Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - securing seatpost mounted pannier racks
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maunders011
04-21-09, 04:24 PM
Hey, crazy as it sounds I'm planning to cycle across europe on my mountain bike, a planet x armadillo. I need to carry all my gear with me, and so need some pretty sturdy pannier racks but I don't have any mounts. I've used a seatpost mounted one before and whilst weight isn't a problem I find that they tend to swing around a lot and on a bad day will swing and rub against the spokes - not great when your cruising down hill.
Has anyone got any suggestions of solutions - maybe securing the rack to the wheel axle? or creating a kind of make your own bracket? or can i get a bag which has most of the weight on top of the rack rather than hanging below...
Thanks
spokenword
04-21-09, 05:20 PM
not exactly helpful, but I'd advise you to ditch the idea of jury-rigging the seatpost rack and go with a trailer instead. regardless of where the weight is hanging on a seatpost rack, the simple fact is that you're putting an increasing amount of weight on a platform that is cantilevered off your seatpost. If you don't have anything to support the rack from below, given a heavy enough load, it will eventually snap.
Bacciagalupe
04-21-09, 05:20 PM
Check out Old Man Mountain racks. They have several rack models that use the rear axle. They also have front racks that use the axle and are compatible with suspension forks. They'll be far superior to a seatpost-mounted rack.
old man mountain racks are good stuff.
and you can use an extra wheel or bob trailer.
or ditch the racks altogether and get some frame bags... travel lighter, and they compress down for packing. (http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com/)
http://www.epicdesignsalaska.com/epicwebsite/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/hpim1542.jpg
cccorlew
04-22-09, 09:27 AM
How does that ride in a 30 mph side wind? :eek:
How does that ride in a 30 mph side wind? :eek: I can't imagine they're much worse than panniers on the front wheel.
How does that ride in a 30 mph side wind? :eek:
you could probably ditch the frame bag... but a fully loaded touring rig probably has about the same surface area exposed to the wind.
several LD riders have done BMB and other 1200ks with the Jandd frame bag. Not as large - but takes up most of the triangle... doesn't seem to slow them down.