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Roswheel Tour Front Rack
500g £55
The Roswheel Tour Front Rack is a three-point attachment rack whish comes with a handy mix of mounting gear and an optional stiffener bow – which I’d not go without on tour. The mounting kit offers plenty of when clearing the eccentricities of drop-outs and the predictable breath of disc-brakes. There’s a lot to like, but there are plenty of rivals, so it is well-worth thinking about your requirements.
Pros: sturdily made, stiffener is optional, handy mixture of mounting kit, very adjustable.
Cons: seem to scuff more easily than some.
The Roswheel Tour Front Rack comes in three pieces with assembly kit – even a spanner. Constructed of tubular 6061 aluminium; light, although more prone to fatigue than steel, which is also repairable. Aluminium is, of course, resistant to corrosion and give a better weight to strength ratio. Take your pick.
Compatible with most disc brakes it’ll suit axles of up to 100mm and 26 inch, 27.5, 650B, and 700C wheel sizes, it should suit the most common of touring machines. Roswheel point out that you must have bosses on the lower fork.
The pay-load is 7kg on each side, 14kg in total. Not the biggest by any means, but not unreasonable.
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Accompanying the rack you'll find a bag of mounting kit, a couple of Allen keys, and a spanner.
Assembly and mounting 4/5
Unlike many, the Roshweel Tour Front Rack needs to be assembled. It arrives in three pieces. It isn’t hard. You could, of course, run them without the bow, however, unless the load is very light, experience suggests that the greater rigidity is preferable to saving a few grams.
So, locate the pins, put a dab of grease on the bolts and away you go. I found it much easier to fit the mounting plates to finger tightness before attempting to mount the rack. After that bolt the into the top boss, finger tight, and adjust the rack until it is in the position you want – level – and tighten up.
All that is pretty intuitive, much like mounting any front rack. The variety of spacers and bolts are a definite plus. Drop-outs, mudguard stays and fixings, disc brakes, and so on generally make some mild bodging necessary. It’s nice to do it without spending ages scrabbling through the spares box for odds and ends to do the job. As Roswheel say, the rack is “compatible with most ….”
It has fitted on both the rim-braked Surly and the disc-braked Landescape. There was a minor problem with a bulky quick release skewer lever, that required m to dig-out a slimmer model. The triangular mounting bracket allows a lot of adjustment; it just took a bit of care to marry it up to the other elements. All this suggests that it’ll be portable between bikes – should you wish to go in for that palaver.
Performance 3.5/5
When properly mounted, the rack feels very sound. Initially, I took it out using the racks without the stiffening bow tying them together. Many of us older tourers used to use low-rider racks of that style. Light, of course, but with a tendency to make bulkier or weightier front panniers feel wobbly. Failure of one whilst cycling along the Italian coast nearly brought me to grief. I have used more rigid models ever since. I wrote that the bow is optional: it is, but, for me, that is a technicality. It is a trifle in weight and easy to fit and ignoring it is, in y opinion, not worth the weight saved.
Unlike my other front racks, the Roswheel bow is not integral. I wondered, initially, if this would have negative impact on stability and rigidity. It has not. Even going a tad over the payload caused no sway. Of course, I’d not recommend overloading, but it can easily happen. Equally, we would not want to negate the warranty.
14kg payload is not massive, but nor is it low. Roswheel suggest that 7kg each side is ideal – presumably this is without the bow. However, it is very good to try to keep things balanced. For me, on tur, 14kg is fine for a front rack, and 7kg each side will cover all my needs. I tend to carry tool kit and lightweight tent on the handle bars, which helps, but I am not one fr carting huge weights over the front wheel, although there are plenty of cyclists who do.
As for panniers, Roswheel have their own range of luggage and their Tour Panniers Small are perfect for this front rack. Other front panniers fit equally well – with adjustment – which is good news for my favourite old Ortlieb Front Rollers, with their slightly larger capacity.
I recently reviewed the Roswheel Tour Rear Rack – and a good solid model it is – and noted the option of mounting a rear light on the bracket, the stays or on a built-in mount, a bit like a cotton reel. This was a real plus point, in my view, and, I wonder if a similar opportunity for a front light might be a nice idea – even for an auxiliary light, should the position be too low to meet lighting regulations in whatever jurisdiction one may find oneself.
Care and durability 3/5
I feel that finishes of this kind are more prone to scuffing than some others – at least they don’t peel away. A touch of silicone detailer helps with this, but you could try adding some protective tape when you know wheel your pannier hooks are going to sit.
Racks get a lot of punishment from wheel-propelled much – especially the stays and mounting kit at the drop-outs or bosses low on the fork. I’ve found that a dose of general protectant can help keep things from getting gungy – be careful not to get it on baking surfaces. Of course, that is a supplement to that little dab of an appropriate grease during assembly.
Apart from that, include the rack in your cleaning regime, and it should have a good long life. Any marking, so far, is superficial, and those chunky welds, added to the warranty, give a lot of confidence.
Value 3.5/5
The Tubus Tara Low Rider comes in at £95. It is steel, with greater fatigue resistance (even if heavier) than aluminium and have a 18kg pay-load. I have run one for years, but have to admit that the Roswheel Tour Front Rack is more adjustable. How much gear do you want to carry?
The Zefal Raider Front Rack has some similar features, with the additional presence of P-Clips for those without suitable mounting points. It currently retails at £79.99. That is a little cheaper than the Topeak TetraRack (there are road/gravel and MTB models) which will take panniers and are compatible with Topeak Trunk Bags, courtesy of their Integrated Quick Track system.
There are cheaper models, such as the M-Wave Mini Front or Rear Rack at £14.99, however, with a payload of 9kg, it is more for the lightweight commute rather than doing the full shop or heading away for a few days. This is fen the case with cheaper racks.
For really big loads, the Surly Front Rack is hard to beat. 32kg of pay-load, steel, with stainless steel fixtures, but at $145. A whopper in every sense, but, again, how much do you want to carry?
Summary
Although not the cheapest, nor the strongest (in terms of payload), nor the smartest, the Roswheel Tour Front Rack is well-thought out, adjustable and, yes, capable of carrying sufficient equipment for all but the most heavily-laden tour. Nor is the price unreasonable, and fits well into this kind of price-point when all is considered. Well-made, with some neat features which may not set it apart, but certainly make it well-worth a good look.
