At a glance Top quality aluminium front rack that mounts on the hub and brake bosses and keeps the weight low down for trouble-free bike handling.
Tested by
Jon Adams, tester for The Bike List
Performance
Front racks and the associated front panniers are often seen as an option for proper ‘grown-up’ continental touring, but if you’re going bike-packing, taking tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, stove and the general full works, then you’d be surprised how useful they are. By getting some of the load onto the front end of the bike, you balance the whole setup, and this makes riding more controlled and more pleasurable. The trouble is, if you pile everything on the back, you’ll pull auto wheelies on steep climbs and will have a wobbly, unstable bike on fast descents. Though you get used to compromised handling over the days of a tour, this isn’t really desirable, and it’s far better to plump for the extra weight, expense and stability of a 4 pannier system than fight the awkward delights of an overloaded rear end.
One of the big drawbacks for hardtail tourers has been the inability for suspension forks to take a rack on which to mount your front panniers, but there are a few solutions on the market, and one of the smartest is the Ultimate Lowrider from Californian company, Old Man Mountain. The main load-bearer for this rack is the hub itself – courtesy of an extended quick-release skewer that clamps it in place – and the stabilizing mount is on the brake bosses.
If you’re running a set of disc-only forks, all is not lost – you simply require some mounting hardware in the form of some P-clips. Provided your forks are happy to take the strain and won’t be crushed or weakened by a circlip style band around the legs, you simply attach the bracket to the P-clip and away you go.
The interesting thing is all the mounting takes place below the suspended part of the bike, so the front rack, the panniers and all the weight augments the unsprung mass, rather than bouncing around with the rider and the sprung mass. If you do the latter, with a front rack that mounts on the suspended part of the fork, then you're adding the load to the rider's weight, and that means you'll hammer the fork much harder and you'll also need to adjust it to take the extra weight into account. It also means you'll need to readjust it when you take the panniers off, and this adds up to lots of faffing around. The beauty of the hub-and-boss mount system is that you leave your fork adjusted to its regular setting and just get on with riding. The fact that the weight is low down hear the hub also means that the loaded bike is nice and stable, and in use, a fully-laden hardtail feels really solid, whether you’re grinding up a hill, flying down the other side, or carving through the dirt.
Provided you pack evenly and don’t overload one side or the other, the handling feels really secure and positive, too, and what’s more, there are two mounting points for your bags so you can use either small front panniers or full size rear ones. We opted for the lower point with standard front panniers – people have made it round the world with the traditional arrangement of large on the back and small on the front, so if you need four big panniers all round, you probably need to question the amount of kit you’re carrying.
We’ve run the OMM Ultimate Lowriders with Ortlieb, Vaude Aquadry and Karrimor Kalahari panniers, and the result every time was a solid, stable ride. Even over rougher, off-road sections and dirt tracks, every thing felt solid – but you do need to avoid full-on gnarly stuff like jumps and drop-offs as this isn’t really practical with two racks, four panniers and an extra 30 kilos of kit hanging off your frame!
Compared to a very basic, midfork bolt-on lowrider that you can pick up for £20, the Ultimate Lowrider looks pretty expensive. The thing is though, if you have rigid chromoly forks with a mid-fork braze-on, then you don't need this product! If you like MTB touring, however, then this is a superb solution that allows suspension AND front panniers without ruining your bike's handling. The £84 asking price seems quite steep at first - especially when you add the same again for a set of front panniers - but given the build quality, the stable handling and the excellent design, very few tourers would regret the outlay.
If you’ve been bitten by the multi-day bike ride bug and have struggled with the rear-only load, go get some front panniers, and get one of these to hang them on!
Buy from www.carradice.co.uk
Old Man Mountain says:
This model of our Ultimate Lowrider gives you the benefits of our hub/axle and brake-bolt or upper clamp mounting system. You can choose from a variety of height mount options, as well as an upper and lower mounting point for your panniers. We always suggest our Ultimate Lowriders for the serious road cycling tourist.
- Made in USA
- Specs Load Capacity: 40 lbs.
- Weight: 550g
More info: www.oldmanmountain.com
For detailed Installation Instructions click here.
