I have a Surly 1x1 (mountain bike) that I want to mount a rack. The Surly web site says that the frame has braze-ons only for fenders. Looking at pictures of their other frames (long haul trucker for example) there doesn't appear to be much difference between the fender braze-ons and the rack braze-ons.

Can I use the fender braze-ons to mount a rack?
Can I mount both fenders and racks on the same bazee-on? (with proper hardware)
I'm worried about overloading the braze on and ruining the frame.

Plan a very light weight load?

Not? want it secure ? Have you considered an Old Man Mountain Rack?
It fits onto the axle ends rather than a frame bosses.


The picture shows what looks like something braze tacked on ..
I dont own one, cannot attest to the TW brazers skill or the metal Prep, Before hand.

you might wait till someone else that does own one, too.

If you put both rack and fender brackets on the same bolt, it is stronger if the rack is next to the dropout, then the fender bracket is further out from the dropout.

If it is not a derailleur bike, there may be enough room for the fender inside the dropout (with washer and nylock nut) and rack on the outside, but most bikes have the chain too close to the dropout for this to work. I do this on one bike with an internally geared hub.

I am not familiar with the 1X1 dropouts, I have no comment on strength.

Your "fender" braze-on should be strong enough to use for a rack. I've got several bikes with double sets of eyelets on the dropouts, and I can tell no difference between the ones supposedly intended for racks or fenders. You may also be able to mount both fenders and rack to the same eyelets with a long-enough bolt, but it might fail if you carry heavy loads on the rack.

as for using the one braze on for both fender and rack, my experience with my aluminum framed Tricross is that it works fine. This bike has only one braze on and I've had a rack and fenders on for four years without any issues, with up to about 25lbs or so in the rear panniers. I used a longer bolt and all has been well. I havent been doing mtn bike touring on really rough roads for days and days on end, and I havent had more than 30lbs on the rack.
As Tarwheel said, my old touring bike with two sets of eyelets doesnt seem to have a diff between the two.

In my opinion, keeping an eye on bolt tightness is more of an issue, as bolts getting loose will cause so much more "bad" force on an eyelet (and dont forget overtightening, I have made that mistake too) Loctite seems to be a really good preventative measure I wish I had done in the past.

Thanks everyone for your replys. It's good to hear mounting both fenders + rack works on aluminum frame with light load! The 1x1 frame is steel. With an aluminum bolt, the bolt should theoretically fail first, I just like being overly cautious. I wish they would rate those eyelets for weight they will bare. The idea to mount the fenders on the inside (to minimize torque on the eyelet) is a pretty good! I may try that.

I stacked up the rack and fender stay, see picture. Bolt does not go through the frame and out the other side, so no nut on the end. Regular old fender aluminum stay and regular old aluminum rack.

Why would you ever use an aluminum bolt? And don't worry about the torque in the eyelet, especially on a steel frame. Put the rack on closest to the eyelet, because that's the source of bending loads. The fenders are essentially no load. Use an internal hex head steel bolt, which will be a high grade bolt. I prefer stainless bolts where possible on a bike, but high quality plated ones are second best. Don't bother with a black-finished bolt -it will rust. BTW, I use Anti-Seize on most bike fasteners, and lock washers on rack bolts, since they are subject to vibration that can cause them to loosen. Yes, I'm an engineer.

Dfrost thanks for your comments. I suppose I am overly cautious about load from the rack damaging the mounting eyelet. I too like the stainless hex bolts, been using them for fenders for years. It would be good to create a point of failure that is not the eyelet.

The only diference is the location and quantity

No problem but you also need an attachment point on the seat stay.

If at all possible mount the rack closest to the frame so your load doesn't flex the bolt. The fender doesn't add much stress.

It's pretty unlikely that the eyelet will fail, even if a steel bolt is used. (I've been sharing racks and fenders on eyelets for years - probably loads of 20 lb are typical). An aluminum bolt will almost certainly fail, probably at the most inconvenient time.

Don't use an aluminum bolt! It WILL fail. The eyelets for mounting fenders and racks are no different. You can install them together on one eyelet - I've done this myself and carried plenty of weight with no trouble. But your approach is the wrong way, you should put the rack on the inside. You don't need to worry about breaking the eyelets.

Where you might run into trouble is the lack of rack mounts on the seat stays. That's what it means when a frame only has fender mounts - there are no eyelets for the rack struts on the seat stays. This is easy to solve if you know about it ahead of time, you simply need to get a rack designed for such a situation, or an adaptor. Keep in mind that these solutions could mar the finish on the frame, and be very careful with anything that clamps on the seat stays. You don't want to damage them. This isn't likely to be a big problem on a Surly 1x1, but don't let your guard down.

Is surly drawing attention to the fact there aren't mid fork brazeons. The eyelet ones should be as strong as any other.

What I most prefer is to build the fender eyelets into the rack. But barring that, I braze the support rods to a small tag of flat plate, and then I place that on the eyelet side, and bolt the rack to the outside of it. The result is strong bearing and good lines for everything. I use a piece of metal about 1/8" thick and the size of a stamp.

If you put the fenders on the outside, fender loops are not strong enough for the bolts to properly hold the fenders in place. Or in some cases the bearing on the rack outside is not stable enough. Of course it all works, but if you want to get into it, those are the potential issues.

Washers help.