Velo Orange Wheel Stabilizer
Velo Orange is now stocking the much needed, but hard to find, wheel stabilizer. This is a must-have item for anyone carrying significant loads over the front wheel.
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22 Responses to “Velo Orange Wheel Stabilizer”
Oooh… looks like that could be useful on a cargo bike as well. Might pick one up for my XtraCycle rig.
Wow! just what I have been looking for! I’ve been using velcro or the mini u-lock. :) This would be great when the bike is in the work stand also! :)
One of my rides is the Gary Fisher Simple City 8, and it has a similar spring. I can load the heck out of the basket, and not get pulled over. And it helps for loading. Used in conjunction with the Pletscher kickstand for loading and unloading, life on wheels is much better.
These are also available at The Bicycle Business a friendly sponsor of this site.
@Bob
“These are also available at The Bicycle Business a friendly sponsor of this site.”
Super! I wish I would’ve known – I’ve been looking for one for months. Can you post a link? I couldn’t find one on your site…
Regards,
Alan
I have a Wald Woody front rack on my bike. I love the rack, but when parked, the front end wants to swing  even when the rack is unloaded. A stabilizer like this is a must have for fork mounted front racks.
@ Alan
They are not yet up on thebikebiz.com So far they are available in the store or over the phone. We’re trying to get them up on the site, but we’ve been too busy through the door.
Mrs Dibbly ordered one of these the same day the announcement hit the VO blog. Hopefully this stabilizer will help her “wheel flop” problem.
I’ve been using a hose clamp and spring. It works great but looks awful. This VO stabilizer is much cheaper than the one I saw from Hebie ($10 versus $30) and it looks better. Mine is already on order.
I had seen a similar device on a lot of the bikes Mike at ANT was building. I was going to rig one up for my utility bike, but became pretty lazy (not unusual). Now I’ll probably just buy one, as it is assured to work a lot better than my “fabricated” model ever would have.
I ordered mine last night. :-)
could be useful. i have a klickfix riser mounted backpack, which makes the wheel swing really severely.
note that on the brompton and new dahons, the headtube mount backets avoid this problem altogether. design instead of bandaid. thats what i miss a lot about my brompton, now that i’m on a xootr swift
i might order this for the xootr swift, but not sure if it is compatible with oblong, thick tube
@kanishka
“Note that on the brompton and new dahons, the headtube mount backets avoid this problem altogether. “
Yup. For all the talk of low trail and centering springs, etc., the real solution is a frame design that carries the weight on the headtube, not the fork. I would *love* to have a relatively high performance bike with a headtube mounted porteur rack integrated into the frame. The ANT Basket Bike comes to mind:
http://antbikemike.wordpress.com/basket-bike/
Regards,
Alan
This is one area where the Dutch bikes really have it right. These frame mounted front racks are great. http://bit.ly/9iS1Gr
A seriously good kickstand should also be part of a well designed cargo bike.
Hmmm. In less than 24 hours after this blog post, V.O. sold their entire stock of wheel stabilizers. Website says “The VO Wheel Stabilizer is not currently available. Please contact us for availability of this item.” Coincidence? :-)
@bob b
i’ve been a little curious about these front grill setups. i wonder if anybody has tried a bike with this fitted on a city bus bike rack? i think the wheel hook could still get around top of wheel, but not sure
Chris did not want to sell this at all. I snuck it in with a larger order of stuff. Now I’m asked to order more. lots more….
Coincidence? I think not.
Thanks peeps.
Will,
They were selling well from the very beginning, as the V.O. blog stated well before ecovelo’s post came out. But I’m sure Alan helped it along. I’m glad I ordered mine last night!!
I am very heartened by a world in which front rack stabilizers sell out in 24 hours.
(good thing, too, since I already got my VO order for this week, and 2-a-week is an addiction, not a hobby!)
@Pete
“I am very heartened by a world in which front rack stabilizers sell out in 24 hours.”
Me too!
BTW – if you still need one, call Bob at the Bike Biz in Sac – he has ‘em. 866.920.2453 (toll free)
Alan
I have a RANS Stratus XL ( 2 X 26″ wheels) recumbent. The wheel flop on this bike can be unpleasant. I also have a Cycle Genius Sparrow which is a low end medium wheel base recumbent similar in appearance to the RANS but 2 X 20″ wheels. It has a wheel centering spring that looks just like the VO Stabilizer. it seems to help with the wheel flop.
Would one of these VO stabilizers reduce the flop on my RANS?
@John
It looks as if it would fit on your Stratus, but there’s probably no way to know for sure until you try. If it fits, it most certainly would reduce the fork’s tendency to flop.
Alan