It can, especially with racktop trunks that rely on a set of 4 velcro straps to hold them in position. As you make the rack narrower, then you have to eat that up with the straps. You can run out of strap in a hurry because it's a double there and back sort of thing. Arkel, with their Tailrider (neat bag) will make those straps longer if you tell them. With some of the Tubus racks, the really narrow ones, you also don't have much of a base to hold a rack trunk either.

That's what appealled to me about the Racktime Addit, it was wide enough but not too wide and it works great with both an Arkel Bug (on either the top or bottom rail) and the Tailrider. What's nice about the bottom rail is that if lets a rack trunk were really well with a pannier or backpack/pannier.

J.

That wasn't the point :D The point was whether a few cm would make a difference in the overall bike width when squeezing through traffic.

LOL

Duh.

J.

You are making this a lot more difficult than it needs to be. Don't over think it. The rack will fit, and shipping from the UK to Germany isn't expensive if for some bizarre reason you have a problem.

I've tried a few racks in a local bike shop and they interfered with the rear mudguard struts to the extent that I'd have to choose between the mudguards and rear rack, so my choice of rack needs to take that into account. The RackTime AddIt looks like an awesome rack so I'll do some further checking before I order it.

Do you recommend any German retailers of RackTime?

I'm grateful for the information though ;)

Thanks, but it's too small I think - I've pretty much decided to go for the Arkel Bug, despite it being very expensive here in the UK, but as I'll be using it every day it's hopefully a worthwhile investment.

RackTime and Tubus are the same company, with Tubus supplying the hardcore-touring upper-end of the market with steel racks and RackTime supplying the mid-range market with alu racks. Just a shame that no-one sells them in the UK.

Simply bend the mudguard struts to fit.

I've used this company a lot.
http://www.bike-components.de/advanc...words=racktime

I'm thinking of that combination of AddIt and Bug myself - I've just bought a Topeak Super Tourist DX but found that it's quite wide and interferes with the u-lock carrier on the frame and makes the cantilever brakes awkward to get to, so I'm less keen on that. I can order the Addit from a website in Germany so I think I'll do that and give it a go - the narrower width, the lower hanging rail and the 30kg weight limit are all pluses over the Topeak rack.

I'm now using Racktime rear & front racks, They work pretty well imo. :)

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-S...y%25252005.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-p...y%25252006.JPG

That's exactly why I bought it and how it works. The Topeak stuff is good, but it is not nearly as trim as the Addit. Also, while I have some of the Topeak bags that lock onto the rack and they are nice, they are also heavy.

What's I'm considering is getting the adaptor from Racktime that you can then use to modify other rack packs and make them snap onto the back of the Addit too. That would give me the best of both.

J.

Nice pics and nice gear - is that a Sutra?

Yes it is, Kona Sutra 2008.:D

Agree with AdamDZ. The super strong racks are for people who plan to ride to Tierra Del Fuego on rough roads with 60 lbs of camping gear. For commuting, you don't need anything that strong. A basic aluminum rack will last for years. If your bike has disc brakes, that will complicate things a little, but there are special racks made for that.

I ordered a Racktime Addit from them and it arrived today, but with the fixings missing! They're going to send them to me asap.

The rack does look good and it seems to fit my bike no problem, I like that it's quite narrow (but not too narrow).

That's exactly what attracted me - narrow enough to be trim but not too narrow for things like easy use of a rack trunk.

j.

Well I received the fittings but there aren't any instructions - do Racktime supply instructions? If so are they on-line anywhere? They look pretty simple to install so I'm probably being a bit finicky, just in case there's any info I might be missing.

Look here.

http://www.tubus.com/en/download

I've used an original Blackburn rack on my commuter tourer since it came out (I think late 70s early 80s) with various panniers.

At the moment I use Altura Orkneys, which are pretty good, two external pockest and a top pocket as well as rain cover and loop straps. I don't like single volume waterproof panniers for touring as I like to have some bits in particular places and usually use black bin liners to make the interior completely dry.

[just posted this in another thread but putting here too as it speaks to the subject. I'm another lazy reader who hasn't gone through the whole thread so maybe this one has been suggested before...but you haven't seen this pannier!!]

Here's something to know about for a commuting road bike: the Axiom Streamliner Disc DLX rack. Whether you have disc brakes or not, the extensions on the bottom pull the rack back a couple of inches so that you avoid heel-strike issues on road bikes with shorter chainstays or very tall bike where the rack has to be farther forward to make it level as in my 1982 Trek 715 that I commute on. This changed my life, at least the commuting part of it, because it allowed me to everything off my body and onto the bike. Here are some shots:

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-K...-KfR8SD9-L.jpg

http://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-s...-sz9J2Fp-L.jpg

Was finally able to get a pannier big enough to carry my laptop which greatly increased commute frequency. If anyone is interested in the most awesome pannier ever, you can order this one from Troy at Philosophy Bags. Canvas and leather, made in USA. Not cheap but the quality is amazing and Troy is great to work with. He made this one custom.

Thanks, good call :)

Dunno why I didn't think of that, after all Tubus and RackTime are the same company and the fitting hardware is very similar if not the same. But it begs the question, why no downloadable manuals on the RackTime site?

It's pretty straightforward, don't really need directions.

Just get it to where you want and then cut the stays to the length you want with a hacksaw.

J.

I fitted it and found that the stays are too long by about 60% so they need cutting short - unfortunately I have neither a hacksaw or vice so cutting them to length won't be so simple, unless I can find a workshop or something to do it for me.

Just run down to an auto-parts store (oh, the irony) or a hardware store. 5$ will get you a crappy, but functional, hacksaw.

^^ this.

It's a pretty common tool. Borrowing one is pretty easy too. You don't need a vise, just find a step, put the piece down on the step, put a foot on it and saw.

J.

Hmmm, after looking at pics of other bikes and the stay length required to fit a rack on those, I'm thinking I'd be better off leaving the stays as they are, or at least cut them down to the bare minimum required.

Looking at the below two pics it appears there may be some any strain from the rack itself on the stays:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/ZJ...Wf2MoO-mQ=s512
Very hard to tell though, however slight.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/2-...GHKZ0kSYQ=s512
On the last pic you can see where the bottom fixing of the rack very slightly interferes with the seat-stay weld, chipping off some of the paint in the process. I have rubber washers that I might use to provide some clearance behind the mount and also cover the bare metal where the paint was chipped away.
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/DQ...FmTt8c3tQ=s512

Once that's all sorted out, time to get either an Ortlieb Vario or Arkel Bug on the rack and see if heel-strike is an issue.

I don't think that would hurt anything but it would look nicer if they were trimmed a bit.

j.

I can see why the stays are so long though, some bikes like the Kona Sutra have the braze-ons very low down the seat stay.

Now I'm simply going to say that you are extremely high maintenance and very pedantic. Go ride your bike, and stop obsessing over minor details.