Hi.
I have Specialized Langster, 54 size, bike. I installed Old Man Mountain White Rock rack on it. Now that I bought Arkel pannier I discovered that I have serious hill strike issue. Am I SOL, or can I fix this? Anyone successfully mounted Arkel pannier on 54 Langster?

Thank You.
UD

Which Arkel pannier to you have? I have a Tricross, using a Sherpa rack and a T-28 pannier. There is no heel strike and I don't have it on the T-42 neither. I checked the geometry, and the Tricross chainstay length is 440mm vs. 405mm on the Langster. Is it severe heel strike?

I think the Cold Springs/Sherpa racks by design allow more clearance from heel strike than the Red Rock/White Rock. Call or email OMM and ask about some advice. They have excellent customer service and be more than happy to help you out.

No experience with that rack or that bike. But with my Arkel, I've repostioned the hooks several times trying out different racks and positions, so you might be able to get some added clearance that way.

If you can't make that work you might look at the Tubus racks (Logo, Cosmo) which position the panniers further back ($$$).

You can try getting the rack back farther, and loading the pannier as far back on the rack as possible.

But really, you're having the problem because the Langster is a track bike, with very short chain stays (390mm). Touring bikes have chain stays in the range of 445mm, allowing room for the racks to be further back, and providing more stability under load.

ok, thanks. Will try to reposition it as far back as possible. Although I don't think it will be enough. Will look in to Red Rock (I have white rock now), seems like it's the longest one they have. What about extenders or something like that?

make a square out of pipe and use hoseclamps/bolts to secure the extention to the rack.

So just an update in case someone searches for this. I got a longer version of the rack, Red Mountain. After I put the Bug on it and slide it back a bit, I have no issue with hill strike. I did have to use two of those clamps in order to reach mounting points on the langster. Will have to get extenders to replace this jurry rig.

Thank you for dropping this info! I have 52cm 2015 Langster and I am looking to put a rear rack on it w/ Lanniers. I think the Red Mountain rack is discontinued but the OMM Pioneer is the longest rack coming in at 16 inches. You said your rack was kind of jerry rigged. Do you know of any other racks that might be a better fit on a Langster? Thank you!

Blast from the past.

Sorry no clue. I still have Langster and it still has same rack, completely forgot about details. Bummer about Red Mountain rack.

No worries, and thanks for getting back to me! I am glad to hear that the rack is holding up. I'd love to hear how long it is.

I am thinking about getting the Arkel Commuter Pannier. How are your bags holding up? Are they easy to snap on to the rack?

Yo. I've been doing stupid things with track bikes and racks. I have a used Motobecane Team Track frame that I've built up, and I decided to treat myself for finishing this project by getting a Nitto r14 rack. I've found that the Nitto offerings have nearly infinite adjustability with the struts, and a little mechanical acumen, amateur metalworking, and elbow grease can fill in the gaps quite easily. If you've got the budget for it check out the nitto r14 or r15 racks; the former is only good for a trunk bag (which I use) while the latter also works with panniers. With a rack like this, you can position the rack to whatever pleases you, short chainstays or not. Alex's Cycles carries spare struts by the way, just in case the ones you have don't fit.

Track bike luggage yo!