Tandem Cycling - fitting a bike rack

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are going to Europe this summer and we are currently outfitting our bike for the trip. My wife is quite small so consequently so is the back of our bike and I was wondering if I might have problems fitting a standard rack to it. Where we live there are no large bike shops so we have to order everything and hope that it fits. My main worry is that my wife's seat is so low that it might be difficult to fit a rack. Any advice would be welcome. I tried to attach a picture but the file was too large so I published it on the web at http://uk.msnusers.com/cyclingpictures if anyone is interested in taking a look. It's the only picture on the site.

Cheers,

Chris

Hello-

I just put a rack on our Cannondale tandem. My wife is a bit "stumpy" and the stoker position is a "S", which has a 16" set tube length. I used a JandD standard rack which I modified to fit the disc brake. Because we wanted to use a rack trunk instead of panniers, I angled the rack backward a little so the rack trunk wasn't hitting my wife's fine derriere. There are some pictures of it here:

http://quadesl.com/photoalbums/Misc/CannondaleTandem/albumIndex.html

Sheldon

You may have some fit problems with a rack due to using a rear disc.
Do you have braze-ons for a rear rack? Do you have the braze-ons for a V- or canti brake? If so, a standard rack will fit but the racklegs will have to be 'spread/adapted' to compensate for the disc as revious poster indicated..
A seatpost mounted rack could fit, but weight capacity is usually limited to 25 lbs.
Another option, if you wish to haul heavy load, would be a one- or two-wheeled trailer . . . but that could be a hassle draggin all that through airports.
My wife/stoker is 4'10 3/4" and we had a custom rear rack built.

Thanks for the info. We have one set of braze-ons for either a rack or fenders so I suppose it will be a rack and also v-brake braze-ons. I was thinking of getting a rack that attached at three points as we will be carrying all of our camping equipment and I was worried that perhaps because I am also using a disk brake it would put undue strain on the back end. Though I have no idea if that has any relation or not.

....I angled the rack backward a little so the rack trunk wasn't hitting my wife's fine derriere. There are some pictures of it here:

http://quadesl.com/photoalbums/Misc/CannondaleTandem/albumIndex.html

Sheldon

I'm glad you posted pics of the former and not the latter :eek: . Your wife might have been mortified.

A seatpost mounted rack could fit, but weight capacity is usually limited to 25 lbs.
With our tandem, the problem with seatpost racks wasn't the weight issue, but that my wife's seat was so low, that the seatpost racks would hit the wheel. We are still using the shock absorbing stoker seatpost, so the rack would have to mount quite low on the seatpost, and the wheel was actually higher than the mounting point. I had considered buying a seatpost rack and cutting/welding a new section into it, but the method of finding a usable rack at the LBS and modifying the ends for the disc brake seems easier and better.


I'm glad you posted pics of the former and not the latter :eek: . Your wife might have been mortified.

That's true, she's not much of an exibitionist...




Sheldon