Mounting a rear rack on a Kilo WT
 

Hello,

I'm thinking of picking up a Kilo WT from Bikesdirect, but after reviewing the photos, it looks like mounting a rear rack may be a problem, since the cantilever brake may block access to the mounting point on the chainstays. See pic below.

Has anyone been able to mount a rear rack on a Kilo WT? Maybe BD can chime in?

Thanks,
Alberto

http://bikesdirect.com/products/merc...images/rr2.jpg

Some racks come with single struts that mount on the brake bridge. That would be the simplest solution.

Otherwise, depending on the size of your frame, you can bend the strut to clear the brake.

The Motobecane Messenger has the same issue although I've never tried to mount a rear rack to it. My plan was to, as roadfix mentioned, bend the struts.

Technical note- That is still a [long reach] caliper brake and not cantilever.

Rack should fit fine....
 

Here's a pic shot from directly behind (sorry for the crappy cell phone photo). I run fixed so the brake is just sitting there and if it was installed and adjusted you'd have even more room for the struts.

Roland

Attachment 133336

Just to be a terminology nazi, that's not a canti.

Looks like your tire is almost rubbing on your brake caliper. Curious as to why you didn't remove it, since it's not being used.

Easy. Lose the rear brake. In an emergency braking situation, your weight shifts forward onto the front wheel, and the rear brake means virtually nothing anyway. Ask anyone who does skidz! Once the rear wheel locks up, it hardly slows you down.

http://www.easttnriders.com/forum/im...milies/075.gif This posting is inaccurate on so many levels.

I did remove it...I just set it up there to snap a photo to show there was clearance for a rack. It's back in the parts bin now.

Really? How so?

You got the reason why rear brakes are unnecessary on a fg wrong (you seem to misinterpret it as a reason why rear brakes are unnecessary on any kind of bike), and also you missed the post just above yours that shows that there is enough clearance anyways.

Really? I've been riding all kinds of bikes since 1972, (including track bikes on the street before the term "fixie" was ever heard of), and I don't yet understand the utility of a rear brake? The rear brake on any bicycle is at MOST 20% of your stopping power, and that's only under ideal conditions. Really, it's just a "drag brake" useful for scrubbing off speed on descents, which is what we use them for on tandems.

And you missed the point that the bike shown was NOT the bike the OP was necessarily going to get! Whether or not a rack with the dual mounts will fit has to do with frame size as well frame design, and we ARE talking about cheap bikes here. (And no offense meant to BD about "cheap bikes". I own several "cheap bikes" myself, and I think they're great for what they are/were intended to be.)

So to be ABSOLUTELY sure a rack will fit on the bike the OP buys, there are only two sure-fire answers:
Lose the rear brake, or
Go with a brake bolt mount system.

Threads like this confuse me. Granted, my Windsor is not exactly the same, but close enough. I just tried two racks from my spares box. One was a tubular rack from a mountain bike, with sturdy round struts. Clearance was close, but a little bending would fix that. And since the brake moves away from the strut when you use it, contact should not be an issue. Then I tried a rack with the flat straps for struts. Plenty of clearance, no bending required.

Alberto, judging by the bikes you own, I'm guessing you have at least the very minimal mechanical aptitude required to work on your own bikes. If you are buying a rack from a local shop, you should be able to check fit before leaving the shop. If you have an existing rack, or are buying one online, you should be able to make it fit.

Re-read the original post, Brian. He hasn't bought the bike yet, which is why he can't check the fit.

Yeah, I saw that the first time. And what I'm saying is that one way or another, he'll be able to get a rack to fit.

Ought to be able to! Different scenario, but on our Fuji tandem (19/15), the straps supplied with any rack are a full 6" too short! You can see the problem in the pic of the bike:
http://www.bikepedia.com/QuickBike/B...+4.2&Type=bike

Made it work and look decent by cutting off the ends of a second set of straps and bolting two together.

Thanks, Roland. That just about answers my question.

And yesss it's a caliper, not canti sorry. I'm a terminology nazi too, which now makes me a hypocrite.

I just went by my LBS and they have a brand new Bianchi Pista in blue in my size (53cm) on sale for $425. It's tempting... hmmm.

PS thanks to everyone else for their feedback.

Nope. A rear brake is also useful anytime traction is poor, which is often unless you only ride your bike in "ideal conditions". It's fine to omit the rear brake from a fg since leg braking is good enough in most cases. But riding ss with no rear brake is a bad idea... unless you get really good at dealing with the inherent limitations of a bike that's set up like that, sooner or later you will skid the front wheel on some wet pavement, ice, gravel or whatever, and then you'll likely go down on your low side.

The OP asked specifically about Kilo WTs, which if I'm not mistaken was the bike in the photo that was posted.

For mounting rear racks on your tandem you could try fabbing up your own custom straps out of some long strips of stainless steel. If you used steel that was slightly thicker than regular rack straps the end product would be stiffer and likely look nicer than two straps put together. I made my own strap for my nashbar front rack and it works great; it's much stronger and better looking than the flimsy stock strap.

I just used some custom clamps on my tandem, and a attached the straps to the brakes stays.

It is the bike in the photo that was posted, and it is a SS, so a rear brake would be nice, especially since I don't have a dental plan :-D

Lisa needs braces!

Nope. That's when a rear brake is least useful. All it does is skid the wheel. And yes, you need to learn how to use your front brake. I doubt I've used the rear brake on my road bike at all in the last 20 years.

But part of your comment does bring out a point that I didn't consider: gravel brings to mind the off-road crowd. A rear brake is very useful in off-road riding. So for those who participate in ss/fg cyclo-cross and mountain biking, my apologies. I was in fact referring to ON road riding.

And now, ice? You ride on ice? Well, I don't know WHAT you need to do, other than get a frontal lobotomy!

I gathered that, but if you read my post, I clearly stated that frame size matters! It can be the same bike, but with a cheap manufacturer, if they don't move the seat stay mounts for the smaller frames, they can end up not working!

I even showed a case in point where, because of the small size of our Fuji tandem, the standard straps were 6" away from even touching ANY point on the seat stays.

So do VegBiker and Roland ride the same size frame? I didn't have that information, and that's why I said there were only two foolproof answers with the info we had.

And lastly, I also didn't ask for any "tips" about how to fix the Fuji rack issue! Yes, there are 73 ways you can do it, but I already chose one 3 years ago and fixed it to my satisfaction.

Whew!

Aw crap! I remember that episode.

You are doing it wrong. If "all it does is skid the wheel" you aren't modulating it correctly.

His is apparently only an on/off switch.