Epicurean Humvee
Gone are the days of my svelte looking Surly LHT. I picked up a Surly Front Nice Rack yesterday after a few weeks of trying to figure out a system where I could still use my Acorn bag and front loaders. My previous rack was the Rivendell Mark’s rack. I considered pairing it up with a Blackburn or Tubus lowrider, but in the end I figured I should just get one rack. For a moment, I considered a Nitto Campee but couldn’t find any reports of anyone mounting it happily on a 26 inch wheel bike, which my Surly is.
All this to say, that I went for the Surly Front Nice Rack. It’s big. It’s heavy and presumably really well built. It looks more like a piece of scaffolding really than something that should go on a bike. The silver-ish finish looked congruous with my rear Tubus rack (hey these things matter : ).
One thing I was surprised with was the amount of screws, nuts, spacers and plates it came with. You could start a small hardware store with it. The photos on the instructions I got were almost illegible, a copy of a copy of a copy. I had to rely on some pictures of the instructions from Vik’s Lazy Rando site. I couldn’t find the PDF for the front rack installation on the Surly site so that was a bummer. I’m not the most mechanically inclined person in the world, so it took me a little over an hour to get the rack in place on the bike and cross reference against several Flickr photos of the hardware to confirm that I had done it correctly.
Fortunately, my Acorn bag plays relatively well with the Nice Rack and is a testament to their decaleurless design. The pair of pockets that face the rider are a little squished but still accessible. The bottom velcro straps still manage to wrap around the rack. The shock cords still work. I did add a toe-strap through the leather sleeve and wrapped it around the sled of the Nice Rack for a little added protection.
All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the rack and am looking forward to using it on The Big Trip.
An hour is actually pretty great time for installing a Nice Rack. I think mine took about 3 hours. And I had to use some leftover hardware from a Tubus rear rack.
I love my Surly rack, but I’m glad that I only had to install it once!
For that extra humveeness, I recommend both a front and rear nice rack:
http://enthoosed.com/bicycling/vehicle/view.v?id=21819
Also, i wrote up a quick front rack how-to specific to the LHT to make the install easier since its really not that bad once you know what to do:
http://enthoosed.com/bicycling/guide/view.v?id=59085
Jose…thanks for the links! Wish I saw your rack installation one last night!
Bike is looking good Russ. I just installed an OMM Cold Springs front rack last week. My bike keeps getting heavier and heavier. Good for building up the legs though right?
Here’s a pic of my rack. http://errinv.smugmug.com/gallery/6021166_x9PWC#546171369_MgvYW
Errin
impressive thing to install- holy smokes! But your ride is turning out super sweet
Russ,
If your Trucker and the Mark’s Rack have parted ways for good, I’d be happy to pay a fair price for it. My Wald basket needs some good support!
Jon
those acorn bags are pretty gorgeous. tempting….;D
Hey Russ,
I’ve been meaning to ask you. You used to have a CETMA rack but I noticed since you’ve had the acorn bag you stopped using it. Did you have any problems with the rack or was it just incompatible with the new rack? I’m asking because I’ve been waiting over 3 months for a CETMA rack and I’m now considering canceling my order and just ordering a surly nice rack for the front instead.
Sorry for the typo I meant to ask: “Did you have any problems with the rack or was it just incompatible with the acorn bag?
Logan,
For me, I used the CETMA as an in-town hauler which it excels in…however, i thought it might not be the best for touring for my tastes. Also, the struts that mount to the handlebars get in the way of using randonneur type bags like the Acorn or Ostrich. That is why that Pelican bag that Swift Industries creates for them opens the way it does (plus it really maximizes the big platform of the rack). Also, I wanted a front rack that was a little better suited to using front panniers which the Surly does.
That said, as an in-town mini-cargo hauler, the CETMA works really well.
R
Thanks Russ! That’s really helpful to know!
Cheers,
L
Hey Russ,
This comes a little late but I found the surly nice rack installation instructions online here: http://www.surlybikes.com/files/NiceRack_Fr_Instructions.pdf
As a side note I found it by stumbling into the index page of Surly’s PDF files on their server: http://www.surlybikes.com/files
I misplaced my spec sheet on my complete build LHT so this URL was a gold mine to reclaim that info.
Cheers,
Logan.
I just can’t get myself to consider buying the front Nice Rack behemoth. Way too clunky. I’ve found a site that shows how the Nitto Big Front Rack can be installed on a 26″ LHT and I’m going that direction. Here’s the link. You’ll see pictures of the front rack mounting using a custom bracket, which was used because the guy felt the stock bracket wasn’t rigid enough.
http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x211/AKTed/LHT%20and%20Nitto%20Racks/
Anybody know who makes the low-rider bags in the top picture? The green front panniers that are below the Acorn bag. They sure are beautiful.
Thanks,
Richard