Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - seatpost rack questions

I'd posted a query on the touring forum, but no one has seen fit to respond. Perhaps since I'm not really a 'tourer' I wasn't taken seriously. Anyway, I'm planning on a credit card tour of sorts, really more of a series of long, point to point, fixed gear base mile rides in December.

I'm curious if I can get away with a seatpost mounted rack if I'm only carrying about 15 - 20 lbs? I'm concerned that it may not be stable enough to suit me when I'm trying to handle 18-20 mph for 6 or 7 hrs a day. I'm particularly interested in hearing from folks who've actually used them and to hear which racks they recommend or warn against.

thanks for any input!

Scott

This was discussed very recently in this forum (the thread is midway down the 1st page): http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=220635 You can search here and in the touring and commuting forums whenever bikeforums re-enables search. Or search the site using google. Good luck!

What types of bags will you be using? Rack top, or panniers?
I bought a generic version from my LBS in hopes of using it on Brevets - it was too short once mounted to make things work comfortably. I also found the with the load hanging out there it made the bike odd for climbing. Felt different than with a regular rack that mounts down to the drop outs.

I switched out to a Tubus Fly (http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tubus_racks.asp#Fly) and used a touring pannier on one side, loaded lightly. Worked well, but I didn't like the unbalalnced load for brevets.

Plans for this fall are to do some light touring / long brevet style rides - staying with friends or credit carding it - I'll use the Fly with 2 panniers and a light load. Should work great.


If you are choosing the seatpost rack due to mounting issues, Tubus makes some great QR adapters for their racks. You can probably use them with most other racks as well.

What types of bags will you be using? Rack top, or panniers?
I bought a generic version from my LBS in hopes of using it on Brevets - it was too short once mounted to make things work comfortably. I also found the with the load hanging out there it made the bike odd for climbing. Felt different than with a regular rack that mounts down to the drop outs.

I switched out to a Tubus Fly (http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/tubus_racks.asp#Fly) and used a touring pannier on one side, loaded lightly. Worked well, but I didn't like the unbalalnced load for brevets.

Plans for this fall are to do some light touring / long brevet style rides - staying with friends or credit carding it - I'll use the Fly with 2 panniers and a light load. Should work great.


If you are choosing the seatpost rack due to mounting issues, Tubus makes some great QR adapters for their racks. You can probably use them with most other racks as well.

Thanks for the feedback. This is just the sort of info I was looking for. The reason I was asking is that I'm not sure what frameset I'm going to use and I needed to know in advance if eyelets would be that big a deal.

From everything I've seen, I'm guessing I'm going to go with something with eyelets. Seems to make the most sense.

Thanks for the feedback. This is just the sort of info I was looking for. The reason I was asking is that I'm not sure what frameset I'm going to use and I needed to know in advance if eyelets would be that big a deal.

From everything I've seen, I'm guessing I'm going to go with something with eyelets. Seems to make the most sense.

Get a frame with eyelets. You may want to install fenders and/or regular racks later on. It hurts nothing for the eylets to be unused.

You could certainly use a seatpost rack for loads less than 20 lbs. Assuming you don't have a carbon seatpost. But 20 lbs is the limit for many seatpost racks.