Originally Posted by
wiiiim
hm. what annoys me even more is that the rack is not even a perfect fit, its slightly thinner than what it should be (and thus wobbles a bit..)
I'm still baffled by all the pictures I'm seeing from people riding with heavy adult passengers on the back; how do they secure the rack so well?? I can't imagine having so much weight on there with a simple snap deck that pushes the two racks apart. The downwards force is not so much of a problem, its the sideways force I'm worried about.
I guess what I can do is add those double seat clamps, maybe that'll improve things. And then tie the two racks together to get some inward tension going. I'm also tempted to push an extra aluminum tube inside the racks just to make them stiffer at the bottom (where all the side force will apply).
Do the bags they sell at xtracycle somehow add some strength too? I didn't get them.
I used two toe clip straps - one at the back and one at the front of the vertical racks that squeezed them together sandwiching the snap deck. I had freeloader bags on mine - which when properly installed - pull the whole shebang down tight onto the BD's frame. With that setup I can carry two adults on the back and lift the BD up by the rear [without any passengers] to move it around.
The quality/fit of the Xtracycle bits is not as good as it could be, but it works and nobody seems eager to pay higher prices for better stuff so it's what we have. I've used my Big Dummy for years and it has never let me down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vikappr...7604923671546/
