RFC

Hi All,

I have substantially increased my riding distance and have a 1994 Litespeed Catalyst that I want to use as my LD bike. I want to add a rear rack, but the bike does not have brazeons on the dropouts to attach a rack.

I was wondering if I can just use the rear wheel skewer to attach the rack. I've eyeballed the rack and think I can make it fit this way. Is there any problem with this method? I realized that wheel removal will be a little more difficult, but I can live with that.

Thanks

RFC

bluenote157

this is just my opinion, but i dont see why not. I mean, bmx riders have those pegs that they beat that $hit out of. I dont see how a rack at a max of 25lbs will do anything. Might be a pain in the butt if you get a flat or something. I've seen front baskets that mount with the hub but never the rear??

You will probably need to make something that will fit over your hub nuts cuz i think the eyelet holes on a rack are way smaller.

I think rivbike sells some clamps for this sort of thing as well. Or you can go to homedepot and go into the telephone wiring section and get some rubberized aluminum clamps.

Davet

What you need are P-clamps that clamp around the seat stays and are used when there are no eyelets for rack leg mounting. You can buy these from Rivendell bikes https://www.rivbike.com/products/list...l#product=none scroll down to "Nitto band clamps" or at most automotive stores. They are a fairly common item and work well for your application. Buy the size that fits very snugly around the stay.

cmburch

My old Blackburn racks came with all the hardware for attaching to the rear triangle and/or brake bolt for bicycle without braze-ons. I did a search for bicycle rack hardware and found this.

https://ecom1.planetbike.com/4000_1.html

FBinNY 

IMO- that's a poor approach and introduces a host of new problems.

1- there's a good chance that the skewer isn't long enough to accommodate the thickness of the rack's legs.

2- skewer ends are designed to meet squarely against the face of the dropout, with close to 360 degree support (except for the open axle slot). Unless the leg goes clear across the skewer nut, you'll introduce significant bending forces and probably break the skewer.

3- You'll lose significant holding power of the wheel within the dropout. There's a good chance that chain load will shift the wheel.

I could go on, but hope you see the downside of what you propose. The proper way to secure a rack when there are no eyes is with "P" clips around the bottom of the seatstay. If there's enough meat somewhere on the dropout faces, clear of the QR ends, you might consider drilling and tapping your own eyes. If you're unsure, get an expert opinion.

Sadly, fender eyes have become uncool lately and are disappearing from even intermediate bikes. It's unfortunate because the weight penalty of incorporating them into the dropouts is negligible, while their benefits to anyone doing all weather training and wanting fenders, or a rack of some kind for touring are significant.

Retro Grouch 

Never tried it but I'm thinking just the opposite. Wheel removal may occur at unwanted times. I'm thinking the rack stays will keep your QR from grasping the dropouts tightly enough.

cyccommute 

There are a couple of ways to deal with this more elegantly. One is to use p-clips as suggested or to use Tubus Tubus Stay Mounting Clamps. Here's what they look like:



Or you can get a quick release mounting kit from Tubus (see above page). This is supposed to be designed for Tubus but, with a little McGuivering, you should be able to adapt it to any rack. Of course a Tubus Luna would look smashing

FBinNY 

FYI- I called my good friend Chris Igleheart and he still has Titanium fender eyes that he can TIG weld to your frame. I don't have any idea of the cost but it's something you might want to consider.

CACycling

Pegs are screwed onto a solid axle. Skewers are thin and not designed for lateral loading. Use P clips or something similar.

RFC

OK, O' learned ones, what about this:

https://www.thetouringstore.com/TUBUS...ONS%20PAGE.htm

FBinNY 

Looks OK, but still less than ideal. There's a PITA factor involved in this solution, so if it's for occasional use in rare situations you might consider it, but for regular use I think the PITA factor will get to you fairly quickly.

It's a nice frame, and if I were planning on regularly using a rack on it for years, I'd at least look into welding eyes on, then if that was cost prohibitive go for the nicely made tubus clamps, if the right diameter was available.

rjn3100

Hey thanks for the link, some nice looking stuff that actually solves a problem for me. I'm not as knowledgable as a lot of people here about bicycle products, but have worked on a lot of motorcycles & cars, I've learned that just because someone makes something, don't mean it's a good idea. IMO holding a rack with a skewer just don't seem right to me.

Rick

K6-III

Someone is making this pointlessly complicated. There are racks made for just this application by Axiom.

https://www.axiomgear.com/products/ge...eamliner-road/

Chris_W

The tubus kit works really well, and even better with one of the Tubus racks because the legs of their racks have two mounting holes that line up with the holes in the quick-release plates. However, I've also used it with racks from other manufacturers without a problem. The Axiom rack linked to above essentially has the Tubus quick-release plates incorporated into the rack, and would be the most economical version. The least economical version would be to buy a titanium rack to match your frame from Tubus.

HillRider

I have the same frame (1996 version) and agree that P-clamps or the dedicated Axiom or Tubus racks are the way to go for the lower attachment points. Either P-clamps or a bracket that uses the rear brake bolt as an anchor point would work for the upper mount.

I would not let anybody weld anything to the dropouts and I would not drill and tap them.

sumguy

Lot more money than the Axiom but OldManMountain has rear racks with quick release skewers

Bianchigirll 

I think I am missing something here. aside from looking dangerous to me, doesn't attaching the rack via the QUICK release skewer defeat the purpose of it? personally I would go for the clamps or have eyelets brazed on over the winter

FBinNY 

Think again, you're not missing anything here.

conspiratemus

The other trouble with mounting a rack like the Axiom on the QR skewer is that when you take the rear wheel out (to fix a flat, say), your loaded rack is now attached to the bike only by the hardware at the top -- the bottom ends are free to flop around and drive you crazy while you try to guide the wheel back in. You could even bend or break the rack if you don't support it very carefully all the while the wheel is out, especially if the top end attaches by a single strut to the rear brake bolt instead of to two good solid hard points on the upper seat stays.

The Axiom-type arrangement may be your only choice if you have a rear disc brake mounted on the back side of the seat stay: the over-the-skewer mounting bracket moves the whole rack aft far enough to clear the caliper. For all other applications, use P-clamps. I got so fed up with the Axiom on our tandem that I modified a conventional Blackburn-type rack to attach to the disc brake mounting bolt on the one side, and a P-clamp on the other.

illwafer

+1. those things are about $25 and work great. i doubt you are really going to load it up for touring, so i wouldn't worry about what happens when you get a flat. you can take off your panniers and even take off the rack fairly easily if you needed to.

the platform on this rack is narrow. you will need to have a trunk bag with ample fasteners if you want to use it with this rack. if that were the case, maybe a seatpost mounted rack would better suit your needs.

cyccommute 

Um....I already linked to that page. That's what the underlined bits in my post are

cyccommute 

The quick release option isn't ideal. It works but you are asking an awful lot of a rather thin wire. I've had the Old Man Mountain on a mountain bike and it's not that elegant. The quick release skewer bent, slightly, and changing wheels is painful. The clamps...or real braze-ons...are far better.

JanMM

Very classy compared to plain p-clips.

cyccommute 

A bit easier to use too. You don't have to hold the clip closed and try to feed the nut through.

JanMM

I've had to use needle-nosed vice grips and swearing to get that done a few times.