I love these racks. Perfect for a small front bag on a bike with Mafac brakes. I assume Amir's bolts are similar to the Nitto ones. Not absolutely necessary, as the standard Mafac bolts are more than long enough to handle the extra thickness of the rack.
There are now a number of high quality traditional canvas front bags similar to the Sologne/Berthoud, including Ostrich, Inujirushi, Watanabe, and Velo Orange. A favorite of mine is the Acorn bag, handmade in small quantities in the LA area.
BTW, the TA rack for Mafac brakes can be fitted to other CP brakes as well. It fits perfectly on the old Weinmann 999's on my 1962 Schwinn Superior. But with newer Weinmanns and their DiaComp clones, some modification is required. The newer (probably after the mid 60's) Weinmanns have a different caliper cross section and a greater overall thickness, so the rack spacing between the rear plate that is secured by the center bolt and the arms that bolt to the caliper pivot bolts is too small for use with newer Weinmann/DiaCompe. The solution is to move the rack back plate in front of the mounting yolk of the brakes rather than behind it. In this position it will not be secured by the center bolt, but if it is pressed firmly against the front of the yolk and the rack legs bolted under the pivot bolts, that's still plenty solid for the moderate loads carried in a small front bag. One needs longer pivot bolts and spacers to space them out from the front of the calipers, which moves the back plate forward in front of the yolk. But the pivot bolts and spacers are pretty standard metric stuff available at better hardware stores. I was able to get them even in Big Spring, TX, AKA The Middle of Nowhere. I have this setup on my 1974 Schwinn Sports Tourer with an Acorn front bag.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
From: Rich Pinder <rpinder@usc.edu> Subject: [CR] Sologne Bag & Amir's Bolts .... To: "classic" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org> Cc: walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com Date: Sunday, March 14, 2010, 11:34 PM
Hi all,
I meant to post last week - here are some more shots of how the Sologne bag works on the Porteur rack. Thanks Amir for the mafac bolts; they worked out great. I also found a few example shots of other Sologne bags.
Yesterday I stuffed the little bag pretty full, for an 80 mile day. The bag worked well. It's wierd - I've ridden the same bike with a large Lone Peak bar bag many miles, and I was expecting an even more stable feel with this Sologne bag riding lower down. But hands free, the bike actually felt LESS solid with this lower bag ! go figure ...
Playin hookey tomorrow - gonna go climb some mountains !
http://www-hsc.usc.edu/
Take care, Rich Pinder Dana Point, CA [ for an extended weekend ! ]