Commuting - Finally got my new bike...question on mounting the rack...

I am excited because I finally got my new Trek Valencia (and it's beautiful if I do say so myself ;) ) but I have a question on the threaded bosses on the seat stay...instead of being on the side, they are on the bottom of the stay. My rack won't fit without some sort of adapter, but I don't know what it would be called if there is such an animal...any suggestions? I can post pics if that would make my problem clearer.

Really? Nothing? Damn...guess I'll ring up the LBS and see what they say. They market this thing as a commuter; shouldn't have non-standard features like this. :(

Well, I gotta see a picture of this. The braze ons face downward? Is that what you meant by being on the bottom?

How about bending the attachment thingies? You know,bolt the silver attachment thingies on the wierdly placed seat stay rack attachment points, then bend them forcefully to reach the rack at the required place to secure the next set of bolts?

When I have problems I find that using loooooooooong bolts with many many washers will do the trick.

Well, I gotta see a picture of this. The braze ons face downward? Is that what you meant by being on the bottom?


Yes...here's a picture:

http://www.rebecca-cody.com/images/braze_on.jpg

I got the Topeak Explorer rack that has arms like this:

http://www.rebecca-cody.com/images/rack.png

If I could bend them that much, I wouldn't know how to do a good job...I guess I should just take it by the LBS....

Go buy a couple of small L brackets from Home Depot. You can find them in the hardware section. Bolt the L bracket to the hole in your frame. Voila! Vertical mounting points.

The Valencia's rack mounts should be located as shown in this picture:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff237/mechBgon/Valencia_rack_mounts.png

In your photo, it appears there are black plastic plugs in the rack mounts. Pry those out, and use 5mm x 0.8mm bolts with plenty of thread engagement, at least 6 threads or more.

I have no idea what you would bolt down there but the one on the Trek page clearly shows braze ons in the traditional location.
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/urban/valencia/valencia/

The Valencia's rack mounts should be located as shown in this picture:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff237/mechBgon/Valencia_rack_mounts.png

In your photo, it appears there are black plastic plugs in the rack mounts. Pry those out, and use 5mm x 0.8mm bolts with plenty of thread engagement, at least 6 threads or more.

Jinx!

:roflmao2:

Hehe :) My guess is that the "mystery mounts" are for a rear-wheel lock, the kind shaped like a horseshoe.

Oh rats, there was a logical answer :D

You've got to love Trek.
My Frankenbike started life as a 2007 Trek520. You know? Their touring bike?
And what do you put on touring bikes? Why racks of course. It actually came with a sort of useful rack but a pannier jumped ship, got jammed between the wheel and the rack and bent the rack. So I tried to fit a new rack.

The mounting bolts for the rack are at exactly the same height as the top of the V-brakes! That's right, in perfect alignment. So to mount a rack, you have to mount it high, then bend the arms down to get to the mounting lugs. This works but is not only a lot of fiddling and bending but makes it darned hard to get at the brakes to release the cable. Simply dropping those holes a half inch would make it easy to mount a rack and easy to get at the brakes.

But this is a Trek - if they find something practical, they fix it.

Richard

I was just lucky enough fitting my rack to a Trek 7.2fx. It fits between the V-brakes although only just and still touches a little when I press the brake down.

I think its a bit of a fiddly process for a company to make its bikes compatible with all the popular rack designs. Thats why sometimes their racks fit perfectly, but don't bet that your new rack will sit so comfortably.

Yikes. It always takes me an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the best way to apply a rack to a bike. I could take it to the bike shop, but then I'd not feel like a real man. So, I suffer. Finally, I find the best way. Usually, after buying stuff I don't need.

I think post #7's got the answer for you. That should make things a lot easier. Sometimes, I've had to buy the longer set of stainless adaptors to fit a rack. Good luck.

Looking at Starla's picture, I didn't see the rack mount like on the trek website, but it is possible they were just out of the field of view. Having plugs obscuring them like stated above would also explain things. If they are absent, that would explain Starla's confusion.

Yes, that was the problem! They were plugged in and kind of obscured by the cables, so I totally missed them...just saw the ones beneath and didn't think to look for other braze ons. Yay! I have a rack now!

Thank you all so much!