Braze-on rack mount question..
 

Hi!

I've just picked up the new bike I ordered from a company here in Japan. In the picture, the bike had front rack mounts.... half way up the front forks, but, it turns out that, due to my not so fantastic Japanese, this particular bike doesn't.

However I've already bought a Blackburn rack, which is designed only to fit braze-on rack mounts. From England. So I can't return it...

Doh!

My question: Can I make my own front mounts, or is that insane?

:o)

There's many various clamps you can get to mount racks without braze-ons. If you're dead set on braze-ons..... any frame builder can braze them on for you. You'll need to repaint the fork unless the painter is skilled enough for touch-ups.

For example, Tubus makes some nice ones. http://www.tubus.com/index/lang/en/r...20Accessories/
There's also the more common plastic coated ones, no link for those as they're generic mostly.

Make your own? ..... How do you mean..... brazing them on yourself? Not unless you know what you're doing !

Thanks for the advice.

I'm assuming that using generic clamps would reduce the rack's ability to hold heavy loads?

Plus, I'm not sure that the rack I have can be used with them (Blackburn Custom Lowrider)

I agree, I don't know what I'm doing :lol:, but looking at the instructions that came with the (Blackburn) rack, there's a section for "Installation of Brazed-on Bosses"... and it appears that they are just a hole drilled through the forks... I was thinking pillar drill.

Is there more to it than that? Is there a thread in there or something?

Thanks again for your help :o)

And... further to this - I'm not sure what "Brazing" actually is!

First, brazing is a relatively high temperature form of soldering but much stronger. The metal used to make the joint is either brass or a silver-containing alloy. A frame builder can perform this work. The heat used to braze on fittings will destroy any paint for a fair distance around the fitting which is why a repaint will be needed if you do it to an already completed frame or fork.

The braze-on bosses are much more than just a hole drilled in the fork leg. They are specific threaded fittings that are brazed (see above) to the fork legs at the appropriate locations and the rack bolts to them. DO NOT just drill a hole in the fork legs!

Either have the proper fittings installed by a competent frame builder or use the various commercial clamps that substitute for them.

Aha! Thanks very much for this information. Fear not, I shall not submit my poor bicycle to certain death at my own hands.

No; it should be just fine.

Blackburn used to supply clamps with their racks. There was nothing special about these; you could buy the same clamps off the shelf at a hardware store.

N.B. I haven't bought a rack in over 20 years. The Blackburn racks I've been using (with clamps) have held up just fine.

Don't drill; use a clamp. Really.