Touring - Stupid question about braze-ons

Hey I have a dumb question... I thought braze-ons were threaded holes or something...

Well I have this old touring bike, and I am wondering if I can put some good rear racks on this thing, and I am thinking that I have to be able to, I mean its an old Schwinn Traveller. But I don't see these holes!

The closest thing that I see is on part of the frame that is where the rear wheel bolts are, right above there, there is a little circular thing sticking up... is that what I am looking for?

Thanks!

Yes you should be able to attach a rear rack.What you noticed sounds like where the bottom of the rack would bolt to and as you don't have braze-ons you can get two plastic enclosed(to protect the paint)attachments from a bike shop that clamp the top of the rack to the frame where the braze-ons would ordinarily be.I have the same setup on a early 80's Fuji sport tourer and the shop where I bought a blackburn expedition rack installed it by this method at no extra charge.

The great thing about steel is that you can add or move braze-ons at any time, not just when you are buying new. They are pretty easy for a shop to attatch.

I had a bike with threaded eyelets by the rear axle slots, but not on the top of the seat-stays.For a while I used a 3-point rack attatched to the brake bolt. I had some eyelets brazed onto the seat-stays at my LBS. It cost about £13, and I had to repaint the area myself. The 4 point rack is now rock solid.

Michael's right about steel frames- but I would be wary of putting too much weight on a dropout braze-on. Better use a frame with the eyelets as part of the casting of the fork end.

eric