What rear pannier rack for a frame with no eyelets, discs and cowled dropouts?

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What rear pannier rack for a frame with no eyelets, discs and cowled dropouts?

39 posts & 18 voices | Started 6 months ago by GrahamS | Latest reply from jp-t853

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GrahamS - Member

I've decided to fit a pannier rack to my Rock Lobster 853 (26er steel hardtail) so I can commute with my laptop.

(currently I don't have any way to carry it so I only bike commute when I have two days that I don't have any after-hours work to do at home. Which is usually once a fortnight).

I've had a bit of a browse, but to be honest I know chuff all about panniers and racks.

What I do know is my frame doesn't seem to have any eyelets to mount them. Plus it has discs and pretty cowled dropouts, so a QR mount won't work either.

Any suggestions?

I do have unused canti-bosses on the frame if that helps.

Posted 6 months ago #
nbt - Member

Topeak QR quickrack?

Posted 6 months ago #
still s8tannorm - Member

A front rack might be easier ... something like an Old Man Mountain rack will fit something with suspension forks and no mounts.

http://www.carradice.co.uk

Posted 6 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

tubus have all sorts of fitting kits. You can get seat clamps with mounting points and a variety of clamp on fixings.

Old man mountain do some interesting ones as well that use canti bosses IIRC

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Topeak QR quickrack?

This thing?

Would work, but doesn't look too stable. What stops the pannier bags from banging about and catching the wheels?

Posted 6 months ago #
djaustin - Member

You won't get a laptop on a beamrack - I resorted to rucksack. Now have a full rack and ortlieb downtown, which is fantastic. For a more permanent fix look to Tubus fittings for QR and M-Part for the seat clamp

I use the seat clamp on my Kona, and it works flawlessly with a compact frame. Comes in two sizes, but I think you need the small for steel tubes.

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

A front rack might be easier

Mmmm.. not keen on a front mount.

Old man mountain do some interesting ones as well that use canti bosses IIRC

Ooooh.. the OMM Cold Springs and Sherpa disc-options have nice deep QR mounts that look like they'd clear my cowled dropouts:

And it can attach to the canti-bosses at the top:

But the price! My God, the price!

Posted 6 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Cheap rack and p clips?

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_783209_langId_-1_categoryId_165643

You can get a seatpost rack from halfords which has sides for paniers

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_729241_langId_-1_categoryId_236256

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Pardon my complete ignorance: can you use those P-clip things on the lower fixings (i.e. instead of a QR axle mount)? Or are they just for the upper bits?

Posted 6 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

graham - yes - both fixings but its a bodge - tubus have a similar but stronger setup at a price

Posted 6 months ago #
thisisnotaspoon - Member

I was wondering that as I'd like to ditch a few bikes (the tourer first) and already have a Topeak DX rack and quite fancied attaching it to the raceing bike.

Posted 6 months ago #
nbt - Member

GrahamS - Member
Topeak QR quickrack?
This thing?

That's the one. You can get side frames for "proper" panniers

http://www.topeak.com/products/Racks/MTXDualSideFrame

Posted 6 months ago #
disco_stu - Member

Have you thought of using a Carradice SQR Seatpost rack and a saddlebag?

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Hmmm.. the Topeak BeamRack things have a certain appeal as it makes it easy to take it off when/if I ever want to use my bike for, y'know, mountain biking (never these days )

Combined with the MTX Office Bag looks like a reasonable call:

Posted 6 months ago #
nbt - Member

Actually it occurs to me to mention that the clamp is pretty hefty. I've used it today on the SS and it's been ok, but when I was using it on the CX bike I noticed my thighs rubbing against it with every pedal stroke. Of course if you don't have Mighty Powerful Mansized thighs you might be ok, and if you have a long seatpost you can run it lower - that's why it works better on the SS for me

Posted 6 months ago #
boxfish - Member

Halfords do a pannier rack with side frames that bolts on to the seatpost. Bargain at £25 too.

Posted 6 months ago #
djaustin - Member

You can get side frames for "proper" panniers

Yes, but you can't get the weight bearing abilities. Knowing how much my laptop pannier weighs, there is no way I'd be trusting it to my beamrack. None of the other (very nice) MTX bags can take a laptop - in fact the fold out side pockets didn't look big enough for much. I have the hard sided version, and it is JUST enough to take a clean shirt and underwear and some papers (folded) - I keep my clothes at work.

Personally, I'd go with the Tubus disk fittings for top performance, or a set of P-clips and the M-part seat post for less performance and savings for a pannier.

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

if you don't have Mighty Powerful Mansized thighs you might be ok

I have Fat Boy Flabby Thighs.

Worringly the (old) reviews at mtbr complain that the BeamRack tends to swing around a bit regardless of how hard you tighten it. Any experience of that?

Yes, but you can't get the weight bearing abilities. Knowing how much my laptop pannier weighs, there is no way I'd be trusting it to my beamrack.

The BeamRack is rated to 9kgs. That should be enough for any laptop plus change of clothes. (Google suggests a hefty "desktop replacement" laptop is around 3kgs).

