NoReg

I just finished this up today in time to leave tommorow (I hope), for a couple of weeks of local touring.

It's heavily influence by the way Arvon does his racks, though I have only seen pictures, so it's just my take on the idea of low riders with a small porteur style rack. 26 joints! I'm glad I didn't add that up until they were all done.

Colour wise I wanted the rack to stand out, though it is going to look like Christmas since my bags and frame are green.

Cave

Wow, very nice!

Did you weld or braze the joints? How did you do the curve on the vertical supports?

NoReg

I brazed it. I do have a TIG, but I am still trying to master welding such small tubing. The wall is actually fairly thick, like the butts of bike tubes, but there isn't much overall metal to draw away the heat.

I did the curve in the same way I bent the corners, on a home made bender that uses dies I made out of machine belt pulleys. You just nudge the tubing every inch, rather than bending the 90 degree. Actually with this small tuibng it needs to be every .5 inch, maybe. If I was doing it again, I might take the time to build a ring roller.

I'm heading out this morning so I will find out how well it works.

One problem with this style of rack is that it won't pack easily in a bike box. But otherwise I like it.

tuz

Very nice!
Does the porteur (top) part attaches to the middle of the fork crown?

kipibenkipod

Beautiful!
The upper rack looks high. Is it so? If yes, you can eat breakfast on it when you ride
Can you please post a picture of the rack attached to the bike ?

NoReg

"Does the porteur (top) part attaches to the middle of the fork crown?"

Yes it does fit to the crown. Seems very stable. It was built on the bike so I could monitor how supported it is as it goes along. The bags are dead level, and there is a bit of rise to the rack.

I may be flashing through your town in a week Tuz, heading to Halifax, or Sept Isle today on my bike from TO. I always get lost coming through town.


"The upper rack looks high. Is it so? If yes, you can eat breakfast on it when you ride
Can you please post a picture of the rack attached to the bike ? "

As you can see the upper rack isn't all that high. The bags for this rack are fairly small I always put my heaviest things in them, so the racks can be low without any problems.

I'm liking the fender attachments direct to the rack.

tuz

That's an awesome rack Peterpan! Indeed the fender strut attachment is very original! Shouldn't interfere with your panniers. Have fun on your trip, on your urbanite!

Dress-up in the mornings... it's coooold

NoReg

"fender strut attachment is very original"

I wish, but a lot of custom racks use it. I am but a humble servant of earlier genius.

Do you have an Old man Rack on your Marinoni? I was talking to someone in Quebec with that set-up. Had done the Blue Ridge trail.

NoReg

So after rolling around and over roads for 2 weeks, all was well. The rack worked pretty perfectly. If I built another, about the only difference would be a stop on the upper beam to hold the pack in place, and that has more to do with the 4 point attachment of the panier than the performance of the rack. The paniers were rock solid, even without the stop. A big improvement over these paniers on my Blackburn, which would pop off periodically, which I suppose amounts to damning with faint praise!

As far as the design itself is concerned, the rack has a few problems. One, a porter rack is wide and offers more wind resistance. It is wide and will have to be removed to fit bike in return train box. And, the way this design is executed it intereferes with canti brake bridle. All of this was expected when I built it, otherwise I found it very practical, better ballanced and less tendency to vibrate, or for the front wheel to to be constantly pulling the bike over when at rest.