RIDE IN STYLE

Make a front rack for your bicycle.

What you will need

The materials/tools you will (probably) need to build something like this include:

• Small tubing (I used 10mm with 1.2mm wall thickness)
• Smooth flat profile
• Tube bender (the same size of the selected tubing)
• Weld inverter/Stick welder and welding rods (308 L)
• Drill press and drill bits
• Pipe cutter
• Square and measuring tools (rulers, verniers, etc.)
• Files (of the same diameter of the tubing)
• Angle grinder (optional)

I needed a small front rack on my gravel bike to avoid the handlebar bag from rubbing in the front wheel and to carry some lightweight groceries. Since each bike/fork has its own bolt pattern, I had to make a custom one for my bike.

The build is relatively straightforward, but some metalworking experience is preferred. I'm not the most experienced metalworker but during a pandemic and with more time at home I decided to learn stick welding and after many burnt rods I decided to make something useful other than metal scrap to 'step up' my welding skills.

I went with a simple rectangular shape. I measured the width of my fork legs at the bolt locations and fixed that as my reference. The height was a little bit bigger, but this is entirely subjective to each fork/bicycle/person.