Le grand porteur

When I was growing up and had a paper route, I would always just carry the papers in a giant bag on my shoulder on my BMX bike. My friend with the “10 speed” had these big wire baskets on the rear end of his bike that he would load the papers in and I thought it made so much sense. I never thought that carrying the papers on the front of the bike was a thing. Well, it was a thing in the 50s when porteur races were a thing. Fast forward to the present and the utility aspect of the porteur is again being realized. The current trend of front loads on bicycles makes a lot more sense than the back of the bike in regards to control and convenience but also brings up a new set of design criteria for the bicycle maker in regards to wheel flop, front end geometry/handling, and strength of materials. Taking all of these into consideration, I was able to make a 62cm porteur with enough stability to ride with a front load and no hands. The front rack is rigid with 6 connection points to the bike if you count the fender mount. It’s made from 5/16″ chromoly steel, chrome plated, and has special pins for a custom porteur bag to attach. The dropout eyelets were modified to use larger M6 bolts for extra strength as well.

The bike is made from standard oversized tubing with a tapered 1 1/4″ to 1 3/8″ down tube for extra frame stiffness. The frame is fillet brazed and the fork is a classic twin plate style. The drive side chain stay is polished stainless to prevent any chain slap chipping issues. The wiring for the lights is mostly internal to the frame but there are guides up the fork leg and rack keeping the wires tidy. Red details create a beautiful and rarely used color combo on a bicycle. The cables are all internal including the rear derailleur cable which comes out near the bottom bracket shell. The drive train is the new Ultegra 11-speed which doesn’t allow for much space near the cassette to install fenders. To account for that, the Honjo fender hardware and rear dropout eyelets were modified and recessed. There are loads of details on this bike and a purposeful choice of components so check out the slideshow for the full visual report.