The long awaited 2 pannier front rack prototype has arrived from Bike Friday. It looks very nice. I'll be installing it tomorrow AM and testing it out on a grocery run, but I know some folks have been eager for updates on this rack so I thought I'd post some photos right away.
6 comments:
This is made for you by Green Gear ?
I note its symmetrical - for some reason Alex W., is not - can't wait to see how it performs with weight in and also with folding.
andy
Hi Andy,
I'm not sure what you are referring to regarding Alex W? Has he made a 2 sided front pannier rack for the Tikit? I haven't seen one of those made by him - although he is quite adapt at rack making these days and could whip one up quickly I imagine.
The fork on the Tikit and the mounting points used are symmetrical. Given that BF wants to keep the rack as close to the sides of the fork as possible to enhance clearance when folded I am not surprised the rack is symmetrical.
So why didn't Bike Friday make this rack from the beginning?
I think most folk are smart enough to realize you can't fold the bike with panniers on both sides.
Hi Ken,
My guess is that BF was focused on the Tikit as a light commuter bike. The single sided rack seems like an elegant simple idea in theory and is smaller/lighter. I've had at least one post on this blog from a reader who likes and uses the single pannier front rack.
To their credit BF is exploring a lot of new accessories for the Tikit and making lots of incremental changes to the bike as they go along. They've got a limited number of people working on the Tikit so they have to prioritize.
The good news id BF seems really committed to the Tikit so as long as there is demand for different accessories/options I'm pretty sure you'll see them materialize - it just might longer than we'd like.
Hi Vik,
Alex W. - well certainly it was assymetrical and had a top platform.
Whether it took pannier bags I don't know. He posted about it on the Yak list and there were some pics of it but I can't find the pics anywhere on the Internet. I found some small pics in his Bike Friday Tikit mini-report in his blog but you can't see enough of it to figure it out.
By the way - looks like a lot of weight in the bags in the new pics you just posted - how did it ride ?
andy
Hi Andy,
Alex W's rack that you speak of is a front porteur rack:
http://tinyurl.com/4mpym6
Because his rack is horizontal across the front of the Tikit Alex made it asymmetrical to allow for the bike to fold.
The 2 sided rack I have posted pics of is vertical and there is no advantage or reason to make it asymmetrical.
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