Lowrider (bicycle rack)
A lowrider is a holding device for luggage (bags) on bicycles , which is usually attached to the fork and is located lower than the usual bicycle rack above the rear wheel.
Since the bags follow every steering movement on a luggage rack attached to the fork, this changes the steering behavior of the bicycle. The lowrider has the property of influencing the steering behavior as little as possible, as the mass comes to lie close to the steering axis and thus the moment of inertia and the steering forces are minimized. It was developed for touring bikes in order to avoid the negative effects of conventional front luggage carriers on the directional stability when driving.
Lowriders increase driving comfort, they enable a balanced distribution of the luggage weight on the front and rear wheels.
The lowrider is attached to the fork on the left and right of the front wheel on the conventional touring bike, whereas on the recumbent bike it is usually between the wheels, usually under the seat.
To securely attach a Lowrider to the front fork, special eyelets with M5 threads are required on the fork legs. In addition, it is attached to threaded eyes next to the dropouts . Suspension forks usually do not have such eyelets. This would also not make sense, because such an assembly would increase the unsprung mass of the suspension fork too much when loading and limit the function of the suspension fork.
Lowriders for suspension forks, which take this into account due to their design, do not belong to the category of lowriders due to their design. They attach above the actual suspension and are therefore in the same movement as the upper sprung side. Because the unsprung mass does not increase with luggage, the driving behavior is only slightly restricted. However, the springs have to be adjusted to the higher weight, and depending on the weight and shape of the load, handlebars can flutter .
literature
- Peter de Leuw: Choose the right bicycles, ride safely. 1st edition, Beuth Verlag GmbH, Berlin-Vienna-Zurich, 2006, ISBN 3-410-16487-1
- Fritz Winkler, Siegfried Rauch: Bicycle technology repair, construction, production. 10th edition, BVA Bielefelder Verlagsanstalt GmbH & Co. KG, Bielefeld, 1999, ISBN 3-87073-131-1