The first lowriders were lowered cars in the 1950s, but the term is now also used for stretched bicycles and for front carriers that allow bicycle panniers to be mounted particularly low. We would like to take a closer look at the latter meaning, which will be familiar to most trekking bike riders. We have put together a current selection of rigid and suspension forks for you.
It is always advantageous for bike travellers if the majority of the weight is not at the rear, but the load can be distributed evenly over the entire bike. At the rear, the panniers cannot be positioned low and in the centre because they would collide with the heels - this is not a problem at the front. By positioning the front panniers low near the steering axle, the handling of the loaded bike is affected as little as possible. With the right lowrider, the touring rider can achieve optimum weight distribution.
The pannier rack lowrider can be imagined as two bag suspensions that are attached relatively low on the right and left side of the fork. The two halves are usually connected by a bracket that braces the entire carrier construction. Classic lowriders generally do not have an upper platform for luggage. However, there are also hybrid designs such as the Surly Nice Rack Front (photo left), which combine a lowrider with a toploader (carrier that is loaded from above). In addition to the Thule, which also has a platform, the Faiv (both on the page after next) can also be fitted with an upper rack. If required, a lowrider can usually simply be combined with any toploader carrier.
During installation, it is important whether your fork is fitted with eyelets for lowriders or not. According to the standard, these 5 mm threaded eyelets should be located at a height of 165 mm above the eyelets on the dropouts. Our fork diagram on page 56 clearly shows what this means. The rigid forks of many trekking and touring bikes are now fitted with these eyelets at half height. Most forks for lowriders have simple threaded eyelets, i.e. one eyelet on the outside left and one on the outside right. The lowrider is bolted directly to the fork at the top of these eyelets and at the bottom of the dropouts - a simple and clean attachment. Some forks, on the other hand, have continuous threaded eyelets. They allow the mounting of bracketless lowriders such as the Tubus Duo. Because this carrier is attached at the top, both internally and externally, using a total of 4 bolts, it is just as rigid as other lowriders with brackets.
If you don't have the appropriate eyelets on your fork blades, don't despair. Some lowriders already come with mounting material so that they can be fitted to forks without threaded eyelets. If you don't have such parts, you can buy clamps or straps for different fork diameters instead.
Suspension forks, on the other hand, are never fitted with lateral eyelets halfway up for lowriders, and there is a good reason for this. If too much weight is attached directly to the suspension fork, the unsprung mass increases significantly - the suspension fork can no longer provide adequate suspension and the riding behaviour deteriorates noticeably. Although you can attach the Thule and Zéfal carriers to suspension forks, you should be careful with the pannier weight.
This problem can only be avoided if the lowrider does not interfere with the suspension, but "co-springs" the luggage. The Faiv Hoogar currently offers the only solution of this kind. Although the carrier is the most expensive of the nine models, it works excellently in practice. Only the initial assembly can be a little fiddly, depending on the suspension fork model.
The complete article was published in Trekkingbike issue 5/2015. You can read the entire issue in the Trekkingbike app (iTunes and Google Play) or order the issue in the DK shop.
You can download the individual articles as PDF files here.
