no motor?

I'm getting some panniers that mount with a bungy cord hook on the bottom (the Nashbar ATB panniers), and am looking for advice on how to mount them on my bike. I ride a Hardrock with a Delta Megarack Sport rack. The bike has eyelets for both fenders and rack (no fenders yet), but the rack has a single leg on each side that doesn't have the notch in the end for the bungy cord hook that many other racks do. What's a good way to secure the hook so the panniers don't come off?

barturtle

I'd really recommend getting a better rack, the Megarack Sport is really not well-designed to hold more than a couple books strapped to the top. I'd suggest looking for something that 1) doesn't fold 2) has multiple stays 3) has a third dogleg stay (this keeps the pannier from bending into the spokes)

I'd suggest something like this as a low cost option.

jdmitch

Ditto.

BTW, barturtle that rack is pretty inexpensive, nice catch.

no motor?

Thanks. I think the Megarack is rated at 25 pounds, and planned on upgrading it later. But the panniers were on sale for under $20 and they came first.

Wanderer

If the bike has empty, available, eyelets, put an allen bolt, with a nut as a locking device(to the frame) in the hole.

The bolt should have 1/4' - 1/2" of the bolt "shaft" exposed between the head and nut.

Just loop the bunge over it (not the S hook.)

cyccommute 

Probably not a good idea to use the bags at all with your rack. It's not a weight issue, it's a safety issue. The single leg on your rack won't keep the bags from swinging into the spokes. That could be an expensive lesson. Get a Delta MegaRack Universal instead.

MegaRack Sport


MegaRack Universal



The front leg on the Univeral will keep the bag from rotating to the wheel.

no motor?

The bags have some kind of stiffener board in the back of them, wouldn't that be enough to keep them out of the spokes if the front edge of the bag comes in contact with the seat stay? I used to ride a BMW motorcycle that came with bags that were known to fly off the bike if they weren't secured with a bungy cord (how's that for precision German engineering?) - this is a whole new worry for me.

cbchess

you need to ditch that lame rack and get a proper one
+5

barturtle

If the stiffener board is of the same quality as Nashbar's Townie Basket, then NO! Even a rack with two legs had that thing twisting and turning and trying to get into my spokes. You NEED three legs, with a dog-leg third to keep bags out of your spokes. It will constantly be rocking back and forth with every pedal stroke, trying to twist on both sides of your rack. The townie basket with anything more than a light lunch would try to twist into my spokes, really a 6-pack would do it!

cyccommute 

The stiffener board will probably only make things worse with the Sport rack. You would only be holding the rear corner of the bag against the rack stay. The front corner is free to flop around just about anywhere and is likely to end up in the spokes. Not a good thing

no motor?

Thanks, now I know what I need to do to get them to work.

jdmitch

Please note, for temporary you could make a brace out of some aluminum strapping (ask a hardware store... often in teh pipes area... strips of aluminium with lots of holes that and two sets of bolt / washer / lockwasher / nut)... someone may have mentioned it.

jdmitch

picture or what I mentioned... doing this... you bend the straps around teh stays as shown and bolt where the green dots are where you would bolt it... you could also use p-clamps to make it cleaner...

again, this should only be considered a temporary fix...

no motor?

I ended up getting a Topeak Explorer rack and it's great! It's got three legs and a longer rack on the top that allowed me to move the panniers back and avoid any heelstrike. It's really solid and stable, way better than the first one - thanks for all the help.

dellwilson

Not exactly the same cause, but similar lesson learned: I made a mistake strapping on my laptop bag and it got pulled into and completely destroyed my rear wheel. Replacement wheel cost me $70, but I invested another $130 in Ortliebs as a result of this lesson.