If there’s one thing every guy knows, it’s how to appreciate a front rack. [OK, that’s a dumb joke, but it had to be done.]
Putting weight on the front forks of a motorcycle is not necessarily wise. But some folks got in the habit of doing so and I think front racks just have an awesome Mad Max vibe that I can’t help but appreciate. I suspect the original idea was for when you’ve got a huge elk quarter on the rear and need a counterbalance to keep the front wheel on the ground. Or maybe that’s a bullshit story and I’m just believing crap I saw on the internet?
All I know is I very much wanted a front rack for several reasons:
- It looks cool… zombie apocalypse approved.
- If I need to grab hold of the front of the bike and physically drag it somewhere… like with a z-drag… I want a nice solid anchor point.
- You can never have too much carrying capacity.
- Did I mention it looks cool?
Unfortunately, a front rack is expensive. But as luck would have it, I found some fella on the internet that had bought a used TW and was trying to get rid of the front rack that came with it. I helped out, a few bucks changed hands via paypal, and $20 worth of shipping later I was looking at a used (not new!) rack on my workbench.
It came with no hardware. No instructions. It had a little rust, but nothing too bad. I got it for under half of what new would cost.
Here it is next to the skidplate I mentioned in my last post.
After a few days sniffing around the internet I figured how to install it. It took virtually no effort and it’s integrated into the front fork rock solid. It might actually protect the front a bit if I run into a tree or something… or not. Point is, it’s solid.
Also…
IT LOOKS COOL!
It’s not particularly practical. If I put anything heavy up there I might alter the steering balance. If I put anything bulky there I’ll block my headlamp. BUT IT LOOKS COOL!
I immediately tested it out and it was indeed handy. In these photos I’m lugging a big ass hunting ground blind on the back. I had a little propane stove in the blind and I couldn’t figure out how to carry it at the same time as the blind. Viola! Strap it down to the front with a cheap old bungee net and it worked slick as snot.
The little mule is shaping up to be an even better cargo hauler than I expected. This particular location is a stone cold bitch to get in there with an ATV. There are big rocks that hide in the grass to pound my ATV’s undercarriage and even high center it. The plucky TW is too narrow to understand the concept, it just zips to the left or right of any big rock and sweeps through just as fast as I can lift my foot out of the way and hang on. Wow!
I began a search for the perfect thing to carry on my new VERY COOL LOOKING rack. I came up with a Redcamp Wood Burning Folding Camp Stove:
Ignore for a moment that the wood stove appears to be hovering in space and the background has a hipster chick in a pretentious hat and a blonde eating a marshmallow that might be beat her in chess. The stove itself seems pretty solid.
I’ve used mine 3-4 times and been pleased with how it handles combustion. It’s pretty slick, you can have a fire in wind without hassles, and toss a bratwurst on the top for damn near instant lunch.
I got the large size. I’ve been wanting a stove like that anyway. I have an Ohuro “twig stove” that I’ve enjoyed but is also small and finicky. I simply have more carrying capacity when the bike does the work.
It’s too heavy for backpacking but folded up and zipped in it’s nice case, it should fit perfectly on the front rack. I haven’t tested it on the bike yet. I need better straps before I try. But all indications are I’ve found the perfect thing to sit right beneath the headlight beam and make camping more fun.
Here’s another photo. It’s stainless steel and fairly beefy. After you use it, it’ll lose some of the gloss. It’s a firebox, not a laptop. I give it the thumbs up for combustion, but haven’t tested long term reliability… then again it’s $35, not a lot to risk. YMMV
