Long Term Test: Basil Boston XL front basket

Anna has been using one of these for more than four years.

We feel it is the best combination of size and practicality, with the metal mesh being more durable than a wicker basket.

It can be fitted to either a 26" (559 wheels) bike or a 700c (622 wheels) bike, and, indeed, we have fitted it to both - first to Mermaid when that was Anna's regular bike, then to her current bike (26" wheels).
The support that goes under the basket has a pair of adjustment screws so that the two struts can be varied in length.

We looked at some of the larger American "Wald" baskets, but they seemed just too big.

The Basil Boston XL basket in use

I screwed a reflector to the front of the Basil Boston XL basket,
and Anna uses it to hook the handles of her bag to.

Of course, baskets like this mean that a light mounted on the handlebars is not very good, as the basket gets in the way. You could either buy a specific light mount for a basket, mount the light on the struts or the forks of the bike, or make/adapt a bracket to fit - the last is the course we followed, and the mesh structure of the basket lends itself to small screws being bolted through it.

On the downside, putting a lot of weight in a front basket makes the bike feel top-heavy, and makes the steering feel a bit strange, but you get used to it :-)

The Basil basket is rated for a 10kg load -although it survived the 16+kg load I put in it (eight 1.5-litre juice cartons and 4 pints of milk)

pics and more to follow