Functional bikes. Not Porn not Anti

Though of course there was a time when front loading was standard. Transportfiets, porteurs, butchers bikes, etc. Back when bicycles weren't mostly cheap shite.

Why is it you think the vast mayority of bikes uses rear racks then?

£20 rack, and majority of bike have the rack mount on the rear, even bicycle that aren't quite suitable for a heavy load.

I love waking on a Sunday to Ed Scoble talking about damp sausages and feeling lively under a heavy load

Yea I was going to comment that my back end does still feel very spirited but then thought wait a fucking minute that's none of his business.

majority of bike have the rack mount on the rear

That's basically what I'm trying to get through to you
: ]

The majority of people drink instant coffee, it doesn’t mean it’s the best choice, just the easiest.

Not sure I understand / get the argument. If it's either a choice to have front-end lively or back-end lively, is it not better to have the front handling lively? Also if you can choose a custom fork for the purposes of a rack, why not begin with a touring-specific frame and spread the load across the bike?

@photoben they share a space.
This blue red example is a very Meerglas looking for a Fern with all the lug stuff.
Fern is more about brazing than lugs and a bit more modern/unorthodox whereas Meerglas really goes for the constructeur thing.

Ah cool, cheers for the info - they are both making some bloody lovely machines!
👍🏻👍🏻

Agree, Fern is crazy good. He really has his own style and taste.
I also like how he mostly does cantis and square taper but doesn't build retro. His modular rack is great too.
Meerglas is a bit predictable, but it shows that (at least I seem to remember) he has a proper german metalworker background. Stuff is perfectly executed.
And to make the Berlin framebuilder trinity full, theres Cicli Bonanno. His Mogast is a crazy nice modern steel roadbike.

Now with tubeless. Apart from that, this bike has been pretty much unchanged for a couple years. It does everything I ask it to.

Cicli Bonanno

wow, nice

Here's my recently finished Bob.

2 Attachments

Very tasteful.

Not sure I understand / get the argument. If it's either a choice to have front-end lively or back-end lively, is it not better to have the front handling lively? Also if you can choose a custom fork for the purposes of a rack, why not begin with a touring-specific frame and spread the load across the bike?

Okay, the handling and feedback of the bike is largely down to the frame, the wall thickness, the width of the tubing, the geometry etc. the fork is secondary, as they usually come in a specific rake and length (as well as full carbon, half carbon, steel etc.)

If you enjoy cycling, but don't want to ride a touring bike that are designed to be as stiff as possible to ensure it feel stable to ride, then a custom front fork and rack mount allow you to still be able to get out of the saddle and sprint without feeling all the weight from the frames.

The alternative option is lightweight touring, including bikepacking, however, I have found that even just bikepacking numb the feedback of the frames a lots compare to a low trail bicycle that takes a couple of front panniers and still retain the feedback of a decent road bike.

This whole discussion re front vs rear loading is only being kept going by those who have only tried rear loading, and are sceptical of front without having tried it.

Let’s just leave it eh, their loss.

It's fantastic.

Really achieved what I'm looking for in a bicycle. I'll be looking for a similar frameset.

Nice work!

Edit: any idea of weight? with rack and without bag?

Bottom line for me is that it’s more expensive and complex to set up a bike for front loading, especially one like most which are not optimized for such.

Gosh thats nice.

Perfection. Not a single thing that wrong with that.

This whole discussion re front vs rear loading is only being kept going by those who have only tried rear loading, and are sceptical of front without having tried it.

Let’s just leave it eh, their loss.

Can only speak for myself here but a few days ago I just thought "hey what's up with that, I don't get it" and also "these chubby bags right on the bars look pretty shit".
Thanks everybody for taking time and elaborating this, matter of fact I just don't have knowledgeable cyclist-friends around me so happy to learn about stuff here.
I get it now. Still think it looks kinda shit, but I do see the point.

Actually I was frolicking in the sun on my little utility bike yesterday, when after an hour or so my shoulder hurt because I slept weird that night and had a rather heavy backpack on the whole time.
So - you will not believe what happens next - I realised that this little thing is indeed the first bike in my life that actually has a rack in the front - and it might just be worth a shot bungee-cording my heavy backpack on there.
And what do you know - a few kilometers later I was pulling out my water bottle out the top while actually fucking driving and was thinking to myself "ha".

Front loading is super stable. It's all about equal weight distribution.

I still remember doing 100kph down the back of Ventoux, fully loaded with front panniers and tent of rear rack overtaking people on carbon road bikes.

2019 is the year for travelling with some light luggage: commuting and I hope to cycle from Amsterdam to Burgundy. But first some test rides to see if it handles well enough with the extra weight. Color-matched Schindelhauer front rack with Ortlieb bags...

is this an add or something ?

Nice bike! what stem is that?