Commuting - Rear rack won't work with mountain bike

I'm a newbie who has a 2004 Fuji Thrill for commuting to work 7.5 miles. I got a rear rack today thinking it would be better to put a little pack on it instead of making my back all sweaty. Only thing is, now that I got it home, I can't find any places on the rear of my bike to screw it in. Am I just out of luck on this, or are there options that I just don't know about?

I'm assuming it's a frame-mounted rack. My guess without looking at it is that there should be some mounts on the frame just a little below your seat-post, and perhaps some more at the bottom of the frame at the rear. Of course, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that your frame may not have these. Perhaps the best course of action is to go to the shop where you bought the rack and see if they can fit it for you. My LBS does that at no extra charge.

There are several racks that mount to the seat post only.
I am looking into one for my road bike because it has no brase ons for panniers.

There are several racks that mount to the seat post only.
I am looking into one for my road bike because it has no brase ons for panniers.

I don't know that I would ever carry more than the 25lb limit on the seat-post racks, but I would prefer the frame-mounted just in case I would carry more.
But, I guess I will have to go the same route.

Yes, they are all limited to 25 lbs max.
I haven't weighed what I carry, so I am not sure if that is enough or not.
But that is the next step.

most of the seat post rack hold only 15 - 20lbs max. the rear rack one hold a lot more. one of my sister sat on my mtb on the rear rack.. and she weighs 130lbs to be exact. i rode home with her on the back on my rockhopper. (i know it's illegal to do that but she spranged her ankle that day). i thought the rack would be busted but then it held up well!

for the rear rack.. check to see if there are some mounting holes. or just bring to ur LBS and have them do it for free. :D

I don't know that I would ever carry more than the 25lb limit on the seat-post racks,

I wouldn't even carry that much -- and then I'd be worried about losing a seat-post in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't carrying anything the first time it happened.

I have a rack on a road bike and on a mountain bike, neither of which are fully compatible with racks.

The rack on my road bike ('98 Lemond Zurich) mounts to the brake centering nut via a short arm and below to the triangle on the dropout using a rubber grommet.

The rack on my mountain bike ('95 Marin team) mounts to the v-brake arms on both seatstays and then to the lower eyelets (for some strange reason, the Marin has lower eyelets but not upper ones). however, you can get QR mounted racks.

If you cannot return the rack or get the LBS to install it, you may still be able to use it by looking for a P-clamp that will screw around a seatstay that you will be able to thread a screw into... But see if you can get the LBS to help you or perhaps return it for a refund. You can get a rack to work without eyelets, you just have to buy the right kind.

Jay

Most racks require threaded holes at the dropouts to hold the lower rack supports and holes in the seat stays for the upper supports. If you have two separate seat stays (as opposed to a wishbone style) then even without threaded upper inserts, you can probably make a traditional rack work. You need a couple padded clamps that wrap around the seat stays and have bolt holes. If you don't have any threaded holes at the dropouts, things get much more difficult. I believe there are some rear racks that will clampp to the lower seat stays. You could check with Rivendell about any Nitto racks that would work.

However, there is another option. Ditch the rack altogether and get a Carradice saddlebag. Check Wallingford Bike Parts (wallbike.com) for a large selection of saddlebags in many sizes. Get the SQR Uplift quick release kit as well and you can pop the saddlebag on and off virtually any seatpost.

You might be able to clamp the top arms to the seat stays and if you can find them - Blackburn made adapters that fit into the dropouts that give you threaded eyelets... otherwise - yeah - seatpost mounts of Old Man Mountain racks (which use a special QR skewer and the top arms mount to Canti bosses)

options: if the top of your stays dont have mounting brazons for the top portion of the rack, simply use p-clamps (available at hardware stores). Same for the bottom near the dropouts.

Yes, it sounds like you need a couple P clamps. While it would be nicer if your bike had the necessary braze ons, having to use P clamps is really no big deal. BTW, you may also find that you have to carefully bend the rack so that it fits your bike correctly. Again, no big deal. Use locklite or something like that to avoid losing the hardware. So much of the cycling accessories that are sold as universal require some adjustment to fit many if not most bikes. You either have to fiddle with it yourself or pay the LBS to take care of it, though they probably won't be too keen to install a rack that you didn't buy from them.

Speaking of carrying passengers, anybody old enough to remember riding around the neighborhood with your little brother sitting on the handlebars? or taking a classmate of the female persuasion home from school riding side saddle on the top tube? (kids don't try this at home....unless you ride one of those old balloon tire cruisers with the steel handlebars) some of our bikes were good for carrying a passenger on the back fender w/o a rack. Eventually the fender would collapse down enough to rub the tire though. Don

Speaking of carrying passengers, anybody old enough to remember riding around the neighborhood with your little brother sitting on the handlebars? or taking a classmate of the female persuasion home from school riding side saddle on the top tube? (kids don't try this at home....unless you ride one of those old balloon tire cruisers with the steel handlebars) some of our bikes were good for carrying a passenger on the back fender w/o a rack. Eventually the fender would collapse down enough to rub the tire though. Don


Used to deliver papers with my friend on his older brother's Schwinn Paramount. We were like 8 at the time and this thing was huge so I would sit on the seat, feet sort of resting on the rear der. and quick release, and he would stand and pedal the whole route. Banana seats were the ultimate for passenger cruising back in the day tho.

You might be able to drill and tap two holes in the dropouts yourself. Just make sure they are in the same place on both sides. Or have your LBS do it.

options: if the top of your stays dont have mounting brazons for the top portion of the rack, simply use p-clamps (available at hardware stores). Same for the bottom near the dropouts.


I use these when mounting my rack on my older Trek. If you look around you can find some that have a plastic coating where they go around the frame. It will save your paint job.

I had a Blackburn MTN-2 and ended up bending the support arms so that I could mount them directly to the binder bolt for my seatpost clamp. It looked very clean and held up well.

www.oldmanmountain.com will have a rack to fit your bike.