canadiandude

Hi all, As some of you know, I recently purchased a BMC Alpenchallenge AC01 (which I love!). I'm now in the process of kitting it out and since my intention is to start commuting to and from my university (25km each way), I think a rear rack and a set of fenders are in order. I've been doing some research and thought I was prepared to go to my LBS armed with this newfound knowledge and directly pick up what I needed. However, now I'm a little unsure of myself. I was sure I needed a rack that would accommodate the fact that I have disc brakes on my BMC but my LBS tried to assure me that that wasn't necessary and that he had personally installed many regular racks on hybrids with disc brakes; proceeding then to show me examples. I have already made one bad fender purchase that I was unable to return (they wouldn't install on my BMC) because I opened the packaging so I don't want to make a similar mistake when purchasing a different set of fenders or a rear rack.

As far as fenders are concerned, I was planning to go with SKS Bluemels for 28 inch tires and with a width of 45 (the 45s are good for 700x28-38; where my tires are 700x35). I chose these over the SKS Chromoplasts simply because I don't want the stripes down the length of my fenders....I personally don't like how it would look with my BMC). Now, if I could find a similar fender in a matte black, it would be even better! Suggestions?

For the rear rack, if the disc brakes are not a concern as my LBS states, then I would go with the XLC RP-R01 in black. If however, the disc brakes are a problem, then I need a rear rack that will take the brakes into consideration, as in the Tubus Disco in the second link. (albeit it is pricey!).

https://www.xlc-parts.com/produkte_de...82,detail.html

https://tubus.com/product.php?xn=10

Suggestions for a rack that is not too expensive would be appreciated!

jimc101

For the fenders, not seeing any fender mounts on the fork (hard to tell on the BMC site photos), if you have no fender mounts, would be looking at SKS Raceblade Longs. Then there is the rear fender, you have on set of eyelets, which could be used for both fender & rack, but no seatstay bridge to attach the fender to, not seeing how SKS Bluemels , or any other full length fender (including the Longs) is going to work there.

For the rack, you only really need disc specific ones of bikes which have the caliper mounted onto the NDS seat stay, not the NDS chainstay, as the BMC has the NDS chainstay mount, any non-disc rack will work, Tubus make great racks, the Vega should work fine in this case. For buying cheap, how much are you looking to carry? if a lot, most cheap racks are made from Aluminium, and won't long last under a lot of weight, Tubus can be found for reasonable prices if buying direct from Germany.

dynaryder

From the pics I saw,your fork has lowrider mounts on the inside of the fork legs,so your front fender struts can mount to them,they'll just need to be shortened. Out back,the rear caliper mounting won't cause any issues for fenders or racks. It looks like you have two eyelets,the upper one will prolly fit the rack best,the lower one the fender struts. Interesting that they thought to mount the caliper on the chainstay and include two mounts,but didn't just use regular eyelets on the fork.

canadiandude

Thanks guys! I'm now including a couple of photos (as attachments) of both the front and rear of the bike. There are clearly mounting points front and rear and from what it looks like, the brakes shouldn't interfere at all with the rack mounting. The pics on the BMC site are a bit misleading as there are three models of BMC Alpenchallenge AC01. I have the Alivio/Deore.

fietsbob

I see 2 holes to mount stuff on .. piece of cake,

jimc101

Still not seeing where to mount the rear fender seat stay arch mount to? any suggestions

pierce

re: racks, you might look at Axxiom's racks. very light, very strong, and they have racks that extend farther back for bikes with short chainstays so your heels don't clip your panniers.

your rack will be mounted to those two screws on hte sides of the seat stay upper piece. maybe you can make a bracket that goes from the rack supports to the fender's top mount that would normally be on the brake bridge.

canadiandude

@pierce - I had taken a good long look at various racks and had actually opted to order an Axiom Streamliner Disc DLX rear rack but but, alas, there was absolutely no store (online or physical) that had these in stock so I went with an XLC RP-R01 SB-Plus rack instead. It comes in a matte black which was a plus in it's favour. (edit: I've now found the Axiom rack on Amazon! Grr!).

For the fenders, I opted to go with a set that I'm now second-guessing. Not because I don't think they will fit but because there have been some reviewers stating that the posts were a tad short and that no installation instructions come with them. However, others say that they are great. I'll likely wait for them to arrive and decide what to do with them at that point. They are the Axiom Rainrunner Trekk 700c Disc fenders.

@jimc101 - There are holes for mounting everything for the back fender, including the holes at the bottom bracket (bottom of seat post facing chain stays and another at the bottom of the seat stay).

So far, it looks like everything should install without a hitch although the front fender may present a small problem. I doubt there is enough clearance from the fork's fender eyelet past the protruding disc brakes (only on the left side which is the disc brake side). I may simply have to add some spacers to give me enough clearance. The right side is straight-forward.

I guess now it's just a matter of waiting until it all arrives and attempting installation. Thanks to everyone for your help!

jimc101

Still not seeing where the mount for the middle of the fender is, understand what you are saying about the BB bolt, and stay bolts, but this still leaves the middle unsupported / swinging, as there is no mount on the arch that I can see.

