# Surly Front Nice Rack on BD ?



## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

Anyone running bb7s with 180 mm rotors and a Surly Front Nice Rack ?
I looking at putting one on my Big Dummy and was looking for info on the
fit? Thanks


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## kuan (Oct 18, 2008)

I don't have 180mm brakes but I did try and found I couldn't mount the rack without either cutting or bending the triangular shiny flat things or figuring out some spacers. Either way it was work I didn't want to attempt so I didn't.


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## surlywhore (Dec 7, 2005)

I had it set up with 180 rotors, but switched to 160s just to make it easier.


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

__
https://flic.kr/p/2298758986
 Here's a link to some photos on Flixr. Can't tell what size rotor that is and it's not bb7s.
It does show grinding a spot out of the triangle bracket to make it fit.
Thank's for the feedback guys.


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## Schmucker (Aug 23, 2007)

I couldn't do it without going to a 160 front. I'll keep my 203 and get a different rack. I didn't want to dick with changing the mounting brackets. Maybe I'll make another attempt.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

I've used an OMM Cold Springs front rack on my BD since I built it up. Works great with any disc brake and has been used hard with no issues. The design is light and strong. I have a 10yr old copy of this rack on my LHT and it's got another 20yrs left it in easy.


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.p...nt.php?attachmentid=611288&stc=1&d=1303876547
I did manage to get a Surly Nice Rack installed on the BD. It is a close fit but should work.
This is with the bb7 and 185mm rotors.
Vikb, Thanks for the info. What size tires are you running in the photos ?


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## kuan (Oct 18, 2008)

Did you bend that bottom plate yourself?


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

Kuan, Nope there are some offset brackets like the bottom ones and some straight ones in the hardware pack. Great hardware pack. Just got to configure a fork center hole attachment
at the top. Probably not needed on most but as close as the fit is I don't want it moving any.


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## mattbryant2 (Apr 19, 2005)

Nice! Pic of the complete bike with the front rack? Pics with bags attached to rack?


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

Matt, No bags yet. Working on that. By the way nice blog page. Great photos...


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## mattbryant2 (Apr 19, 2005)

LongtailJunkie said:


> Matt, No bags yet. Working on that. By the way nice blog page. Great photos...


Thanks. Be sure to post some photos if you mount some bags. I'm curious about a front Nice Rack on my Big Dummy to easily run both panniers and a "trunk bag" (in lieu of a handlebar bag -- I think it might be better to keep any frontward weight below the handlebar).


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

LongtailJunkie said:


> Vikb, Thanks for the info. What size tires are you running in the photos ?


I run 26 x 2.0" Marathon XRs on my BD.


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

mattbryant2 said:


> Thanks. Be sure to post some photos if you mount some bags. I'm curious about a front Nice Rack on my Big Dummy to easily run both panniers and a "trunk bag" (in lieu of a handlebar bag -- I think it might be better to keep any frontward weight below the handlebar).


Here ya go Matt, Some photos with bags on the Surly Nice rack... The bags are a little forward on the rack...Here is the link for the bags to give some size specs.
Hey thanks for info Vik.

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear...searchKeywords=Seatle+Sport+Fast+Rack+Pannier
http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.p...nt.php?attachmentid=612722&stc=1&d=1304535857


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## mattbryant2 (Apr 19, 2005)

Thanks for the pics. Awesome setup. I'm jealous. How does it handle with the bags up front? How often do you have enough stuff on the back of your bike to warrant running the bags up front? Do you prefer to ride with some weight up front?


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

Matt these are my first front panniers. Haven't ridden with any real weight in them yet. Just stuffed some old towel etc in them to see what they would be like. Mostly commute and carry cargo loads with my BD. I'm hoping to get away for several days with it soon. I wanted to have the option to carry stuff up front if I needed it. So these bags will be used for adding load capacity with cargo as well as some touring.
I


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## mattbryant2 (Apr 19, 2005)

Any comments on how an unloaded front rack may or may not affect the handling of the Big Dummy?


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

mattbryant2 said:


> Any comments on how an unloaded front rack may or may not affect the handling of the Big Dummy?


Matt , as far as overall handling I don't feel much change. Just some wind resists in higher winds. I have been real satisfied with this rack setup so far.


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## vikb (Sep 7, 2008)

mattbryant2 said:


> Any comments on how an unloaded front rack may or may not affect the handling of the Big Dummy?


I can't tell I have an OMM rack on the front of my BD until I use it for something. It's very light....:thumbsup:


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

It's nice to know that the Surly Nice Front Rack will fit the BD.Because I am building a BD here now.It's the new 2011 model all black and I will be running 203mm BB7 on the rear and 185mm BB7 on the front.I can tell you this much about the front nice rack I have it on my Surly LHT bicycle and with a no load you don't even know it is on there or I don't anyway.I wanted this rack to work with my setup and all the Info I found here let me know it will thanks for posting the pic of your setup.You just help me spend more money on my new ride lol.But I am very happy to get this BD all built and setup to go with what I wanted on it.Thanks LongtailJunkie for the pics.


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

No problem KDC. Glad someone could use the info. I've been real pleased with the Nice rack on my BD.
Be sure and post pics of your finished BD...


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## LostBoyScout (Feb 7, 2008)

I would like to see someone run a V1 Fargo fork on their BD. It's 442mm long (vs. 425) so it won't affect geometry very much, and you could run 2 bottle cages, lowrider panniers, and a Minimalist rack all at once!


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## sfuller (Jan 14, 2007)

LostBoyScout said:


> I would like to see someone run a V1 Fargo fork on their BD. It's 442mm long (vs. 425) so it won't affect geometry very much, and you could run 2 bottle cages, lowrider panniers, and a Minimalist rack all at once!


