JMONAY

I recently finished modifying a '79 Raleigh Superbe and took it on its first shopping trip. Prior to this, my main shopping bike was a '58 Sports with some no-name alloy rack that handles the load just fine. However, after returning home with the usual box holding two gallons of milk, I noticed that the Sunlite Alloy Springer (Pletscher style) rack on the Superbe had bent about half a centimeter to the right. This had already been a concern of mine since I noticed how soft the rack was when I installed it.



So besides that possible quality issue with the Pletscher imitation, I found it to be very inconvenient that there was no place at the bottom of the rack stay to hook the bungee cords. I don't want to use the hole in the dropout because I'll wear away the paint. Also, I planned to add Wald 582 baskets some time in the future but found out that unlike the Pletscher, these rack stays go outwards a lot more which would make it difficult to mount the baskets.

After thinking about it, I have decided to look for a more suitable rack. The following two seem to be good candidates to me:
Wald 215
XLC Alloy

So as you can tell by the bike itself, weight of the rack is not an issue here and I'm wondering if anyone has experience with these - whether there is significant sideways flex when they're loaded up or if there are any other suggestions in terms of other racks in this price range I could consider. I read the reviews but they don't seem very useful to me, which is unusual.

Also, a slightly different topic, but is there anywhere besides Ebay where I can find those classic Raleigh fender reflectors? Does anyone make replacements? Both of my Raleighs are missing them.

dweenk

I agree that the Sunlite knock-off is a POC. I had one fail carrying a 1.5 litre bottle of wine. I discovered that my spokes were stronger than the rack stay.

Since you are riding an "All Steel" Raleigh, I vote for the Wald rack.

No idea about reflectors though.

JMONAY

Oh okay, I was starting to doubt myself thinking maybe the rack was bent to begin with ... Also, I was leaning toward the Wald as well, just based on appearance. As for the all-steel part, I wish I could say that - I have alloy rims and handlebars though so I can't, haha. The '58 is all original, though. Thanks for the reply

The Golden Boy 

Why not a Pletscher?

JMONAY

Eh, still doesn't solve the problem of having no eyelets at the bottom for bungee cords haha. Also, the fact that the Pletscher and the imitation have diagonal stays ... not sure how to say this, but I have been thinking for a while that a rack with stays that go straight up and down would hold a basket on the side much more securely. I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that hooking a basket to a Pletscher might result in the front corner of the basket hitting the seat stay and taking off paint. Of course, I might have to move the baskets rearwards anyway so that might not be an issue to begin with.

Salubrious

Actually there is a really simple solution for using the Pletscher rack and the lack of a bungee hookup.

You are going to use a bolt to mount the Pletscher to the frame dropout... just use a longer bolt. I used an allen-drive bolt on mine, with a nut to secure the rack- the bolt sticks out a little and its head provides a point to prevent the bungee cord from slipping off. I have a '72 Superbe and found that a metric allen-head bolt did the trick. You could also get some shorter bungees and just secure them to the Pletscher's frame.

dedhed

Look for a "Presstube Minor" factory rack

JMONAY

Seems fair. If I'm correct, I think that's what I have done except the bolt is just not long enough to use like this. I'm using a new M6 allen bolt that is very tightly cross-threaded in there so if I can get it back out (I never intended to ) then I will probably take you up on your advice. I bet acorn nuts on the ends of the bolt would help keep the hooks there and cover the sharp part of the bolt.



Because that's what I did with my lock mount, haha. This has been very handy for hanging my backpack if I have to dig something out on the road and it's too dirty, snowy, or salty on the ground.

Didn't occur to me that I could do the same for the rack - thanks for that!

Any knowledge on how well Wald folding baskets attach to a Pletscher rack or how much weight a Pletscher can carry?

JMONAY

Ooh, well I haven't dug deep yet but from the looks of it, they're harder to find in my price range (~$20). Story time! I did have my hands on one at one point - I had a nice '68 Superbe and was going to remove the rack for safe keeping and record the serial number to register with the police to have an anti-theft measure. The day I went to do those things, I found that the bike had been stolen. I kicked myself for a while for not having done that stuff sooner. I still have the red "R" front axle nuts from it, though ...

JMONAY

Update: I think I will be able to get the bolts back out so I've placed a bid on a vintage Pletscher on ebay. If bidding ends up going over my price range, I might just go with the XLC rack. I've already spent almost all of my budget for this bike so I'm not sure I want to throw down the cash for a new Pletscher rack. There's still time to decide. Also, yeah I broke down and made an ebay account so there is no longer a problem with the reflectors.

Salubrious

I have found Pletscher racks at local donation bike shops here in town for $5-$10.00 each. The donation bike shops provide training to kids on bike repair and use donations for training. Racks like these turn up all the time- you just have to keep your eyes peeled. No idea how much weight they can carry, but the struts look pretty beefy, so I would guess about 40 pounds tops.

dedhed

I just tossed one - really beat and cracked

JMONAY

Figured I'd do it once (once again) and do it right. I bought a Pletscher and used super long bolts with acorns at the end for bungee hooks. Thank you all for your advice!