Finally got around to building up my Road Rat frame… 🙂

Mainly for short journeys to nursery, work and town with a bit of Croozer towing adventuring thrown in too. Been riding it for a week and really pleased with it so far. Got fat road rubber (38) on there for a bit of comfort, proper guards and a compact chainset (which is about right for trailer towing). BB5’s seem to do a pretty decent job of stopping too. The Basil rack extender work a treat to get the bags on behind the legs on the child seat (just a shame it’s not black)…

I’m still tempted by an Xtracycle extension for it, maybe when the kids are a bit older. I’ll also eventually probably get drop bars in years to come when I’m not hauling kids, but for now flats are great.

Oh and anyone got any recommendations for a decent office bag style pannier?

So let’s see some more Dad bikes then… 🙂

Edit… hmm I really need to de-badge those wheels!

(just a shame it’s not black)

Nothing a bit of spray paint and a spray-on clear coat couldn’t solve…

I need one of these, can you tell my wife.

May be tempted to get out a spray can.

I need one of these, can you tell my wife.

Surely an easy sell on the grounds of practicality 🙂 A fairly cheap build too!

From experience i’d say try and drop the hamax bracket as much as you can.

a bit of Sugru for shock absorption on the top of the rack in case you forget the nipper is on the back and pop off a kerb or something 😉

Oh and dont worry about gloves for the little un on short trips, just get em to shove their hands up the back of your top!

Thanks scaled. That’s part of the plan as the weight is a bit high up. Shall check out the Sugru as it does knock on the rack if it’s much lower.

i reckon that looks very nice mate…..enjoy.

Looks good, once my ‘Proper bike’ is build going for something similar based on my current xc bike as it has rack mounts.

Thanks guys. Now that I’ve ridden it a bit I’ve a slightly shorter stem on order to replace the adjustable one from the parts box. Also getting a set of the pop out mounts for the rear guard so I can position it properly and still be able to get the back wheel out of the horizontal drop outs. Then that should be it finished 🙂

Lovely bike. I have an X at the moment and I’m seriously tempted to revert back to a flar bar bike – mainly so that I can interchange parts with my MTB.

What levers do you use with the BB5s? I have some at the moment, run with STI levers.

Thanks. I went for these Origin 8 levers from SJS cycles. They’ve got a converter thing that allows them to run both V brake and canti pull, so will work with both the Road and MTB versions of the BB5, which is nice as I wanted the Road ones so I had the option of running STI levers at some point.

I just saw this posted in the other thread, gorgeous bike matey.

Thanks. Considering it’s nothing fancy really, I do really like it. Rear mudguard and stem are now sorted 🙂 I really must debadge those wheels though.

Is that a rear rack extender? If so, what is it and from where? Currently when youngster’s child seat is on the back of my Pompetamine I’m not able to use the Ortliebs. Very annoying!

Yes it is. It’s a Basil rack extender. Just clamps on to the top of your existing rack. Working well so far with no bother fitting the seat and a pair of panniers.

Excellent, definitely going to be getting one of those I think – I love this place, I had no idea those even existed!

Quick question, mr b – how easy is the extender to fit / remove? Is it a tools job, or can you leave it detached unless you need it and then pop it on last minute?

It is quick tools job (4 hex bolts). There is a bar that fits below the rack which you screw into to clamp it on to the existing rack. It’s actually quite handy having it on all the time as it gives you an nice long rack to bungee things too if you need to carry bigger items.

mine, a Kona Ute. The many variants of the same bike:

Excellent. £13.59 from Winstanley Bikes = ordered!

theflatboy, there are two versions, one is a width extender and the other a length. Make sure you get the right one (length!)

Edit: The Winstanleys looks like a width, it flares out at the back. Mine is like this one.

Double edit: robgclarkson, I have admired your Ute in past threads 🙂

Good spot – cheers!

mrb – just out of interest, do you think that extender would work on a rack like this:

If not, it’s not going to do the trick and I may have to get a different rack. In which case I’m considering sticking one on the front, though that might be slightly excessive as it will only get used when the bike seat’s on…

bump of hope

Hmm probably not if that is a little lip sticking up at the back of the rack.

Cheers, I actually bought one anyway and it worked fine for a few weeks – no conflict with any of the shape of the existing rack. Two of the three cross braces then detached themselves from the main rack frame so it’s out of action already!

Annoying, thinking I might go front rack as the option for pannier carrying when the childseat’s on the back.

Shame. Mine’s been fine. It’s bolted on to a Tortec Ultralite.

I’m not sure if it was the way it was attached or slightly overtightened. Could have been either – it fitted on ok, but didn’t seem ideal. Good recommendation, though – it was ideal while it lasted!