My New Bicycle Part 2--With Baskets

These two Wald specials arrived by UPS together on Monday after starting out from wildly disparate places at two very different times; the big back one came from Miami and the front one journeyed from upstate New York. I believe these are the biggest that they make. Did I overdo it? The bike is heavier obviously with the baskets, but you decide.

And because nothing's easy, they remain a work in progress. I installed the rear one first because I thought it would prove the most difficult; of course, Murphy's Law intervened when the front basket's directions clearly state DO NOT mount on a bike with a suspension fork and DO NOT mount with a quick release axle. Naturally, nothing was said about any of this either on Wald's website nor amazon.com where I actually placed the order. I have been trying to track down an axle wide enough with bolts on both ends for almost two days; as of right now, the bike shop up in Juno Beach (J-Town Bikes--a free plug) has graciously loaned me a rear axle quick release and is trying to order what I really need. The rear axle will work for now but it's too long, so it either needs a few washers on both sides or to be replaced; we shall see what the bike shop does or doesn't do. They are supposed to call.
But I did some small shopping and everything fit into the rear baskets; the bike handled well with the additional weight, so all in all a good beginning.