Rear Rack Install
 

I bought this rack from Performace.


http://www.performancebike.com/shop/....cfm?SKU=19331

It didn't come with any instructions. I'm having a serious brain cramp here...I'm putting this on a old Fuji mountain bike. The bottom part that is bolted to the frame near the axle connection is a no brainer. The problem is that the portion that should attach to the top part of the frame near the seat post.

There are 3 brackets included. Two identical flat pieces that have a twist at one end. The other bracket is bent in several right angles.

Try as I may to see how this attaches...I can't seem to figure it out.

I could "kludge" something together I guess, but would rather not.

What the heck am I missing here?

Thanks

The reason you have three mounting brackets is that there are 2 different ways of mounting the rack. The first one is to use both of the identical flat pieces. Attach them to the underside of the rack (loosely for now). On the seat stay of the frame there may be threaded attachments (if you are lucky) that you can bolt them straight into. It might require some bending to get the rack stays to go where they need to be. If there are not braze-ons, you could use a P-clamp that wraps around the seat stay and then is bolted to the rack stays. While not as elegant as braze-ons, the P-clamps work well. Now level the rack and tighten everything.

The other way of mounting (primarily for road bikes but it can be done on mountain bikes as well) is to use the single stay and attach it to the seat stay bridge (that little tube just above the wheel). It's only one point of attachment which might not be as rigid as the two stay mount but it's not too bad. I've had many bikes with this kind of attachment and never had a failure.

Hope this helps.

The trouble is (forgot to mention) is that those brackets seem to be too short. I don't have enough length on them to get close enough to the seat area.

Picture would help huh?

If the brackets aren't long enough, take it back and get something else.

That would be too easy! :)

I just keep figuring that this should work with the brackets that came with the rack.

cyccommute,

You wouldn't happen to have a pic of one of those single seat-stay bridge attachments would you? I'm using some p-clamps currently but don't like the idea of having clamps on my bike.

Thanks,
fevans

The bike may have a spot for the rack to attach like this:

or thisw

or this.

Here is some closeups of how I mounted mine on my old steel bike with no eyelets at all. It came with some P-clips which you should have also gotten so you can attach thos flat peices to the seat stays if no eyelets are available.
For the flat pieces that came with mine, I bent them upward a little and attached them to the seat tube binder as pictured below

About the best I can do is this. I don't have a digital camera so I can't show you the way I've done it, but it's pretty easy really.

Get two vinyl coated clips in the electrical department at the hardware store. Get the right size to clamp around the seat stays. Mount the two straps you have on the rack, and bend them to reach the clips that are around the seat stays. Adjust the clip position on the stays and the brackets on the rack to make the rack level.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=1278081

I think this is one of those you have to experiment depends on the frame size you have and the type of rack you bought.

In my case, I got a Zefal rack and the frame size is small(49cm), so the seat clamp bolt did it nicely and keeping the rack nearly horizontal. I just needed a longer bolt.

I also replaced all the nuts keeping the hardware in place to the locking nuts, so that they don't come loose from the vibration.

I ended up doing the "kludge" install. Had a piece of flat iron that I cut to size, drilled a few holes and slapped it on.

I think between the frame size and rack, it just wasn't a good fit with the hardware provided.

Love to see a picture.

Thanks, I went to the Tubus site and saw the Luna rack. My rack is a topeak which is specific to a child seat and didn't come with that type of bracket. There appear to be holes in the center of the rack so I think I can probably craft a home-made bracket. Thanks for your help.

Check at a local bike shop. You need a flat rack stay and they might have one. If nothing else you could straighten out one of the seatstay type with a vice. It ain't purty but it works.

Good luck

These came with my rack, but they would have to be bent and I'd have to bolt both of them together to be long enough. Is this what you're talking about?

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...y/IMG_0855.jpg

No but that would work. Most racks come with 2 long stays where the end is bent 90 degrees to the rest of the stay. You can use a vise to straighten these out but like I said it ain't purty. Your two pieces of metal there would probably work better anyway. In a pinch, I suppose you could use the flat metal stock that is used on chainlink fences to tighten them, although I think I'd see what the bike shop has first.

[Edit] Make sure you use 2 bolts to keep the whole thing from rotating. A nice 10-32 cap head bolt would work.

I had this exact same problem, see this thread:
http://www.cyclingforums.com/showthread.php?p=2325893