OldCruiser

Bike accessories . JUNK ! Why is this ? Why is it that you can't find decent accessories to outfit a bike ?
I ordered some new retro pedals , a water bottle adapter and a rear rack for my new Electra Cruiser 1 . The rack is super nice , but I'll need an adapter to install it .
The pedals are crap . Instead of the rubber , I was expecting , they're plastic .. And the water bottle adapter ........ Only fits the handle bars , and won't tighten up enough to keep it from rotating . The screws that come with it to attach a bottle cage come with lock nuts , that' would be great if the material the adapter was made of was strong enough to allow you tighten the screws down without stripping out . JUNK ! And the way it's made , you can't get a wrench on the nuts to hold them . Over priced junk! Sorry for the rant but when you order something and it takes a week to arrive , then you find out what you've got, it hacks a fellow off . Kirby

rustjunkie

Most new stuff for "cruisers" is feeble. Send it all back!

surreal

You gotta spend if you want nice stuff....

wahoonc

Where did you buy it from? Electra has their own line of accessories, pricey but should fit their bikes. If something doesn't fit around a round object it needs a shim of some sort, old inner tube works fine.

Aaron

OldCruiser

Didn't want to throw anyone under the bus , but since you asked and specifically mentioned one supplier , I got the stuff directly from Electra . I was thinking I'd be getting primo stuff from them , especially the stuff they put their name on . I've had better luck with Bell stuff from Walmart . Wald seems to still have some decent stuff . All of them , you take a chance ordering online . As I said in the original post , the rest rack is nice , it's just that it won't fit my new Electra Cruiser without an adapter . As for the pedals , I'll most likely look for some BMX platform pedals as Im sure these aren't going last . Kirby

surreal

https://porkchopbmx.com/VP-747-Bear-C...47SILVER12.htm These things lasted well for me. They come in other colors, too.

As for the rack, am I too understand that the rack is made by Electra, but it doesn't fit their own frame. That's funny, in a sad way.

OldCruiser

Yea , the rack is made by Electra and is supposed to fit their Cruisers , and it will , with an adapter to attach it to the front . The cruiser 1 doesn't come with any way to mount a rack , no bosses off the seat stays , but is drilled and tapped at the dropouts . Doesn't make sense . I would have thought , since it is offered as a rack for their Cruisers , it would come with everything needed to install it . Or at least state on their site that an adapter is needed . The adapter isn't even offered from them . I'm getting one from Niagara Cycle off Amazon. I'm also going to order a bottle cage adapter from Amazon , one made by TwoFish . I plan on riding the Rail Trails here and need to be able to carry some water . Kirby

WalksOn2Wheels

I work at an Electra dealer and know the rack and bike you're talking about. The problem lies with the construction of the cruiser frame. There isn't a good place to put the braze-ons for the rack at the seatstay junction. Modern ones are actually threaded rivets that are riveted into a drilled hole, rather than brazed into the frame with solder. This tends to be a weaker joint and as the tubing gets smaller, it becomes a weak point with a hole that sized drilled into it. Look at how big the seatstay is on most modern hybrids where the rack mounts are vs. your cruiser.

While the replacement seatpost clamp with rack mounts is the perfect solution, it really isn't something that makes sense to put on a stock bike (costs and aesthetics) when the majority of folks buying the bike will not buy a rack. At first thought, it would make sense to sell the rack with the included adapter, but seat post sizes have varied, meaning the seatpost clamp is not a one-size-fits-all deal.

I will say this: Electra, for all they do to provide as many accessories as possible, have next to nothing in terms of product description on their website for accessories. I was actually looking at some fenders of theirs for a personal bike of mine, and had to do a google image search to figure out what hardware it did or didn't come with.

My best recommendation would be to work with the dealer you bought the bike from. If it's a good Electra shop, they tend to keep good stock on accessories. I've outfitted many, many of their bikes and am familiar with their quirks and needs. Talking to a knowledgeable dealer will save you loads of time in narrowing down what you want for the bike and what does and doesn't work. And if they're not a-holes, they'll generally install things at no cost if you bought the bike from them.

EDIT: They do offer the adapter BTW: https://store.electrabike.com/eSource...V2.aspx?store=

zonatandem

Buying on-line does not let you inspect/see the stuff like you can at your local bike shop.
Yup, you can $ave money on-line . . . and you did.
Buyer beware . . . anyone can make it cheaper and they did!

OldCruiser

Electra bikes have to be bought from a dealer . I ordered it through REI , an Electra dealer . There's 4-5 of them in my state , all on the north side of Atlanta . All about an hour or more away . So when I picked up my bike , I checked out the accessories . They carried very little in the Electra line .
So , I did the next best thing , IMO , I ordered directly from the manufacturer .
I don't think the seat post clamp is removable on the Cruiser 1 . I'll check again in the morning .
I don't have a problem with the quality of the rack. It's the other items I ordered that were junk . The "retro" pedals that look like rubber in the picture , that are actually hard plastic and the plastic framed bottle cage holder that strips out before the screws get tight enough to get the slack out of the bracket .
Bottom line , I thought if I bought acessories from a manufacturer that is considered to be step above , they would be better than what I could get from the local Wally World . It seems one has to sort through it all. You can't just go by name . Kirby

surreal

Get this:
https://www.amazon.com/Wald-Front-Bic...d+front+basket
And this:
https://www.amazon.com/Wald-Bottle-Ca.../dp/B000C128XY

Electra never seemed a "step above" to me....Wally World quality with a marketing dept. Wald isn't glamourous, but it's well-made in Kentucky ande designed to fit most bikes....

wahoonc

I am not above sending things back if they aren't of decent quality. I understand the issue of having to purchase on line due the distance from the dealer/non stocking dealer. I live in a dessert when it comes to my style of bikes. My LBS is willing to order things for me and work with me if they aren't the right ones. But I have been buying from them for over 30 years. I would guess that 80% of what I buy has to be ordered from the internet. I always try to do my research prior to ordering, but even then I get the occasional dud. I do agree that Wald is good stuff for the money. It is towards the lower end of the market, but is affordable and servicable. I have Wald baskets that look like crap but are 20 years old and still work fine. Seldom have I purchased things that are totally plug and play, I almost always have to a bit of fiddling to get things to fit, but that is part of what I like about bicycles. YMMV

Aaron