Through the 80’s and 90’s I used a custom rack I designed that mounted rigidly to the front of the frame and accepted a pair of the old original Kirkland front handlebar packs. This worked fine for all those trips through 2000.
After a long hiatus I decided to get back into doing some cross-country rides but decided the bags were not in the greatest shape (zippers and the waterproofing left a lot to be desired) so I invested in new Arkel bags front and rear. These are marketed in Canada (no doubt manufactured overseas) and are top quality. This required a whole different way to mount, but I was able to use the basic support used on the older set-up. I’ve now used this arrangement on two trips so far and it works superbly.
As noted elsewhere on this site, I learned early on not to mount anything directly on the front wheel as it makes the steering both hard and unstable. By securing directly to the frame the steering, control, stability, and ride are wonderful. They sort of act like stabilizers similar to the pole a tightrope walker would employ.
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