Tandem Cycling - Rear Rack for Storage

Did a few searches and didn't find as much information as I'd hoped. We have the 2005 Cannondale Road Tandem and interested in obtaining a rear rack that will work with our disc brakes. However, at this time, I'm not privy to spending the ~$125 for a high-end rack from tubus and similar. I noticed there are a few that are more reasonable that 'say' they work with disc brakes such as Topeak.

Any hints, suggestions, or recommendations are greatly appreciated. :thumb:

Topeak Disc Rear Rack around $30-40 dollars. I have two of them one on a 08 Cannondale Tandem 2 and a Gaint Yukon

Topeak Disc Rear Rack around $30-40 dollars. I have two of them one on a 08 Cannondale Tandem 2 and a Gaint Yukon

Thanks deanack ... I'll look into the Topeak a bit more. It's nice to hear from an actual user of the product that it works ahead of time.

Here's another option. The Axiom Journey for disk brakes. We use it on our Burley with rear disk brake and it's been just fine. Like the Topeak, it's priced right.

http://bicyclewarehouse.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=9720

I put a cheapo rack on a touring bike with discs, simply by splaying the rack wider and using longer nuts and nylon spacers. The Topeak Disc looks like a better solution. There is a also a disc version of the Topeak Babysitter rack - a good choice if you want to bring a tot along.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I placed an order for one today. :)

Can anyone tell if these "disc" racks need to be "expanded" like a regular rack to fit a tandem? We don't have a disc, but if a disc rack is a simple fit then it makes sense to me.

At the recent bike shop sale they had a fairly stout, slightly heavy Blackburn rack that had extenders on the bottom mounts that were cylinders about an inch long with a 1.5" long socket head screw. Cylinders would put the side bars way out compared with standard racks. We had to use home brew extenders on our bike to mount a rack and clear the disk body. Took 3/8" aluminum rod, cut to length, drilled each end and tapped for 5x0.8M thread. (5/32 or 11/64 for hole before tap). Racks are easily expanded the
10-20mm needed for tandem rears, real problem is clearing the disk brake and odd shapes some makers use for the rear dropouts.

Thanks deanack ... I'll look into the Topeak a bit more. It's nice to hear from an actual user of the product that it works ahead of time.

I have the Topeak rack and it works great. I can even fit a smaller Topeak bag on it for those 30 milers where we only need to carry a limited amount of equip and food. Works great on our '07 Cnndl

Can anyone tell if these "disc" racks need to be "expanded" like a regular rack to fit a tandem? We don't have a disc, but if a disc rack is a simple fit then it makes sense to me.

The Topeak rack comes for disk and not for disk set ups. The disk set up has the extender built in

I recently installed the Topeak Exploer Disc Rack on our Co-Motion. Did not need to expand the rack to make it fit. The only modification I had to make was for the support brackets that attached to the frame. The factory brackets were to short. I purchased a 1/8"x3/4"x3' metal stock from the local hardware store and bent to fit. Pictures attached.

If you had not seen this recent topic, there is some rack info there also.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=523492

PK

We live in Central Florida & put one of these on this past fall to stow clothes that we need at the start of rides & want to shed later during the cooler months; http://www.deltacycle.com/product.php?g=29

It's turned out to be pretty convenient, so we're still undecided on if it's going to come off for the warmer months or not.

It surely would have no disc interference issues.

We had to have ours modified slightly to fit between the top of the seat tube & bottom of the suspension part of the seatpost. Fortunately, we know folks that enjoy little projects like this, so modifications were completed to look like it was made that way for cost of $0.00.

I recently installed the Topeak Exploer Disc Rack on our Co-Motion. Did not need to expand the rack to make it fit. The only modification I had to make was for the support brackets that attached to the frame. The factory brackets were to short. I purchased a 1/8"x3/4"x3' metal stock from the local hardware store and bent to fit. Pictures attached.

Similar set up on the '07 Cannondale, though the from connector was two separate bars that you twist slightly to fit to the bike. It was simple and quick. Holds very secure. Here is the Topeak site of the rack. works great.

http://www.topeak.com/mediafiles/products/638/