Having owned a V1 Fargo fork, I'd say getting all of that on there would be a lot of work. Low riders and the minimalist rack MIGHT work (depending on the low rider rack and how it mounted. The trick would be getting the bottle cages on there at the same time. By the time you bought the low rider rack and the minimalist rack, you'd be close in price to the Nice rack, and you'd have a lower weight you could carry on the platform.

My $0.02 worth...


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## LostBoyScout (Feb 7, 2008)

sfuller said:


> Having owned a V1 Fargo fork, I'd say getting all of that on there would be a lot of work. Low riders and the minimalist rack MIGHT work (depending on the low rider rack and how it mounted. The trick would be getting the bottle cages on there at the same time. By the time you bought the low rider rack and the minimalist rack, you'd be close in price to the Nice rack, and you'd have a lower weight you could carry on the platform.
> 
> My $0.02 worth...


I was meaning the Salsa Down Under racks plus Minimalist, which are meant to work together. Also I have been told they work with the bottle racks no prob but haven't tried myself.

The Salsa solution wouldn't hold as much weight, true - and it's aluminum too which means you probably wouldn't want to push your luck as much either. But the load rating on the Minimalist could be exceeded considerably I'm sure if you had it mounted to the Down Under rack, since the supports would be a lot shorter and nearly inline with the compressive forces they'd be under.

Personally I'm between the two setups myself, though on my current ride (a Vaya) the Surly rack doesn't really work.


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## LostBoyScout (Feb 7, 2008)

sfuller said:


> Having owned a V1 Fargo fork, I'd say getting all of that on there would be a lot of work. Low riders and the minimalist rack MIGHT work (depending on the low rider rack and how it mounted. The trick would be getting the bottle cages on there at the same time. By the time you bought the low rider rack and the minimalist rack, you'd be close in price to the Nice rack, and you'd have a lower weight you could carry on the platform.
> 
> My $0.02 worth...


I was meaning the Salsa Down Under racks plus Minimalist, which are meant to work together. Also I have been told they work with the bottle racks no prob but haven't tried myself.

The Salsa solution wouldn't hold as much weight, true - and it's aluminum too which means you probably wouldn't want to push your luck as much either. But the load rating on the Minimalist could be exceeded considerably I'm sure if you had it mounted to the Down Under rack, since the supports would be a lot shorter and nearly inline with the compressive forces they'd be under.

Personally I'm between the two setups myself, though on my current ride (a Vaya) the Surly rack doesn't really work.


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

LongtailJunkie said:


> No problem KDC. Glad someone could use the info. I've been real pleased with the Nice rack on my BD.
> Be sure and post pics of your finished BD...


Oh I will post pics but I am just starting to build my BD here.It will take me a while to build it I only get a little money each mouth so I have to get my parts when I can but I am going to have a great time doing it.I can't wait until it is done.I still need a lot of parts but I do have a great start on parts will post pics this weekend if I can if not by the next weekend I will have pics to show.Your bike is great love the color that's the same color my Surly LHT.


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## sfuller (Jan 14, 2007)

LostBoyScout said:


> I was meaning the Salsa Down Under racks plus Minimalist, which are meant to work together. Also I have been told they work with the bottle racks no prob but haven't tried myself.


OK. That would probably work a little better then. 

I have a couple of the minimalist racks. I wasn't really thrilled with the low weight capacity, but for what I wanted to use them for, they will work out OK. It would be nice if they could figure out a way to get them to work better on the back of the Mukluk.


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

*Start of my Big Dummy Build.*

Here is a few pics of my build.


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

*One more pic of my build.*

I will post more pics when I can get a few more parts.I ran out of money and parts lol.But more on the way here now.


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## LongtailJunkie (Feb 9, 2011)

Nice looking start. The mustache bars and the Brooks with the springs really look good together. What are you using for bar end shifters ?


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

Thanks LongtailJunkie for the barend shifters these are the Velo-Orange friction shifters I have them on my Surly LHT and my Nashbar Touring bike as well.They shift so easy and I don't have to worry about it at all set it up one time forget it.The handle bar tape will be White leather bar tape same as my Surly LHT pretty easy to clean when it does get dirty.My handlebar is the Nitto B352 North Road Handlebar.I just had to have it.It did set me back a little but love the look of it.And it let me run barend friction shifters that I had to have on my BD.I am running 203mm in the rear and 185mm in the front.I hope to have it ready by Dec.25 My gift to my self lol


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## Fresno (Jul 11, 2011)

BFL? what rim and tire do you thnk it can handle?


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## artemha (Nov 20, 2010)

With these tire covers looks as the bulldozer =)


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

Well at last I now have on order my Surly nice front rack it will be in this Thursday but I will be out of town but they are going to hold it for me until I get back on the 21.And I am adding dula elect horns and dual headlight niterider 300 the things I come up with to add to my BD 
I will post pics on it at photobucket I will add a link to it later.I have pics on it now so if you know how to get to it it is under kdc1956.


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## kdc1956 (Feb 5, 2010)

A few new pics of my BD with the surly nice front rack and my PN-60 GPS.
Forgot about the cygo turbo 740 light man is it ever bright.I took off the bar tape on the bars and I added a mount for my MP3 player got to have music on long trips this time around.Will post new pics later this week.


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## brokebike (Jan 31, 2013)

I picked up a Nice front rack this weekend at a bike swap, and am considering putting it on my BD. While the rack may go unused a lot since I can haul so much stuff on the back, I do take the BD camping a lot. It would be nice to fit my waterproof panniers up front for items that I don't want getting wet, like clothing and my sleeping bag. The main problem with the rear is the lack of protection from rain.


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