Posted 6 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

graham - I have the halfords beamrack - it works just fine - its a bolt up rather than a qr design tho

Posted 6 months ago #
fourbanger - Member

I have a topeak seatpost mounted rack and it uses rubber shims to account for different seat post diameters, so despite being bolt up, it does tend to swing a bit.
How big is your laptop? I've done many miles with panniers and I'm totally converted to the caradice saddle bags. SJS even had them in stock the other day!

Posted 6 months ago #
mattsccm - Member

Get a beam type rack. Ditch the QR for bolts. That will hold tons. Then bodge bars from the canti bosses to the rear of the rack. That will add a lot , especially stability. Maybe not ideal for a world tour but other wise fine.

Posted 6 months ago #
rootes1 - Member

Carradice SQR slim.

simple, water proof, stable and fits an A4 file laptop... stock can be a bit up and down as they make them in batches (in england!) - also people with beards will talking to you..

apart from that they are ace

Spa might have stock
http://www.spacycles.co.uk/products.php?plid=m2b5s73p63

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Current laptop is a Dell E6400.

Don't have a tape measure handy but it's about two inches or so bigger than A4 paper. (Wiki says 31x335x238.3mm)

Posted 6 months ago #
djaustin - Member

My beamrack is bolted on and doesn't rotate in normal use, but I still wouldn't put my pannier on it. The weight limit assumes it's evenly balanced not pulling on one side. Bars from the brake bosses would do the trick. For elegance, I like the SQR system.

The normal cycling solution is of course n+1.

Posted 6 months ago #
STATO - Member

Blackburn do a axle mounted rack. fitted one to my mates road bike the other day, seemed pretty good for the price.

Posted 6 months ago #
STATO - Member

This is it...

and only £35 here... Fatbirds

My only negatives would be...

- P-clips required for top struts, or longer struts and the seat-clamp type bracket (note, most rack struts are not long enough to fit a seat-clamp bracket mentioned above, so your almost certainly going to need to buy longer ones if you go that route)

- QR is not the nicest, and its extra long so not easily replaced with a more secure version (ie. allen key type) for a commuter bike.

- Rear light/reflector bracket is rubbish.

Posted 6 months ago #
nbt - Member

yes, my beamrack's been known to wander from side to side - You do have to be quite vicious with the QR to stop it happening

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Those Carradice bags do look interesting but I'm not sure they are quite wide enough for a laptop or have anything in them to stop it getting bumped around or scratched.

The normal cycling solution is of course n+1.

Yep that would be the ideal solution. A nice relaxed tourer, rather than commuting on a 26" mountain bike sullied with silly looking skinny tyres and mudguards. But sadly lack of storage and funds means n is 1 and will remain so for a while

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Hmm.. the Arkel approach to a beam rack seems cunningly sensible:

http://www.arkelpanniers.co.uk/uk/all-categories/bicycle-bike-pannier-rack/arkel-randonneur-rack.html

Extra articulated bars up to the saddle to stop it rotating. Clever!

But £86! Blimey!

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

So I went for the SQR Slim in the end. £56 at wiggle.

Not in stock obviously, but they say they are getting some in the next few days.

I'll report back once I've used it for a bit.

Posted 6 months ago #
supersessions9-2 - Member

That MTX office bag up there ^. Do you need a Topeak rack to fix it to?

Posted 6 months ago #
Clobber - Member

topeak beamrack is shit and will let you down, slowly and irritatingly at first followed by complete failure when you are miles from anywhere

IME anyway....

Posted 6 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

That MTX office bag up there ^. Do you need a Topeak rack to fix it to?

Yeah I think so. It uses the Topeak™ QuickTrack™ system to slide onto the Topeak™ pannier or QuickBeam™:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkqwnpOVQh8

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut8uvElicZA

topeak beamrack is shit and will let you down, slowly and irritatingly at first followed by complete failure when you are miles from anywhere

Yeah I decided I didn't like reports of it swinging around (especially as go over some rough ground on the commute). Sadly none of the Topeak racks seem to be compatible with my bike.

Hey Topeak: why not do some axle mounted pannier racks?
OR even better, why not just offer QuickTrack on a metal plate that can bolted on to convert any pannier rack into a QuickTrack compatible one.

Posted 6 months ago #
7hz - Member

GrahamS -

Old man mountain do some interesting ones as well that use canti bosses IIRC

Ooooh.. the OMM Cold Springs and Sherpa disc-options have nice deep QR mounts that look like they'd clear my cowled dropouts:

And it can attach to the canti-bosses at the top:

But the price! My God, the price!

Worth it IMHO

Solidly built, but reasonably light.

Rigid, no swaying.

Will fit onto any bike. Eyelets or no eyelets. Full sus, hardtail, recumbent!

Should last a lifetime. How many racks at half the price are you going to buy?

Posted 6 months ago #
longbiker - Member

You need one of there:
http://www.freeload.co.nz

They fit anything and are as secure as a 'normal'.

Posted 6 months ago #

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