Is this normal for all front racks, or just my luck?
 

All of our touring in the past has been either hut to hut, or short and we've never needed front racks. So now I buy front racks, and they're both skewed. Is this something you'd return them over, or is this normal?

I'd just bend 'em straight.

What brand and model? Blackburn lookalikes (ex.: MEC) are often crooked, but I can tell you that my two Burce Gordon are very straight and very rigid. So the rack may be crooked, but there might be other issues:

– fork is crooked, so the wheel doesn't sit squarely in the fork ;
– wheel is off-centred (dished improperly).. You may check the dish with a proper tool like this; it may also be measured on a table.

You may want to rule out these factors by trying the rack(s) or the wheel on another bike.

They're Jandd racks on both my wife and my bikes.

How would I go about bending without breaking?

Slowly.

Seriously, most racks are easily bendable given that care is taken.

Pretty common from my experience. In all likelihood, the lower mounting tabs are not square (parallel), so when you tighten them down it forces the rack off center. My last OMM was that way and not easy to straighten due to it's design, but the Jandd have a longer mounting arm so take it back off the bike, eyeball it and tweak slightly with a long crescent wrench. You can also bend it straighton the bike but you risk putting a lot of torque on the braze-on - I would probably try the wrench first.

Do some basic measurements and check things with a square and a straight edge. If it's just nudged off to one side then you might try bending it, though tubbing racks can be stiff and easily damaged. If it turns out some parts are out not correct then return it. My experience with racks has been good.

Fistly make sure your front wheel is in sqaure, if it is then send it back and get a replacement rack if the replacement is also skew then it's most likely your drop out braise ons that are slightly bent. If you need to staighten it then I'd suggest seeing a frame builder who has the right tools for the job as you could been twisting and a bending a few time as you don't know which axis it's out in and there's a licklyhood you could snap it off. I've work in the cycle trade for a while and there is nothing like the right tools for the right job.

My front rack (OMM AC Lowrider) is a little crooked, but not as much as the ones in your photos.

I am always mounting front racks on the strangest friggin bikes imaginable, the kids that come to our touring company bring some screwed up rigs....

And I always mount em, see how far off they are, grab the front hoop, and bend. Go slow, with even and steady pressure. They wont break unless you try to bend them past the wheel or something.

Most often this has to do with the fact that there is no jig to weld on the eyelets for rack mounting, so they are not perfectly square. Unless you ride an Indy Fab, Bruce Gordon, or Rivendell, then you will most likely have to bend a bit. Even on my LHT I had to bend.

Just installed Tubus Tara racks and neither were perfectly aligned which suprisied me, but not as much as yours. I would send them back if you determine it's the racks and not the bikes fault. There really isn't any excuse for a company that is putting out hundreds or thousands of these things. .

It would be so easy to adjust it slightly that I can't imagine sending back and forth.

Yeah, I have the same problem with my Old Man Mountain front rack. It's bent so far in that I only have about 1/4" clearance on one side. I've tried bending it, but I can't get the shape right. Oh well, as long as it's not hitting my wheel, I guess it's okay. Heh, commuter bikes are not OCP.

Bend them to fit and go on down the road.

I did a search for this old thread because I just installed my front rack and it was crooked. I remembered reading this a while back ago so looked it up. Ironically (hopefully) I also purchased a jandd rack. I will try bending tonight and let everybody know how it turned out.

Hi,
My Old man Mountain is offset similiar to the one in the picture. I've ridden it for about 6000 miles with no complications.

Bought two Tara racks: my wifes was a little offset and mine was straight. I guess I could have been a nice husband and traded. I ended up using a spacer between the stay and the eyelet. I would be careful bending aluminum. If it really bothers you, and it would me too, take them back.

Your first picture looks like the rack isn't bolted to the fork. Is it? Even if it is bolted to the fork it looks like the very top of the rack is standing off from the fork by about 1/4". That's not good.

In the other pictures it looks like fork leg bolt is low on the bracket with several inches above the mounting point. This could be part of the problem. Are you using the upper or lower mounting point on the fork tip? I'd use the lower one to keep the rack lower.

This is a thread-jack! :eek: :eek:

Totally unrelated to your rack problem but to make your handlebar bags easier to use without interfering with the shifter cables, think about replacing the end of the cable with a noodle off a v-brake. It turns the shift cable down at 90 degrees and gets them clear of the bag. Below are pictures.


http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...bar-detail.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...e/T800-bar.jpg

You may now have your thread back:D