Donohue 559 low-trail conversion

was the rack hideously expensive?

I think the price was very reasonable, I guess slightly less than porteur racks from soma or velo orange. You'll find a few more racks on his facebook page.

Link?

Basically is this:

I did it with a rolling stone because it was the easiest thing to find for me, but anything similar will work.

An old tube around the chainstay to protect the paint is highly recomendable.

Other option is an old NDS crank arm.

I would fuck that up if I tried.

Aaaaaaaaaawesome!

I rode random fifty-odd kms close to home to see if anything falls off, and particularly to test whether the rear wheel stays true. No issues, everything felt solid (even as I hit 50kmph a couple of times or hopped potholes). I got a DSLR and some tools in a carradice bag strapped to the rack. I could feel the weight at times, but the bike handled well. Steering did require some attention on narrow singletrack.

I did feel a bit stretched on the hoods, but ramps and drops were comfy.

kewl

I got a DSLR and some tools in a carradice bag strapped to the rack. I could feel the weight at times, but the bike handled well.

At slow/walking speed right?

Yeah, I suppose so, and with sharper turns at normal speed - like steering quickly around a pothole.

I meant to save my free thread bump for a set of more detailed shots of the bike, but here's a few snaps I liked. Ride was 340km in three days, I'd guess paved/unpaved was around 50/50. I wasn't camping out, hence just the small bag.

Going to get some full length mudguards, I'm considering SKS or Gilles Berthoud. The latter might be a bit flashy, but the long version would give more coverage for the rack.

I can't ride comfortably all the way on the hoods, so a shorter stem (90 or 100mm in -17deg) or bars with less reach might be in order.

brake levers look a bit far down on the bars, maybe try raising them up a bit first

Good point, I did think about that. Transition to the levers is actually pretty flat, but the best compromise for the bar angle left the levers pointing slightly down.

Or an inline seat post? Your saddle already looks quite far forward on the rails... But then it is a Brooks with short clamp-able area.

That look fun, 44/17 is right on the money, moving the levers higher will have a shorter reach (2-4mm maybe) while aligning the drop near horizontal, that is unless you prefer this very position.

Other option is find a shorter reach classic bar.

Go for GB, they're only a fiver more than the SKS and extremely tough, just be sure to measure 7 time, then cut once.

44/17 is right on the money, moving the levers higher will have a shorter reach (2-4mm maybe) while aligning the drop near horizontal, that is unless you prefer this very position.

That does sound sensible. There's really no specific reasoning behind the current setup, other than having a relatively flat transition to the levers. But then again, that leaves the drops at a wonky angle.

If you ride on the hood primary, rather than on the flat part of the bar, then having it sloped slightly would be fine.

Flat transitions are overrated

I've moved the levers up and tilted the bars down, pretty good now I think. Thanks for the suggestion.

Did my first over 200km ride. Not sure how much I enjoyed it, but I felt there were no major issues considering the nine hours on the bike. I was carrying an excessive amount of stuff, but I wanted to see how the handling was with lowrider panniers.

I was carrying an excessive amount of stuff, but I wanted to see how the handling was with lowrider panniers.

And?

Looks nice, I'm seriously considering getting some lowrider panniers for my winter/hack bike

Continued to ride well. The weight was there, but I didn't feel like I had to adapt to a very different style of riding. Descending was fun (well, whatever small hills there are around here). Very happy so far.

I do believe that low trail has an effect on how the bike handles with front load, but frankly I don't have any prior experience with this much weight in the front.

I can tell you this, with a normal fork, it's much harder to micro-correct your steering when you're cornering for example, with your fork, you can able to make evasive manoeuvre to avoid a pothole.

On my old CX bicycle, it have a high trail fork for stability off road, but designed to take a front load so it doesn't feel flexy (in other word, it's quite a beefy fork) it felt nice and solid when riding but it's much harder to react quickly to avoid a pothole, other than just bracing yourself for the impact.

Had the chainstays operated by LBS guy. Here's the before and after shot:

In addition to doing the dimples (might be a bit diminutive word here) he spread the chainstays a bit at the bridge and welded them back – using a MIG welder, working with what he's got. The tyre is 2.1" Racing Ralph. There's only a few mm's to side knobs on both sides, but I'm happy with that. It's more than I had with the Kojaks.

A few more pics:

Bigxtop rando bag I've been meaning to get all along. It's still going back for some modification, but that's really just me being a pain in the ass. Top marks to @jtrent90 .

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That bike looks like a gate ...

Obvious joke is obvious :)