I'm almost loath to pass this along and in no way endorse it, but...

An increasingly popular method for attaching cargo cages to fork blades in the bikepacking world involves placing some light padding on the fork (i.e. a strip of old innertube) and then wrapping the cage, padding, and fork in a really thick layer of adhesive-backed tape(!).

I can imagine firsthand the carnage if a cage got loose and twisted between fork blade and spokes after once seeing a female uni student's shoulder bag wedge between fork and wheel.....

Quote from: KvBCycles on September 21, 2026, 01:42:42 PM

I am trying to lighten up my touring setup and my Nomad MK2, and I recently removed the heavy Surley front rack (almost 2kg!)

Not quite what you are looking for, but the Thorn Low Loader front rack is quoted at 560g. This setup is rated at 12 Kg per side, which is twice the maximum recommended load for my Raven Tour forks. The way this rack is mounted makes it very secure on a Thorn fork designed for this type of rack.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carriers-racks/thorn-mkv-cro-mo-steel-loloader-black-powder-coat/?geoc=FR

I use this rack with Ortleib Sport Packer Plus panniers, 30L the set, but it could be used with lighter and smaller bags. And some rear panniers - I sometimes use Ortleib Bike Packer Plus, which are 40L the set.

I do not know how much the Thorn rack weighs, I do not own one.  But that is smaller if you stay with conventional panniers.

With regular panniers, I use a different rack made by Axiom.  The rack is aluminum and does not weigh very much. 

I wanted my panniers mounted up a bit higher so I tried this rack.  And after I installed it, I did not like how it looked like it could be damaged in a crash, so I added an additional aluminum bar bracket to connect to the other side of the fork upper mounting to make sure that the rack could not easily bend if I had a crash.

In the photo I also added some plastic hose to protect the paint from chaffing.  The pannier brackets attach several inches above where the fork mounting is, which is the main reason I picked this rack.  Bottom of front pannier is almost as high as the rear panniers. 

On a different bike with the front panniers hanging down really low, I scrapped a curb with my pannier once.  Fortunately I did not crash, but that made me nervous about panniers being that low.

Top bar is not quite horizontal, but it is close enough that it does not bother me.

The extra aluminum bar brackets that I added are 3/4 X 1/8 inch, and i sprayed them black.

I have Ortlieb Frontrollers and Backrollers in the photos.

I had a Surly rack and after two tours, I donated it to charity and bought different front racks.  (I have three touring bikes, I have three different front racks for them.)

I am looking forward to when Dan has a photo of his mounting system.  I suspect it is something similar to something that I have considered doing with some aluminum bar instead of the stainless bracket that he used.  I was thinking using an aluminum bar (3/4 X 1/8 inch) and drill two holes, one hole for upper fork rack mount and one hole for lower rack or fender mount on the fork.  Then add two or three holes in it for a cargo cage.  Might be able to use the uppermost rack mounting bolt to also hold the cargo cage.  Would likely have to bend it slightly so it does not rub on the fork paint.