For the fender eyelet area, just bend the fender stays round the mount, should work OK

fietsbob

Fly me RT to Sweden and I'll figure it out for you ..

canadiandude

+1 Send me the money to buy the ticket and we have a deal! How's that?

dynaryder

Ah,those pics are different from what I found on the web. You can mount your front fender in one of two places:


The upper lowrider mounts,or the lower mounts down by the hub. The upper mounts will require shortening the struts,the lower ones should just need the left strut bent a touch(hydro calipers tuck in much further than mech calipers).

For the seatstay bridge you'll have to use zipties. Not elegant,but unless there's a hole on the underside not shown in the pic,that's what you'll have to do. Do you also have a mounting hole on the chainstay bridge(right behind the BB)? If not,you'll need zipties down there too.

pierce

again, for the rear fender, I think you could pretty easily bend up some metal strip so it bolts to the rack top/front mount braces/strips, and drops down to provide a hole to attach said fender where it normally would be on the brake bridge.

dr1445

some home fabricated sheet metal brackets.

pierce

here's mine.


the v-brake is kinda in the way visually. but, ok, my bike has a bridge for the fender, so its attached normally... my rack is attached via two bent rods to the two side screws on my conventional stays. most racks have flat chrome steel straps with holes or a slot in them.

yours looks like...



so... attach your rack to the rack screws right there, AND attach a bracket, maybe on the other side of the 'seat stay' mono section, that goes down to where the fender attaches, and has a hole the fender can be bolted to.

capiche?

pierce

you could use a t-shaped piece of strap steel or aluminum, with the two top 'ears' bent up 90 degrees so they are screwed down along with the rack's bracket. the bottom of the T would be about where the brake bridge *should* be, and would have a nice hole in it, the right size for the screw that holds the fender.

does that make my idea clearer? sorry, I can't draw it.

canadiandude

Ok, here's an update for everyone. The fenders fit perfectly using the lower holes by the hub on the back wheel. Then I attached the fender at the bottom and after that, taped a piece of paper to the fender where the hole is on the seat stay (see the last pic in this thread reposted by Pierce). BTW, there is a hole there which is very difficult to see which may have caused some of the confusion about whether or not I'd be able to get the fenders on. After I taped the paper on the fenders, I used a black marker on the outside of the hole and lined up the fender to the hole, pressing firmly to get the impression of the hole on the paper. That was my drilling mark and it worked out perfectly. The fenders are in place and look fantastic. (Pics soon).

The rear rack was not as straight-forward, Even thought the manufacturer stated that it was disc-brake compatible, my XLC rack was anything but. It was a bit too narrow and set so far back that, once the seat stay bracket was attached, the rack was angled forward by about 20 degrees and there was no way of fixing it as the narrowness prevented it from moving forward past the disc brake calliper. I could probably have fashioned a longer seat stay bracket but at this point, I'm so hating on this rack that I'm simply going to do what I should have done at the beginning and go with a Topeak Super Tourist DX for disc brakes.

Thanks to everyone for their help with this!

Attached is a pic of the rear rack problem. Click to enlarge.

pierce

you can't run the rack back a bit farther on the upper stays to level it off?

I have big feet, and a constant problem with panniers has been heel strikes, so I like my rack as far back as I can get it.

DEW21

I would disconnect the rack from the upper seat stays, rotate rack until level then measure how much longer your going to need them. Make your own or LBS may help find the right ones to make it look right.

dynaryder

Or ditch the seatpost QR and replace it with a collar with rack mounts.

canadiandude

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. If I keep the present rack, I would have to make my own seat stay brackets (LBSs here charge way too much even for the smallest thing!). I can rotate the rack backwards which gives me a level rack with good clearance between it and the fender but I would need seat stay brackets that are at least (or close to) a foot long! I would have to install the rack again (I've since taken it off) to see if dynaryder's collar with rack mount would work although I believe I would still need longer seat stay brackets. I have lots of time to decide if i go with making my own or just go ahead and get a rack that is better suited for my bike.

canadiandude

Ok, a final update on the rear rack and fenders dilemma that his now, I'm happy to say, been completely solved. The fenders went as planned and didn't present any kind of problem but the rear rack by XLC (supposedly dic brake ready) was anything but. It was too narrow and there was no possible way for me to swing it forward so I could attach the brackets to the seat stays. I picked up a Topeak as mentioned earlier and installed it without a hitch last week. My only remaining jobs are further seat and handlebar adjustments and to remove the spoke reflectors.

Sixty Fiver

If you need any more help you can fly me in... I speak Canadian fluently and am part Swedish too.

canadiandude

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Archwhorides 

Useful thread, nice input on racking up the AC01!. I'm new to this forum and just purchased the 2014 AC01 in the version with the Shimano 8 speed IGH. For 2014 BMC is selling an updated "City Fender Kit", which I tracked down at R&A Cycle in NYC. I read some mixed reviews of this product on UK sites, but am still intrigued to try it out, so pulled the trigger: