Experienced traveler Marcin Korzonek shared with us his ideas on how to mount a Crosso front rack when the fork lacks mounting points. The clamps in question have not been tested by us, and we cannot guarantee the durability of such a structure. When mounting any elements on the frame and fork of the bike, follow the recommendations of their manufacturers.
New bikes usually have no pivots on the fork
Crosso front bicycle rack (low-rider) is designed for mounting on forks that have a “v-brake” mounts. If the bike is equipped with disc brakes, the fork usually does not have such mounting points. Then we can use two clamps for each fork leg to attach the rack frames. As standard, Crosso supplies two such clamps (one for each leg). When ordering the rack via the Crossobags.com website, we can add two additional clamps to the order.
Mounting the rack using only clamps does not differ much from that provided by the manufacturer. We mount the lower clamp in the same way as in the rack’s manual. Instead of mounting to the v-brake pivots (plate), we install the upper – additional clamp and screw it through the gap in the rack frame in the same way as the lower clamp.
Choose from one of the alternative clamps
This type of attachment has only one – aesthetic disadvantage – the horizontal crossbar of the rack frame is set perpendicular to the fork axis, which causes the panniers to be slightly tilted (towards the cyclist). To compensate for this, we can use a different type of clamp – with one attachment point, which creates one axis of rotation. The cheapest solution is to use hydraulic clamps. They are very cheap, but relatively heavy and not very durable. Clamps in the form of a steel band are even simpler, as in the photo below: 
Technical nuances
The best solution, which has been well tested, is to use stainless steel GBS clamps. They are very durable and I used them on over a month of cycling trips in Jordan and Chile, where I mainly rode on gravel and rocky roads with a lot of luggage. Not once did a front rack attached in this way unscrew or loosen in any way. Compared to the original clamp, it was additionally modified by removing a small sleeve and replacing the screw with a hexagonal head with an M5 screw with a flat Allen head. It is worth buying a special stainless steel “ball screw for fairings” – it has a larger diameter head and a very low profile (does not protrude). Thanks to the use of such clamps, we can easily level our rack so that the panniers hang on it perfectly horizontally.
The photo gallery below shows an example of a front rack attachment based on a GBS clamp.
Text and photos: Marcin Korzonek
Cycling instructor, traveler, journalist, photographer, author of the book “GlobRower – a bicycle traveler’s guide”. He explores the world mainly on two bicycle wheels with a camera in the pannier, avoiding the beaten paths. The most important thing for him is the path, not the destination. He likes remote and hard-to-reach places – that’s why he enjoys cycling through deserts and high mountains the most.
