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Front rack, yay or nay? Front rack, yay or nay?
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Photo by Lois Pryce, schoolkids in Algeria

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Photo of Lois Pryce, UK
and schoolkids in Algeria



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  #1  
Old 8 Jun 2014
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Question Front rack, yay or nay?
Currently travelling around Australia on my XR600R. I've been planning on making a front rack for a while, to stick a drysack on probably containing clothes. But a couple of friends haves voiced a negative opinion to this. For the reasons of killing the handling of the bike off-road, and the 'Why bother? Just find room on the back'.

I used to have this arrangement on my DR350:




It worked really great, was really strong despite being made of really thinwalled tube that weighed hardly anything. I'll have to make it infront of the plastic headlamp surround on the XR, but I'm sure I can come up with something similarly lightweight.

What do you reckon? I think it will be highly practical and hardly noticable when there's nothing on it. I do put the bike to some pretty tough use when not carrying all my gear though, probably heading down the motocross track tomorrow if the weather's good
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Old 8 Jun 2014
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Depends on the bike but on something like the DR350 or the XR600 definitely yes. As long as you're not carting gold ingots around on it it makes no difference (that I can feel anyway) to the handling. I put stuff on it that I really can't afford to lose - passport, money, documents - that kind of thing. I've lost too many things off the back of bikes over the years to really trust bungees. If it's on the front and it moves I can see it move.

Here's a pic of my XR600 with front rack -



And with it en route -

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  #3  
Old 8 Jun 2014
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Those photos are useful food for thought for me. Had in mind something about that size projecting forwards, but hadn't thought about the top bit to stop bags pressing against the plastics, and hadn't thought too hard about attaching to those main headlamp bolts. Thanks!

Btw Stuart, I've never managed to see anywhere near the same fuel economy you got out of your XR, more like 50mpg. Just done a top end rebuild due to the amount of oil I was burning, but maybe it'll help the fuel economy a bit as well. Only managed about 12km/l riding in the bush yesterday though! When I pulled the barrel I found I was running a 654 kit, had to buy a second hand barrel and go back to first oversize.
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Old 8 Jun 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nath View Post
I've never managed to see anywhere near the same fuel economy you got out of your XR, more like 50mpg.
That's pretty much what I got / get in normal running. The 80-90 mpg came via some serious economy mode riding - long stints in top gear on level ground at 40-45mph max. It wasn't to save fuel (although it turned out that way) but for sightseeing purposes. I was in no hurry and was happy just to putter and look at the surroundings.
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Old 14 Jun 2014
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I thought about a front rack before travelling and concluded.
1.I needed to carry light important stuff on the front( just as BackofBeyond said)
2.It would act as a wind/rain deflector, if raised high enough.
3.The rack needed NOT to obscure the front light in any way
4.It should be easy to remove- to allow me access to the front electrics- while not restricting anything in the instrument panel- so I put bends in the "legs" when attaching to the bike
5.Fixing points have to be considered- plan ahead!
6.Not be too top heavy

If you put wide loads on it(spanning the handlebars)- then you get control issues.!!...so pack carefully

When I came off in France- the front rack saved my bike from serious damage.- the scuffs/force being taken by the rack!

In this video I show how I made it quickly-( starts about 5.19) I angled the rack slightly backwards too- this ensured contents were less likely to fall off. in a later Episode I use the rack in an ingenious way...as a clothes line!...t-shirts usually dried within 30 mins!- Ep05 I think??

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  #6  
Old 14 Jun 2014
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yay worked for the guys from mondo enduro and terra circa

I'm currently designing a removable one for my bike
great way to shift some weight to the front in my opinion
and like stated earlier if packed high enough can deflect some wind
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