Angus530

I have a Giant XTC mountain bike, disc braked and 2007 I think. Is it possible to fit a luggage rack with decent weight capacity, despite the absence of lugs on the frame? It's for carrying climbing gear.[ropes, slings, etc]. The frame is carbon fibre and I don't know what stress it is capable of taking. The seat mounted versions do not seem to have sufficient leeway and from what I've seen of them appear to bob around on a track. Can anyone help?

MichaelW

These are the usual suspects.

You cant use P-clips on a carbon frame. Is there a hole in the seat-stay bridge?, you may be able to make a 3-point bracket rather than the usual 4 point brackets to each separate chainstay.

HillRider

Does the bike have rear suspension? That would really complicate things.

jimc101

The Giant XTC range are Hardtails, but really are not suitable for rack fitting; their race / xc bikes not tourers; nor are any other Carbon MTB's unless they have rack fittings (not sure that any do).

The OP really should be looking at a more appropriate bike / frame which has the necessary braze on rack mounts if the OP want's to be using racks; somthing like a Salsa Fargo or Thorn Ripio

fietsbob

Why try?.. you got the wrong bike for all purposes, & just found one it wont work for.

just get a bike trailer for your carrying, stuff.. now. 2 wheels support the weight nicely .
a BoB type 1 wheel with suspension in itself,if you want to go camping on single track trails.

when you shop for a +1 bike next time, you can think rack fittings as a priority.

Booger1

Velcro mounted frame pack big enough for all your hardware?Protect the carbon from abrasion with something,tape,rubber,dried bubble gum...something? Then lash your rope to a front rack? Front fork is not carbon,you should be able to get a OMM rack for the front that can carry some weight.

fietsbob

True, OMM mount by the wheel QR.. rack moves with the wheel..

Tubus Swing has clamps to the Fork Crown,
and includes a brace to a piece inserted in the spacer stack, under the stem.

suspended wheel moves independent of the rack.

Angus530

Thanks to everyone for their assistance. A local bike shop, [Spokes] in Dundee came up with the answer and have resolved matters for me. A Blackburn rack is now on order. I will keep them in mind for servicing in the future.

jeepr

I was going to suggest a Blackburn. They come with metal straps (plastic coated) that can go around the seat stays. That's what i use on old road bike frames w/o braze-ons.

BCRider

I'm still not sure I'd want to put clamping straps or brackets around the stays of a carbon frame. At worse it'll produce a serious point load which carbon generally doesn't like unless equiped with load spreading design in that area. At best the padded clamps will let dirt work it's way into the clamping area and rub away the clear coat badly over some amount of time.

If there's some "common" data about not using P clips on a carbon frame as mentioned by MichealW above then the same reasons would apply to any sort of clamping used on the Blackburn rack when it comes to the carbon frame. But I don't know enough of the ins and outs of the carbon frames to know why P clips isn't a good idea other than the two reasons I noted in the previous paragraph.

I have to agree with the sentiment that this really isn't the ideal bike for such duty. Not by a long shot.

AlphaDogg

My cheap nashbar rack also came with these clamps. Although it was missing some nuts, I had gotten those form the LBS to prepare to install a rack that I thought didn't include those p-clamps. The LBS gave me some p-clamps, some bolts and some nuts to attach the clamps to the seatstays. Since the clamps from the LBS were to small, I thought I would have to buy new ones. But nope! The only thing I had to use that the nashbar rack didn't come with were the nuts that the LBS gave me (haha the LBS gave me nuts very funny).

LarDasse74

I would also not want to clamp anything to the carbon stays. However you are likely to not have any problems with the frame caused by this.

The real problem, in my opinion, is that the P clamps are generally not strong enough to hold much weight when used to connect the lower stays - they are intended to be used to connect the upper bars of the rack to the seatsays, which does not hold the entire weight of the rack and luggage. I have seen a few people try to carry heavy luggage on a rack held entirely by P clamps and they all broke eventually (OK for light service, tho)

Good luck!