Replacement Fork

[TPMB12]

I'm wondering about replacing my bikes carbon forks with something capable of taking front panniers. Is this a stupid idea?

My bike is a London Road from PlanetX.

http://www.planetx.co.uk/c/q/bikes/road-bikes/london-road

It's the largest size, fork length 390 and offset 45. What else would I need to know to find a suitable fork if it's a reasonable idea. How easy to swap it over?

Any recommendations or suggestions?

[Bolt]

Assuming that you want front panniers in addition to rear I would question the wisdom of trying to convert the London Road into a fully laden expedition bike.  Would bike packing luggage in the form of frame and handlebar bags be a better option?

[TPMB12]

Not expedition just to get more capacity than rear bags and pannier top and bar bag. More about coping with bulk than weight.

[Bolt]

It appears that the London Road has a tapered steerer which would make a direct replacement fork with pannier and disc mounts pretty hard to source.  You can use an adapter to fit a fork with a standard 1 1/8" steerer but this might present a challenge unless someone who has experience with this type of conversion can advise?

I managed a self supported LEJOG over 2 weeks with tent and camping gear using 2 large rear panniers and a rack bag and am curious what sort of bulky gear you're transporting?

[TPMB12]

Family with child seat on second bike. Means a lot more kit going on one bike. It handled it with a trailer but we're hoping to leave the trailer behind. Better for trains I reckon. If it's just two adults then rear rack is enough with panniers and bungeed on dry bags. Kid adds more than their size would indicate.

[Torslanda]

In a previous thread you mentioned that this bike wobbles when loaded. Reading through the above (and your description of the frame elsewhere) my instincts say you don't want to add to the load you're carrying. Spreading the load across the bike might make it more stable but it's an expensive experiment if it doesn't.

[mzjo]

If you were really mad enough to want to experiment with this configuration I have a fork that would do the job (assuming you can convert from taper headset to straight 1 1/8"). It was sold to me as a sus-compensated  26" fork by PlanetX but is too short to be in place of a sus fork. Axle-crown 390 (or thereabouts, might be 395), offset about 45mm, lugs for front pannier frames and the crown drilling is right for a short reach brake with a 700c wheel. Only bad points, it's entirely alu (including steerer) and it's in France (and it has canti mounts for 26" wheels). Sitting in the garage taking up space, I was always thinking of fitting it to a suitable soot frame to make a sort of retake on a randonneuse.

( Can't think if the crown drilling is for allen bolt fixing brakes, probably not)

[andrew_s]

Rodeo Spork, 396 mm, 45 offset, 2 sets of mid-blade rack mounts (low rider and mini-platform), flat mount disc, tapered steerer.

$420 + shipping + import duty + VAT + handling charge, so not exactly affordable.

[TPMB12]

In a previous thread you mentioned that this bike wobbles when loaded. Reading through the above (and your description of the frame elsewhere) my instincts say you don't want to add to the load you're carrying. Spreading the load across the bike might make it more stable but it's an expensive experiment if it doesn't.

It wobbled with a child seat attached to the seat post high up and containing 14kg of wriggling 3 year old. If I'd got a different set of hamax suspension bars that allowed a lower attachment point then it might have worked out. IIRC hamax make quite a few different shaped suspension bars for everything from small frames up to larger frames like mine but I didn't want to try it out.

I put a bit of weight into an 8 litre bar bag one loaded tour. It bounced around a bit at times but the handling wasn't affected much. Well apart from when I handled the bike before getting onto it, the bars would be dragged round by the weight at times. It is a risk and it seems not an easy or cheap option but I reckon the bike could handle a light weight on the front. It would only be a few sleeping bags weighing about 1.3 kg per pannier plus a bit more, say clothes. It's really just taking.bulk and a bit of weight.

Still I think I'll take the consensus view that it's a bad idea and move on to other ideas.

[Bolt]

Conscious that I will probably be lambasted for what I'm going to suggest, I'm going to say it anyway now the OPs intentions are clear.

If it was my bike and all I wanted to do was carry a couple of sleeping bags at the front for a family tour, I'd go ahead and mount a lightweight rack and panniers on the existing forks.  It looks as if the London Road forks already have mudguard mounts midway up the fork, though I'd be tempted to use rubber lined p clips just above the drop outs.

[fuaran]

Or maybe a Gorilla Cage on each side of the forks? http://www.freeparable.com/gorillacage

[Brucey]

.....If it was my bike and all I wanted to do was carry a couple of sleeping bags at the front for a family tour, I'd go ahead and mount a lightweight rack and panniers on the existing forks....

I agree.  Back in the day a standard front rack (i.e. non-low rider) would be used for this sort of thing;  putting (say) 1/4 or 1/3 of all the weight up front like this is not going to upset the handling.

Such front racks are not so easily found these days but there are workarounds; a small-ish rear rack with a short forward reach can usually be fitted to the fork.  For example a rack like this



plus some brackets that the QR skewer will go through at the bottom, and some improvisation at the top would do the job.

cheers

[TPMB12]

I did think of gorilla cages and suggested them to my lass to go on her sus forks. A couple of dry bags in them and light kit would help.

What I find interesting is how PlanetX definitely say their carbon forks are not suitable for loading with a rack. However I'm sure I've seen other brands selling gravel bikes with carbon forks that they say can take loading with a rack or other means. It made me wonder if I found such a bike and bought a replacement fork for it to use on my bike. Such bikes often have the same tapered headset.

[Brucey]

P-X are flogging the LR as a 'do it all' bike, and part of 'all' is being able to carry luggage at the front. They must get asked about this all the time, especially since there are some fittings that look like they might accept a low rider rack there already.  But they are not for that!   

You might get lucky and find another bike that takes the same kind of fork but don't hold your breath; I just took a look around and most tapered steerer forks (without rack fittings) are upwards of £150 anyway.

The reason I suggested a conventional rack is that it doesn't add appreciably to the loads in the fork; with support brackets on the QR as suggested the dead weight of the load is supported by the wheel directly. Essentially the only additional loads that the fork sees are transient ones that arise when you turn the steering.  [The same reasoning means that 'porteur' style racks can be fitted to some pretty flimsy bikes, BTW.]

By contrast the loadings in the fork are always greatly increased when a low-rider rack is used (in fact I have been known to comment that you couldn't have a better arrangement for stressing a fork...) , and (in carbon especially) the fork really needs to be designed for it.

cheers