Axiom LowRider Front Panniers Fitted To The Calibre Dune Fat Bike

A little while ago I bought a pair of Axiom LowRider Front Pannier Racks for my fatbike.

There were a few hurdles to cross before I could fit them and a bit of racking of the old brain cells and some handy engineering from my neighbour Dave.

Firstly the racks are designed to slide over the axle and then with the elongated quick release axle that is supplied with the rack do up as you would normally.

Great, but this is a fatbike and the axle supplied is 9mm and mine is 15mm!

I looked at drilling out the hole on the rack to 15mm, but if I did that there would just not be enough metal left to support the rack.

So I sourced a new axle from ebay, it's not quick release, but it fits and with the spacers provided does the job perfectly.

Link Here ----->>>>15mm x 230mm Axle<<<<-----

The other problem was that the part of the rack that the axle slides through has a large outer circumference and it would not fit properly within the recess of the forks.

So the longer axle with spacers were definitively required.

Now I still had the problem of how I would attach the rack.

I came up with a cunning idea.

I had my neighbour Dave make up some oval plates with two holes drilled though them.

One was 15mm which allowed the axle to go through it, and another hole was drilled out to 9mm which allowed the original hole (the one that should of been used for the axle).

Bolting the oval plate to the axle this allowed the rack to be bolted as it was intended but instead of through the axle - directly to the drop down oval plate.

This also meant that the centre of gravity was lowered by approx 20mm and that the clamps at the top were easier to mount as the fork leg was not as thick.

In saying that, I still had to swap out the metal plate that goes the other side of the U bolt in favour of some over sized washers I found.

My original plan was to buy a pair of pannier bags, but the more I think about it, the more I am inclined to go with the idea of having a combination.

I thought of having a Molle Dump Pouch like I all ready have on my handlebars, an extra water bottle cage (with water bottle) and then below it I can attach a dry bag.

In the dry bag I will store on one side, my sleeping mat, and the other my cooker and gas canister.

Will have to have a play around with the set up and see what works.

I took the bike out for a 14km ride to make sure it was secure and it was, so I'm happy that it coped ok.

There is only thing I will need to take extra care with, and that is when riding in ruts, that I don't get snagged with either the rack or attachments.

I had not been out on the bike for a few days due to being away and not feeling 100% so when I got home and looked at my stats on Strava I was pleased to see that I had broken a couple of my personal records.

One in particular is a long climb from Wootton Bridge up to the Rising Sun pub.

When I started riding back in April it took me 13.39 mins and I could not complete the climb in one go.

I was pleased to see that over time as my fitness levels have increased that my time now is 7.16 mins and I "Griepel" my way to the end of the segment.

It's rather motivating to see how far I have progressed.

Ride safe.....