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

Topeak QR quickrack?

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

www.carradice.co.uk

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

Topeak QR quickrack?

This thing?

[img] [/img]

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

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

[img] http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/public/G1tRuIKMpSzP5h7jyHi-xFwZJg3bKSNgXOO7wlQByotizDrubzSHw295pF_U1G12IsydWGzfdB6UZJq2-YLnJ_DdK7C2VncG3j4w-2V-0TNrIUV7I29CYTWc4hykY4ea3tyKCAlNgA-s5PSPsrCXlw [/img]

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.

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:

[img] [/img]

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

[img] [/img]

But the price! My God, the price!

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

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?

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

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.

GrahamS - Member
Topeak QR quickrack?
This thing?

That's the one. You can get side frames for "proper" panniers
[img] http://www.topeak.com/mediafiles/products/4037/ [/img]
http://www.topeak.com/products/Racks/MTXDualSideFrame

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

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, [i]mountain biking[/i] (never these days 🙁 )

Combined with the MTX Office Bag looks like a reasonable call:
[img] http://www.topeak.com/mediafiles/products/2355/?show=1 [/img]

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

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

You can get side frames for "proper" panniers

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.

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

I have Fat Boy Flabby Thighs.

Worringly the (old) [url= http://www.mtbr.com/cat/accessories/bike-rack/topeak/qr-beam-rack/prd_350436_98crx.aspx ]reviews at mtbr complain that the BeamRack tends to swing around a bit[/url] 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 [i]should[/i] be enough for any laptop plus change of clothes. (Google suggests a hefty "desktop replacement" laptop is around 3kgs).

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

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!

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.

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

[img] [/img]

[img] [/img]

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

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)

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.

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

This is it...

[img] ?height=200&width=200[/img]

and only £35 here... [url= http://www.fatbirds.co.uk/327/products/Blackburn-EX1-disc-compatible-pannier-rack.aspx?utm_source=Froogle&utm_medium=PriceComp&utm_term=Froogle&utm_content=None&utm_campaign=PriceComp1 ]Fatbirds[/url]

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.

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

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 🙂

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

[img] [/img]
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!

So I went for the SQR Slim in the end. [url= http://www.wiggle.co.uk/carradice-sqr-slim-bag-including-sqr-bracket/ ]£56 at wiggle.[/url]

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.

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

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....

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™:

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.

[b]Hey Topeak[/b]: 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 [u]any[/u] pannier rack into a QuickTrack compatible one.

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?

You need one of there:
[url= http://www.freeload.co.nz ]www.freeload.co.nz[/url]
[img] http://www.freeload.co.nz/pages/6/freeloaders [/img]

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

Worth it IMHO
Solidly built, but reasonably light.

I don't doubt it, looks like a quality product, but this is just for light commuting duties on towpaths. Not crossing the equator. 😀

You need one of there

Likewise. Nice gear but overkill for my needs and doesn't look too laptop-friendly.

-

[u][b]I've gone for the Carradice SQR Slim now anyway[/b][/u]. I figure it has the advantage that it doesn't look like a laptop bag (useful when riding through Gateshead!) and when removed it doesn't leave anything worth nicking behind on the bike. Plus it was cheap and British made.

I see you've made a choice but as I've logged on now...

I toured around Greece a couple of years ago with a Rocklobster and an Old Man Mountain rear rack. I was on a mixture of paved road, forest track and some rougher tracks and single track (lost). The rack was worth every penny, never moved, was reasonably light and still looks like new. I was a little dubious at first about the extended skewer but it never gave any trouble.

Thanks strongbow.

I'll definitely look at the OMM racks if I ever need something a bit more substantial.

I have a 'TorTec Apex Disc Rear Rack' they have some very heavy discounts I paid £13 at 'Bikes you like'. It is quality piece of kit with 10mm alloy tubes and is very rigid when in place. It has an adjustable width so can pull wide of the disc brakes.

It has low rider side rails so you can get the centre of gravity down low which is another issue with beam racks.

I used p-clips at the base and the standard top eyelet rods fitted on the seat post qr bolt. I use Altura Arran 36 bags on a 17.5" Cove handjob and I have no heel clearance issues. I can post a photo at the weekend if you like.

The rack also handily holds the rear mudguard in place keeping it rigid. For a front mudguard I use a Raceblade XL which fits my Pace RC31 forks very well and gives good coverage.