I’ve been riding the same Spot commuter bike for the last 13 years. It’s still going strong. Like this blog. (Did I really just link to a post from 13 years ago? Yes I did.)
People often ask me about the front rack. There are two things you need for this setup:
- A Velo Orange Porteur rack. Simply the best-looking rack you can buy for a bike.
- A laser-cut Masonite base for it. So your stuff doesn’t fall through to the road. You will have to make this yourself. (Here’s the CAD.)
Simply attach the Masonite to the rack with some dabs of silicone RTV (to reduce audible vibration on those wild semi-paved Cambridge roads) and four zip ties. Done.
A brief digression: Masonite (the American trade name for tempered hardboard) is the perfect material for this application: it’s a strong, attractive, outdoor-grade material. It’s the only synthetic wood product I know of that doesn’t contain some kind of toxic glue–in fact it contains no glue at all, only natural lignin, as a result of the clever manufacturing process. It’s what good clipboards are made of.
It’s getting difficult to find the high-quality Masonite now. Even though it can be manufactured anywhere, the stuff they sell at Home Depot is imported from Brazil, where they make it from the pulp of monoculture Eucalyptus plantations that have replaced natural forests. The resulting product is way softer than the original. I wouldn’t even make a clipboard out of it. The best material to use for small projects now is Richeson tempered hardboard panel, which is made with care in the USA and sold through art stores as a fine art painting surface.
