ukny

Hi all, anyone have experience with seat post mounted racks. I am a roadie.. no eyelets .. And am thinking about doing some Credit Card touring.. 2 nights three days sort of thing.
Looking for a way to get a day packs worth of weekend gear on the back of the bike in a minimal way.. (without wearing it on my back..)
Can these racks damage the seat post ? I have a Titanium seat post but could get a less expensive alloy one for my trips.

Whats the general consensus..

Johnny Mullet

I have a Schwinn clamp on rack I use for my 10 mile commute daily and I do not have any issues with it. I normally carry less than 15lbs on it though. The clamping area has 3 different sized plastic bushings for different size posts and they do not mar paint or scratch anything. Once you use the proper size bushings and get it mounted it's pretty secure. It does have the tendency to move side to side slightly if you bump it good or lean the bike against something using the rack to support the bike, but that's the only issue and it was resolved by a wrap of electrical tape on the seat post before clamping it........

bikemig 

I'd just get a carradice saddlebag.

martianone

Some folks seem to have good luck with them, however not in my experience. It would keep rattling loose or getting out of alignment. Went with a Nelson Longflap saddle bag.

Bicycle365

I have a Arkel Randonneur Rack on my eBike. It has 2 lbs of tools and a 12 lb battery in the Tailrider bag. Over 500 miles on it so far and no issues at all (knock on wood). That's the only one I've used and I would feel comfortable recommending it for a similar size load.

ukny

I am a bit wary of anything that also clamps to the saddle rails.. as mine are carbon and not round.. Which kind of rules out caradice..

Tourist in MSN

I used a clamp on with my folding bike a lot, but usually just for day use.

A friend of mine has done a lot of credit card touring, for that he used a rack top bag that had zip out side mini-panniers so that he could carry a couple changes of clothes in it too. He used a normal type rack for that, but some of the clamp on type racks have side mounting points where you can hang something down on the side like one of those rack top bags with zip out mini panniers. But if you use one of those types of bags, make sure that both sides have an equal amount of weight, otherwise the rack can rotate on your seatpost and start to rub on a tire on one side. I tried to carry one pannier of groceries home on one of those and it kept wanting to shift to one side because I did not have the weight centered.

I have no clue if you would need a different seatpost, but Aluminum seatposts are cheap so not a big deal to get one.

One nice thing about the clamp on racks, if you stop at a restaurant you can un clamp it and take your stuff indoors with you. That works best with a shoulder strap on the rack top bag.

Northwestrider

There are bags that attach to the top tube, you may wish to consider one of those as well .

manapua_man

I would only really be worried about damaging a seat post if you're running carbon. A TI post is probably fine.

That said, I never liked any of the seat post racks that I've tried. Axiom makes a rack called the 'streamliner' that works great with my road bike, it might be worth it for you to take a look at one of those.

ukny

Yep i have been looking at that one, but it looks pretty narrow for a trunk bag.. I spose one could run it with a couple of small side paniers though..

Abu Mahendra

i use a KlickFix mount, a Tern Kanga rack and a Sea to Summit hydraulic dry bag. it allows me to carry 14 lbs (6.5 kg).

10 Wheels

Topeak makes good ones.
My First 500 mile tour.

manapua_man

It's not hard to make larger bags work with it, just get some thin PVC pipe/something cheap and fittings to extend the surface area and secure it with U-bolts or whatever you have available. That's what I did at least.

wished

I have seen, but not sure who makes it, a rack that clamps not the seat post and then the down tubes mounts on the axle using a longer-than-normal skewer-type axle. It was on a very nice carbon-fiber road bike that someone was using to some short tours I think. I just saw the bike outside a restaurant on our beach, never did talk to whoever it belonged to. Pretty good idea but I have no idea who makes it, no ID on the rack but the bag was a Topeka with those zip-out panniers that someone mentioned above.

BigAura

I like this idea.

RichSPK

I think you're talking about Old Man Mountain racks.

saddlesores

some of those platform racks have protecto-arms
on the sides, allow you to use trunk bags with the
expando-sides, without worry about them getting
caught in the spokes.

https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=37539884044

str

uffff i can see that thing wobbling left and right, left and right ...

dh024

Instead of a rear rack and panniers, have you considered bikepacking bags similar to what's below? I think they might fit your needs better than an seatpost-mounted rack and panniers. I have purchased three or four seatpost racks over the years and never found one that works well enough that I would tour with it.



If you really want a rear rack, you might also try out the Thule Pack n Pedal racks -- they mount on the seat stays, which should be more stable than a seatpost rack.

Thule Pack 'n Pedal Tour Rack | Thule | Canada

roadfix

I use a bikepacking seatpack.
Or you can simply strap a 10L drybag behind your saddle.

fietsbob

you use the saddles own rails if not a Brooks, with bag loops, I have either added bag loops that bolt right on..
Old Brooks team Pro never had bag loops

Or my more permanent bag fix .. Minoura tri bike double bottle cage holder behind the saddle.. its the width of the strap holes in the bag.

instead of a bottle cage a P clip, grips the dowel across the Bag and I crew it in the other 2 Lower mounting holes are unnecessary I saw them off.

because they use both the saddle rails and the Post itself Arkel says its Carbon seat post compatible

but if the bike is becoming a load carrier why not just put a sunstantial Aluminum seat post on?


Out here a lot of People tour the Oregon Coast on their favorite bike , including road bikes

Extra wheel trailers using same type wheel as on the F of the bike, take Panniers ,

BoB Trailers another .. single 16" wheel, take 1 big Bag, and both use the axle ends with their own QR skewer substitute
to not put any new stresses on the frame.

MassiveD

The way to get a load take off on a carbon tube is to whip a block with cord.

But you should be able to mount something to the post and the quick releases. Canti is most likely the worst way of translating the force, so anything would be better. It is just a change of mindset to ask the question how do I mount a rack. Everything will be better from that point.

MassiveD

A lot of folks use front racks only rather than rear racks only. Either work. But the front rack approach will calm road vibe to some extent, and also just be a different set of options for mounting.

Will Wheeler

I have this cheap extendable seat post rack that seems to be good. The setup is new to me but it served me well on an overnighter, travelling on rough gravel roads. Nothing came loose. I don't know if you can find something similar where you live but the rack didn't cost me more like 15 dollars. yes, I have modded it a bit. Everything with this setup is very budget friendly. The 15 liter bag was purchased on ebay. I am planning to go on a second overnighter this upcoming Tuesday.

antokelly

here u go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSUg1dTgHhA

u can buy a bracket from spa cycles or sjs cycles to fit on seatpost so as the struts on rack can be fixed. its a good set up i have it myself.