Hi,
I recently bought a pretty nice (I think) cyclocross bike off my mate. It's a Dolan Multi-X something or other (105 groupset). Anyway, I'm keen to use for commuting to work and maybe do some light touring on. I'd like to get a rear pannier and also front/rear mudguards for starters. However, I literally have not got a clue what I'm looking for..
The bike seems to have eyelets at the back near the QR and at the top of the rear triangle - these are the 4 mounting points at the back for a pannier right? However, at the front there is just a single pair of eyelets at the bottom of the fork and nothing anywhere else up the fork.. Is this adequate for mudguards? What about in the future if I want a front rack?
Once I suss that ^^^ out I need to buy the rack, guards and a bag to sling across the back. Can anyone recommend some entry-mid level gear that won't break the bank but also won't end up in a buy cheap buy twice scenario please? There's so many different products out there I don't even know where to begin.. never mind try and understand which of them will even fit my bike in the first place..
Any help and advice would be much appreciated.
Cheers
Nick
Mrs kilo has this rack https://www.evanscycles.com/topeak-super-tourist-dx-bike-rack-EV162284 on her cross commuter these panniers https://www.evanscycles.com/topeak-mtx-trunk-bag-exp-EV274392 seems to work ok for her. I just use a large carradice saddle bag and the sqr fitting for my commuting
Thank you kilo, that looks just the ticket! I'm off to google "carradice saddle bag and sqr fitting" just now.. to see what that all means!
You're right in thinking that you have all the mounting points required for a rear rack.
A rear mudguard will attach at the dropouts (if you only have one attachment point then you can mount the stays on the same bolt as the rack, but note that you may need a longer bolt and it's probably wise to mount the rack closest to the frame with the guard stays outboard). It will also attach to the chainstay bridge and the seatstay bridge. Hopefully your frame has both of those, each of which should have a threaded boss, but if not don't panic. If you lack a boss on either then you can use a P-clip, and if you lack a bridge altogether you can normally use a reflector bracket mounted on the seat tube.
The front guard will need the two eyelets at the dropouts (or if you have bosses halfway up the leg you can use those) and a hole at the fork crown. If you have disc brakes or cantilevers then this will be a threaded hole; if you have caliper brakes (I assume not in this case) you will be mounting to the brake's main bolt.
If you have disc brakes or some odd shaping going on then be prepared to do some neat bending of the mudguard stays to get a good fit without fouling calipers etc. You'll also need to cut the stays when fitting: I find a 6" bolt cutter works best. (Though be warned that the offcut is jettisoned at quite some speed: do not get your eyes in the way when it happens. Refer to the episode of Father Ted where they cut Jack's nails.)
If you have an especially large or small frame then you may want to pay attention to the type of stays that your rack uses: some are better than others for adjusting width, height, and rotational angle. Occasionally a rack can be a proper dog to fit, and/or need some modification (eg drilling to allow the stays to be mounted further back) but generally you should be fine.
You have the correct mounts.
Rack http://www.wiggle.co.uk/tortec-ultralite-rear-rack/
Mudguards.. http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sks-chromoplastic-road-mudguard-set/ probably 45mm wide.
This is my set up on my London Road
I use the topeak super tourist DX mentioned abive, that allows plenty of room to fit around the disc calipers on both this and my rockhopper (even with discs you may not need it though).
The bag is from Evans and it good for short weekend trips if staying in hotels but kind of wish I had got a topeak specific one which slots ontot he rack for easy mount and dismount.
For commuting I use a ortlieb city bag, cheapest they do and I added my own shoulder strap. It's basically just one big bag and I use a laptop bag inside to keep it all protected, a laptop wouldn't fit in the rack top bag.
Guards are sks chromoplastics, size to fit the frame a much as well as possible. Think I have the 40s or 45s as can just about get 38 gravel kings in there with them on.
As you can see from the above, the rear guard and rack share a mounting point but there is another one down there I might be able to use of of needed. Rear guard also fits under the seat stay bridge. Front needed some zip ties as the supplied bolt didn't fit through the car on fork. Was like that for over a year but managed to bodge some bolts together yesterday in fact to get it to work.
SKS guards are good, but you will probably need to do a fair bit of bodging/faffing to get them to fit properly.
Thank you very much indeed for the comprehensive responses everyone - they're extremely useful! Although a bit more pricey think I'll go for the matching rack/bag for ease as noted above. I'm almost going to spend as much on the rack/guards/bag as I did on the bike.. (but the bike was an absolute steal)
Bez - I remember the episode of Father Ted well! I don't own any bolt cutters so I should be safe with my wee junior hacksaw.. maybe.
Thanks again all
Nick
I don’t own any bolt cutters
They're about five quid on eBay 🙂 Well worth it for the time saving IMO. Plus it's MOAR OF TOOLS, obvs.
Ha! n+1 applies.. off to ebay it is!
yeah, started doing mine with a hacksaw and it was a massive pain. It worked but was so much easier with bolt cutters.
As I said, wish I had the matching bag, would just clip on and off. If you want it for commuting though beware a laptop probably won't fit if you need to carry one (I wish I didn't have to, a single pannier bag is a pain!)
a single pannier bag is a pain
In what way? Works for me…
As in it just affects the bikes handling, you get used to it bit iuch prefer riding with the weight more centralised. However other than a bag pack it's the only thing that will fit all my stuff in so it serves a purpose
I must be either woefully insensitive or splendidly adaptable: I only find the imbalance an issue when I stop and try to lean the bike against something 🙂
I regularly fill an unrolled single Ortlieb pannier to the top with shopping, and have never had a balance problem when riding. The amount of lean required to balance even a heavy weight on one side is tiny.
The standard pannier choice is the Ortlieb roll top. Tough, simple, waterproof, and it will fit any rack.
Ortlieb are miles better than every other luggage brand I've looked at, and I don't use hyberbole lightly!
As for cutting the ends off mudguard stays, I used a Dremel.
Yeah don't get me wrong, Ortlieb are great. I just find a single pannier a bit of a pain but then my commute is mixed cycling/train part way so having a single bag is bit unweildy and not great whenwheelng my bike through the station one handed trying to get my ticket out. Still that my be very specific to my commute!