Lattybuck

I haven't been cycling in 20 years. But the new job moved me here and pays a dollar each way to ride to work so I am back. Used to bike a lot as a kid long long ago. I forgot how much fun it was enjoying the ride.
That said I found a comfortable bike for a decent price on sale and now am having some difficulty locating a rear rack that will do what I need and not cause issues. I need to carry work cloths with me and the ocassional larger book/manual home as needed. Plus lunch and a few extras would be nice. I was hoping for some kind of saddle bag arrangement if I can make it work correctly.
The bike is a shiny new mongoose pathfinder with full suspension front and back. I put some kevlar road tires on it on my bosses advise for some weird california thorn that have that likes tires. The issue seems to be getting a rear rack that wont mess up the independent suspension and will take a decent sized bag. People are tellin me that the seat stem mounted ones are the only ones that work on independent suspensions like mine. But they have some real size limitations and I wonder about hangin 20 or 30 pounds on em for a 5 to 10 mile comute. The work cloths cant be crammed into too small a case/bag and come out decent on the other side. I hate wearing a backpack on a bike.
Can't seem to locate much data on racks for independent suspension bikes I thought maybe I am not the only one looking for this solution.
I expect the bike willl see some mountains this summer also. Fresno seems to be a nice place to do this in.
Your help is appreciated.
Take care all

el twe

You could try a messenger bag (good ones feel like you're wearing nothng), or maybe some front panniers if the back won't work? I don't know...

moxfyre

I'd have to agree... I've never seen a rack other than a seatpost "beam" style rack that can fit on a full suspension bike. Definitely wouldn't hang 20 pounds on one of those.

I hope you enjoy the new bike! I used to commute on a mongoose front-suspension mountain bike, loved it till it got stolen. The only thing I would tell you is that having suspension is annoying for road rides. Front suspension makes you bounce up and down on hills and lose a lot of your power, and rear suspension makes you bounce a little bit with every pedal stroke, again losing power. I now own a couple rigid bikes (old cyclocross and old ten speed) and vastly prefer them for riding on the road.

So if you feel like you need a little more speed for the road, I'd suggest picking up a cheap old ten-speed bike. And you can put a normal rack on 'em too.

ivan_yulaev

Yeah, sorry, but looks like you're going to have to wear a backpack

tulip

Is your commute off-road? If not, you may well decide to get a non-suspension bike. They are more efficient and comfortable (and useful, i.e., rack) for commuting on-road. Then you can get some panniers (bikespeak for saddlebags).

MichaelW

A full sus in not neccessary for road comutinmg and as you have discourered, there is no easily available, cheap effective luggage rack.
You may a sus-compatible one from a company called Old Man Mountain.
You could also investigate the Carridice SQR system, available from wallbike.com amonst others

Juha

Search these Forums for seat tube racks, and you will find many good reasons NOT to use one. Limited load capacity and possible damage to your seat tube are the first that come to mind.

You can often mount a low-rider front rack to a suspension fork with a little tinkering. Having panniers only at front might feel a bit awkward, but would probably do the trick. Or look into the Old Man Mountain rack or the Carradice system as suggested above.

--J

kf5nd

keep pants and jackets and ties at work
only take in fresh shirt, socks, and undies

mattmatthew

an alternative to racks and messenger bags are saddle bags. if you have a brooks saddle, brooks comes with saddle bag loops to the rear of the seat. the bag hangs from these loops and is held still by wrapping around the seatpost. in my opinion, i never liked racks 'cause i never carry that much (that is, enough to fill two rear panniers) to begin with, and having just one pannier kinda offsets the balance of the bike; and messenger bags and backpacks both put the weight on my shoulders, which isn't so bad when you begin the ride but about 15-30 min later it feels a lot heavier. i run a sort of makeshift saddle bag off my brooks seat, but there are nicer options out there:

Rivendell makes custom Carradice brand saddle bags to their specifications;

Wallingford Bicycles sells Berthoud and standard Carradice bags (not as pricey as the Rivendell stuff);

if you are on the go a lot, on and off your bike, a mess bag is the way to go though. unless you have a nice, secure place to store your bike after your commute, having bags on the bike itself can be a pain, and it gives people off the street free range to mess with your stuff.

aloha,
matt

oakesme

I had this problem after searching I made my own rack. It is like a seatpost beam rack but attaches to the seat tube in two places, and has vertical struts which slide at the axle skewer. The struts keep panniers out of the wheel. This gives me a rack which can take full size panniers over anything. I can still get off the back of the seat on v steep decents. I guess a seatube rack could be modified to this format with a few bolt ons.

Tubus make F and R racks for full sus bikes https://www.tubus.net/eng/index.php see SWINGER and VARO but I think VARO require some mods or dedicated fixtures on frame rear.

Suspended panniers give a wonderful smooth ride on roughstuff. I use a carradice saddlebag for day rides.

old man emu racks are quick to remove for fun riding but your luggage gets pummled.

Rucsacs are sweaty and horrible on a bike unless its short high energy roughstuff.