- Joined
- Mar 26, 2018
- Messages
- 2,724
Wife and I are leaving in 5 days for a 150 mile ride along the Great Allegany Passage (GAP) Trail from Pittsburg, PA to Cumberland, MD. Never done any overnight cycling so it will be a bit of an experience.
We bought some nice bike bags with fold out panniers to carry whatever we need. They were not cheap but super well built (LINK). They use a dovetail slide on the rack (LINK) to quickly attach and a clip at one end to keep them on. Should make it easy to bring our stuff into the B&Bs that we will be staying at.
Topeak makes some nice stuff and it is well designed to fit most bikes. Install on my wife's hybrid took all of 10 minutes and it is rock solid. However, my bike is weird - really weird.
I bought it at a great price from a family friend who took a bad fall and gave up cycling. It is a '98 triathlon and sprint style bike. Really fun to ride, but not at all designed for touring. I called the company and they basically told me the bike was never designed for a rack. It is missing the threaded eyelets on the rear axle as well as the seatpost. The seat stays (diagonal bars going up from the rear wheel) are extremely low compared to most bikes. Unfortunately these are the common places to mount a rack. Topeak told me their rack would not fit, and a local bike shop laughed me out of the store when I asked for their help in figuring out a rack system.
^Stock internet photo
So out of determination and frustration, I started designing my own system. The rack needs two threaded holes (M5x0.8) at the rear axle and another two somewhere near where the seat stays would meet the seat post on a normal bike. My plan is to create two blocks which clamp to the seat stays right at the rear axle and one which clamps around the carbon fiber seat beam.
Stay tuned for the machining!
-Mike
We bought some nice bike bags with fold out panniers to carry whatever we need. They were not cheap but super well built (LINK). They use a dovetail slide on the rack (LINK) to quickly attach and a clip at one end to keep them on. Should make it easy to bring our stuff into the B&Bs that we will be staying at.
Topeak makes some nice stuff and it is well designed to fit most bikes. Install on my wife's hybrid took all of 10 minutes and it is rock solid. However, my bike is weird - really weird.
I bought it at a great price from a family friend who took a bad fall and gave up cycling. It is a '98 triathlon and sprint style bike. Really fun to ride, but not at all designed for touring. I called the company and they basically told me the bike was never designed for a rack. It is missing the threaded eyelets on the rear axle as well as the seatpost. The seat stays (diagonal bars going up from the rear wheel) are extremely low compared to most bikes. Unfortunately these are the common places to mount a rack. Topeak told me their rack would not fit, and a local bike shop laughed me out of the store when I asked for their help in figuring out a rack system.
^Stock internet photo
So out of determination and frustration, I started designing my own system. The rack needs two threaded holes (M5x0.8) at the rear axle and another two somewhere near where the seat stays would meet the seat post on a normal bike. My plan is to create two blocks which clamp to the seat stays right at the rear axle and one which clamps around the carbon fiber seat beam.
Stay tuned for the machining!
-Mike