not sure if this will start swinging side to side once there's something in the crate.
The rack struts are only as wide apart as the dropouts, which is just over 4", so the crate would only be supported by the center third of its base.
Since the crate has to stand away from the fork crown to leave room for brake cables, that introduces another opportunity for movement.
Otherwise:
The fork does not have any additional mounting points. I could use P-Clamps to mount the struts as pictured, but not sure how secure that would be or if that's any better.
I do have a second set of struts. I could use both? One from the dropout mounting points and one from the P-clamps?
Is the milk crate just a stupid idea?
Any and all ideas are welcome at this point! Thanks!!!
by Cruiser_Supreme
6 Comments
just put a front rack and then ziptie the crate to the rack? am I missing something? why are you trying to do this without a rack?
35 years ago I had one tied on the front of my BMX to deliver newspapers at 6am
https://preview.redd.it/4y9we3m276lg1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad0f5c7d225ce1f1fbce3cfa50f2435f73ca687b
Front racks are expensive but rear racks are cheap and plentiful on marketplace just buy one and put it in the front then zip tie a milk crate onto it
This is about as cheap of a decent rack as you’re gonna find new. https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/soma-rack-lucas-3-front-4817?category=954&search=soma#attr=2699
You’re talking about a modern plastic crate, right? You didn’t hunt down an antique that’s made of steel or wood?
I wouldn’t bolt struts directly to a plastic crate. I’d expect it to flex way too much, either wearing your bolt holes into slots, or fatiguing the plastic until it cracked.
Just get one of those el cheapo Sunlite front racks that mount to the canti bosses and fork crown, then zip tie the plastic crate to it. It’s the safest, cheapest method without getting more into trips to the hardware store.