I just purchased this universal rear bike rack, but some parts aren't long enough for this rack to screw into my road bike. The part that isn't long enough is the top of the rack that fits to the top frame of my bike. Any thoughts on how to make this work?

Thanks!

P.S. here is the link of the rack I purchased

https://www.amazon.com/Ventura-Univer...074048&sr=8-13

Plan on doing some fabricating. Check the LBS for some straps you can drill, bend, etc as needed and use to extend the existing straps. I've never met a reasonably priced rack that didn't need some sort of massaging to get a nice installation.

+1 on checking with your LBS. They may very well have some of the needed parts for making such things fit. When I bought my rear rack, they had a lovely little piece that fit around the seat post that the top portion of the rack could clamp onto (since my bike does not have any of those mount-points on the frame by default). If you do get extender pieces made, make sure that it is not made of flimsy scrap metal, but of something tough and durable.

If all else fails, your other option would be to actually bring your bike into your LBS and see about buying a rack that does fit (the one I bought is highly adjustable, so that I was able to extend the bottom "strut" (for lack of better term) length, and adjust the top stabilizer arms that clamp on near the seat post for a good fit. Granted, this was a more heavy duty rack and cost me about $50 as opposed to $15...

Go to Homedepot to the pipe hangers, look for the hangers that have the long strip of metal about 1/2 inch wide that drop a pipe low from an overhead. It will have pre drilled holes every 1/2 inch. Just cut them to length and paint them to match the rack.

OP's rack:

I hope your girlfriend is tiny, because otherwise that flimsy thing's going to collapse right away.

There is nothing wrong with that rack for commuting & what does his girlfriend have to do with it

^didn't mean to be sexist or presumptive.
I should have typed 'or boyfriend'.

I have seen these type racks that were " adapted " by bending the front downward sloping rails ,,, adding length to them & attaching at the seatpost. It looked very good.

Hey, ripegorilla, I have that exact rack! I ran into problems making it fit too. The customer reviews talk about it being an affordable yet capable carrying rack that will likely need some improvisation to fit a bike. I was frustrated but managed to solve the problem by learning from the helpful pictures posted by other customers. Check out the ninth picture: this is how I got the rack to fit. The rack comes with two different pieces for attaching to the seat stays. One piece is the one shown in the original picture fixed to the rest of the rack. The other piece is the one floating next to it, unattached to the rest of the rack. As the ninth picture shows, you can join those two pieces together to attach the rack across a longer distance. Unfortunately, unless you further improvise with other hardware, this means that you need to have a fender hole to screw in the rack's mounting piece. I hoped to not resort to this, but the result has been ok so far. You'll need to purchase additional nuts and bolts to make this happen. I recommend figuring out the types and sizes you need and spending very little money at a hardware store to solve your problem. I also recommend that you use split lock washers in conjunction with the included lock nuts for additional strength. Your bike shop or hardware store of choice will probably be able to help you lots with this, especially if you bring in the bike and rack to illustrate. I hope it works out well for you.

welcome to "commuting". here you have to be part Marine. adapt and overcome.

bike shops sell expensive adapter kits that may cost 1/2 as much as the darn rack. "P" clips or clamps can be used to attache almost any thing on a bike. they are in the hardware store in drawers that have the weird stuff. the hardware store also sells very thin steel bars that can be cut at home quickly with a hack saw and then drill whatever holes you need. I like working with thin steel bars. one needs a vise, clamps, hacksaw, locking vise grips, sledge hammer and good drill bits, etc. but you can pretty much make whatever you need. hardware store also sells thin aluminum bars that can be cut, bent and drilled. but steel is real.

go forth and conquer :-)

I went to two hardware stores to try to find extra parts to help make this rack work. I couldn't find anything that would easily make this worthwhile. I decided it would be too much hassle to try and make this "universal" rack fit my bike. I have returned the rack and I suppose I will just go to the LBS to purchase another rack. Hey, at least I'll end up with an alloy one instead of a heavy steel one.

Thanks for everyones reply! Bikeforums has quickly become my favorite forum ever.

Late to the party, since you already returned the original rack; but here's how I would handle the problem, in case someone else wants to give it a try.

Measure the o.d. of the short brace tubing. Take that measurement to the hardware store and head to the fasteners department, where they keep all the strap steel and tubing/rods for parts fabrication. Find a steel or aluminum tube of the same diameter which you can cut and bend to the appropriate size. Seems to me that the attachment end at the stays is just stamp-pressed flat with a 6mm hole drilled in it for an M5 bolt.

I'm late too, but here's what I did to make my rack work

Here's my rack - https://www.amazon.com/Topeak-6310703...7305351&sr=8-1

I just bent and drilled the rails to fit around my seatpost clamp bolt. Removes quick too.

I had to extend the mounts for my wife as it was too low. I measured the height of the mounts for mine and built a bracket to raise hers to that height

Didn't catch this thread until just now but I agree with OP's decision to return the rack. That was the advice I was going to give as I read through the thread.
Nashbar and Performance Bike both have nice racks on sale right now, I've used them both and they both seem pretty adaptable with the mounting parts supplied. Here is the Sunlight Multi-fit from Nasbar: https://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product...7_10000_201501
It is not available in black from Nashbar, only silver but you might find it in black somewhere else.
Here is the Transit Rack from Performance Bike: https://www.performancebike.com/bikes..._400007_400104
I like the Sunlight rack slightly better, for three reasons, 1) it comes with a nifty strap for mounting to the brake bridge as an option (instead of P-clips on the seat stays), which the Transit does not have; 2) the vertical strut that mounts to the dropout is adjustable for height, and 3) the 3 strut per side design looks and probably is a little sturdier than the Transit's 2 strut design.
HTH.