kenshinvt

Hopefully someone will know the answer to my rack dilemma. As you can see in the following picture, if you install a rear rack the metal arms have to reach down very far:



That works for the above setup, where there is a moderate amount of seatpost showing. I need to drop my rear seat lower to where there is about an inch of post showing to accommodate my 8 year-old stoker. As you can imagine, without super long metal support arms that wouldn't be possible.

Another option is a comfort rack that trek makes:


It has a large metal arm that inserts into the "accessory port" that is welded into the back of the frame. Does anyone have this? If so, do you have any idea how far down you can bring your stoker seat?

JTGraphics

I actually did look into that rack and tried it at the shop but it didn't fit the T900 frame.
At this time Trek only shows one model and it didn't fit, I think they at one time had this rack specifically for the T900 frame but no longer make it.
The rack in the photo is a Trek rack it can be adjusted to go down further in the front, the rack will be tilted but it can go down quite a bit, this I know because that photo is of my bike in its early days on owner ship.

kenshinvt

hmm ok, so I may only have a chance if I could find the older model rack and also try it out. That may not be worth the trouble of making a return to see.

Oh yeah, I thought I remembered finding that link to your t900 mods page off of a bikeforum's post. Great site, btw! I've referenced it a lot over the past year whenever I've been looking at potential things to do w/ my t900. The pictures are very clear and give me a good idea of what will and will not work.

JTGraphics

Thanks that's the only reason I have the photos up is to possibly help someone else with possible mods.
When I needed info I really didn't find anything on it, and this is what makes me put up some of these pages up since I have the website I figure I may as well take some photos and use it.

stevetone

I had that exact same question setting up my T900 for my 8 year-old daughter stoker. I rejected the Trek rack as it uses a velcro strap to attach the bottom stays, which I did not think was too secure.

I ended up putting a Topeak Explorer rack on. With only 1.5" of seatpost showing I was a little apprehensive as well. But, the rack sits far enough back that it doesn't cause any interference at all. It provides for 4 bolts to attach the long arm brackets to the rack, but because of the distance I was only able to use the last 2 and it is fine--very secure. My stoker is happy and so am I!

PS. I also had the crank arms shortened to 135mm to give a more age-appropriate stroke circle. This, in my opinion, is a "Must-do" for child stokers. I could not bring myself to have her use 170mm cranks with her knees up to her chest, and the add-on crank shorteners add so much width to the pedal stroke that, as Mark of Bikesmith Design (who shortened the cranks) said, "the Q factor with most crank shorteners is a form of child abuse."

I could provide a picture of the setup if you'd like. Hope this helps!

Steve

kenshinvt

Great idea. I actually use the topeak explorer rack on my commuter bike. I can see now from looking at it that it does have much longer arms than the rack I tried to install on the t900. I may just have to pick up another one of these. I also am not a fan of the velcro comfort rack attachment (why do it on a frame with frame mounts?).

That sounds like a nice setup. Unfortunately she is often alternating with a much taller stoker mom so I wouldn't want to do anything too person-specific

I wouldn't mind seeing if you had one handy.. at least the resulting angle on the rack.

stevetone

Here's a picture. You'll notice that the rack tips slightly toward the front, which will be remedied when my stoker grows another inch or so

You'll notice that we swapped out the tractor seats for a Brooks B17 for me and a Serfas Reactive Gel Youth saddle for the stoker. Also had to ditch the suspension seatpost to gain another 1.5" of adjustment.

Also shown are a Topeak Road Morph pump and a Click-Stand.

The setup has worked excellent so far.

Steve

kenshinvt

thanks! that doesn't look bad at all. That looks close to what topeak even recommends (slight angle inwards). Where'd you get that handlebar waterbottle holder?

stevetone

My stoker couldn't reach the usual water bottle mount, so I put the cage in the center of the stoker bar and mounted the pump where the water bottle usually sits. The water bottle bracket is a Minoura BH-60. I ordered it through Amazon, but check around for prices (MSRP is $5). The cages themselves are all PlanetBikes.

I really like the MTX QuickTrack system for mounting the bag. However, there are some shopping trips that I could use a bigger carrier, as the DX bag is not very large. Ideally, I would like to mount a QuickTrack bracket on the bottom of a milk crate, but haven't figured that out quite yet...

Have fun on your T!

Steve

kenshinvt

I was having the same problem with her not being able to reach the bottle. We were remedying it by me handing her back a bottle while we were in motion. In retrospect, that's not really ideal. I'll be on the lookout for that attachment.

There is always the DXP bag which is 1500 ci instead of the DX bag's 800 ci. I went with the new 2008 model DXP bag which is only 1220 ci. Mainly because I just really liked the look of it and the updated materials.

Considering you would need to somehow get your hands on a bracket to make that crate modification, you may just want to shell out for their MTX rear basket. Probably would look a lot nicer too

swc7916

I like the Tubus cargo rack because it has straight supports that don't have to be bent. It also comes in a shorter size for 26" wheels so you should be able to mount it level.

Ben There

Get a mountain-bike rack. They are shorter. mtn bikes have same wheelsize as the T900

Xanti Andia

How about these racks that attach to the V-Brake bosses?

https://www.oldmanmountain.com/Pages/...RearRacks.html

Somebody in the touring forum gave me the link for a bike that does not have rack braze-ons. In the end I found another solution so I have not actually seen them, only looiked at the pictures on the site.

Michel Gagnon

I had a similar problem, albeit on a different bike.

First of all, put your rack horizontal. This should move the rack shelf backwards by about 0,75 to 1". If the struts aren't long enough, do yours with a stock aluminium bar.

If the rack doesn't fit, then the basic Blackburn EX-1 should fit. Its shelf is further back, so panniers are approximately centred over the wheel axis.

In my case, with a perfectly horizontal rack, I can slide down the saddle so it shows about 1.5 inch of seatpost. OR... I turn the saddle sideways, lower the seatpost completely and then turn it back in place; then the saddle is lower than the shelf of the rack, but it works. In that position, I can have 0-1.2 inch of seatpost showing.