Front pannier rack for Appaloosa

[Keith Weaver]

Hi all,

I may soon be buying a Joe Appaloosa, and I'm wondering about using it as a loaded touring bike. It sounds like the bike should work well for that purpose, but the fork's upper eyelets seem a bit problematic. 

I have a Surly Disc Trucker with the Tubus Duo pannier rack, it's been a great setup for me. It looks like the Appaloosa fork has only one set of upper eyelets, which are too high for the Duo rack. The only simple, elegant front pannier rack I've seen that would work with those upper eyelets is the Nitto Mark's hub area rack (with hoop). That rack is sold out, and I guess there was a recent batch in stock that sold out very fast.

I could mount the Tubus Tara rack or similar using clamp on eyelets, but I'd like to avoid those clamps if at all possible. Does anyone have recommendations on other rack options, or a hub area rack they would sell, or comments that I shouldn't do this at all?

Cheers,

Keith

[Edwin W]

I don't have all of the measurements in front of me, but I found the hub area rack did not fit my appaloosa (eyelet was too high). I got a tubus tara, but haven't attached it yet, but I figure it should work.

Let us know what you find!

Edwin

[Bill Lindsay]

In my opinion, there are three very good Nitto front pannier racks which would be a great choice for a Joe Appaloosa.  Those are:

Nitto 34F:

Nitto 27F:

Nitto F25:

Another possibility would be the Nitto 35F, which is more of a high-rider.  Ben's appears to have them all.  My personal favorite is the 27F because of the removable lowriders, giving me a useful platform for a handlebar bag or basket even when I'm not carrying panniers.  Note that if you have very tall panniers, they may not fit great on the 27F.  There are traditional rectangular offerings from Ostrich, Carradice and Gilles Berthoud to fit that, and also Ruthworks knows how to fit it perfectly.  If you want to run Ortliebs or Swifts or similar, then the 34F may be a better choice.  I've never run the F25 but it's super interesting.   

Regarding the Hub Area Rack, talk to Riv about what bags they think you are going to run on there.  They used to have a bag to fit the rack, and it was a cool setup.  With no bags, it may be tricky to use the rack.

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Steven Sweedler]

Keith, I used a Bruce  Gordon low rider rack on my All Rounder (700C) and Hunq, I would hang the rack from the mid fork point and make a short adaptor of stainless rack strut to secure at the drop out. Because my older BG had a blind female mount, I thought this better than the original method. Steve

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Steven Sweedler
Plymouth, New Hampshire

[Michael Morrissey]

The Nitto 34F does not line up with the eyelets. I have one and it doesn't look good on my Appaloosa. Don't buy it. Get the 27F instead, like Bill said. I think that one lines up better.

m

[Bill Lindsay]

Michael indicated that the Nitto 34F does not line up with the eyelets, which is true

The correct setup for a 34F on an Appaloosa is to position the rack level, and then connect the diagonal slot to the eyelet with a very short set of Nitto struts and eyebolts.  

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

[Ed Carolipio]

I had a 51cm Appaloosa with 650b wheels and I mounted a hub area rack (the version with the loop) along with a NItto M18 rack (with mods to the diving board), SKS fenders, and Tektro CR720 cantis. I switched out the M18 with a Mark's rack using the top mounting holes on the fork since I was afraid I had fatigued the diving board with my mods. I also switched to a Tektro fork mounted canti mount to address squealing issues with the brakes.

I comfortably used a pair of Ortlieb Front Roller classics with the QL 2.1 mounts as bags for the HAR. No issues with mounting or unmounting, or being too low to the ground on paved roads.

--Ed C.

On Monday, March 1, 2021 at 8:13:41 AM UTC-8 Keith Weaver wrote:

[Ryan Nute]

I had an Old Man Mountain Sherpa mounted on my Clem when I had it.  Very secure.

Ryan

On Monday, March 1, 2021 at 8:13:41 AM UTC-8 Keith Weaver wrote:

[dougP]

If you know a frame builder, you can just install a tube thru the fork legs, likely similar to your Surly.  This is what I did on my Atlantis & it works great with a Tubus Duo.  Mine has worked well for a number of years & many fully loaded tours.  The guy who did mine was a hobbyist, not a pro, and I touched up the paint damage with Testor's modeling paint.  Crude, but serviceable. 

Note that this method is specifically NOT RECOMMENDED BY RIVENDELL! 

dougP

[Nick Payne]

Tubus Tara works for me on the Appaloosa fork. Use the lowest mounting point on the Tara rack to the upper eyelet on the fork dropout, and swap the left and right rack rails for the pannier hooks so that the attachment point is above the rail instead of below:

Nick

[Keith Weaver]

Thanks all for the helpful responses! I like Bill Lindsay's idea of using a set of short Nitto struts to attach the rack to the fork tip eyelets. I think that may work with my Duo rack. If not, it's good to know the Tara will also work with essentially no modifications.

The bike comes with a Mark's rack, the next challenge will be to see if I can keep that rack while adding a low-rider. I'm assuming it will just require some longer bolts, with possibly some spacers.

Cheers,

Keith

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[Ed Fausto]

Hi Nick,

Thank you for posting a picture of your Appaloosa with Tubus Tara.

I really wanted to use a Tubus Tara on my 51 Appaloosa but the absence of lower eyelet prevented me from getting one.

Would you mind telling me what is the size of your Appaloosa frame?

I am not sure if frame size affects the dimension of the fork.

Thanks,

Ed Fausto

[Ed Fausto]

Hi Keith,

I hope you will give us an update on your final front rack configuration on your Appaloosa.

Thanks.

Ed Fausto

[David Hays]

Hi Nick,

I have a 2020 51 Appaloosa in this orange and it has all three eyelets(two at the tip of the fork and one just below the canti post) as shown on this bike.

David Hays

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[Nick Payne]

My Appaloosa frame is a 57cm. I just measured the C-C distance between the upper eyelet on the dropout and the braze-on attachment on the fork leg as 232mm. FWIW, the Tara rack I have is the stainless steel model, though I doubt that there are any dimensional differences between that and the coated steel model.

Nick

[Ed Fausto]

Hi Nick,

I tried your suggestion on the Tubus Tara installation by swapping the left and right rack rails and has allowed me to set the rail almost perfectly horizontal.
What front panniers are you using?

When I tried both my Carradice C and Gravel pack front panniers, I am having trouble mounting the lower hooks since it is exactly located on the fork mounting points of the rack.

I really wanted to use the Tara.
By the way, it is also the stainless version and the hoop is 14mm in diameter.

Regards,

Edgar Fausto

On Tuesday, March 2, 2021 at 9:27:30 AM UTC+8 Nick Payne wrote:

[Tom Wyland]

Ah, stainless. I was wondering why it looked so much better than my silver steel Tubus Tara.  I don't have any issues with the Ortlieb (high visibility) plus front panniers, for what it's worth. The lower hook can be moved around as needed.

Tom