StephenH

Just wondered if anyone had any experience making their own racks? I see lots of items that go on a rack, but looks like everyone is using a standard purchased rack to start with. Any ideas?

oneredstar

I have not made one, but just to clarify are you talking about a rear pannier rack, front pannier rack, or front cargo rack. If you are thinking about a fron cagro rack I have a great one that I think could easily be replicated.

JunkyardWarrior

i was gunna try to make a rear rack out of steel rod...weld washers for mounting it....ya know i havent seen any that mount using the rear brake mount.....i have brakes by the cranks where the kickstand would go...i guess i could make baskets too

i'll see if i come up with anything tomorrow

StephenH

I was thinking rear rack for general purposes. Mainly to put stuff on top of, thinking a mini-trunk or toolbox. I can figure out how to make a rear rack, just by the time I'm done, I'd be out $40 at Lowes, so I was just curious if there was some better approach.

JunkyardWarrior

well i got lucky and had an old printer stand layin around....it was the right size rod and covered in plastic so i started choppin it up.....welding was kinda messy but so far im really happy with it....i need to add a few diagonal braces to support the rack and find something to use for the mounts, the washer idea didnt work...sorry for the dark pics

i used the sides of the stand for the supports and the top and bottom parts combined to make the rack part.....i also wanted a larger rack than ive seen around but i think i could still get panniers of some sort onto it

JunkyardWarrior

oh i forgot to take pics before i cut it up but i found 2 on ebay...only prob is the only pic is in the list...once you click on the listing the pics dont show up
https://search.ebay.com/compact-print...Zm37QQfromZR40

but you can look at thrift stores and find something to chop up.....this might give you some ideas

Doug5150

I've done this a couple times for one bike--the first try didn't work so hot, so I cut it up and made another that was better overall.

https://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcim...n/general.html

I made mine out of 3/8" and 5/16" OD tubing I bought from a local metals supplier. I would think that steel rod would end up rather heavy, as the stiffness depends a lot on the outer diameter. Racks made out of aluminum usually use solid rod, but racks made out of steel tend to use tubing.

I probably used ~$50-$60 worth of tubing for the second attempt. This bike being rather unusual, nobody makes a rack that's really tailored to fit it (-nothing off the rack! har har-) and the manufacturer makes an adapter kit for normal racks that shifts them back 3-4 inches, but for a taller rider the seat will still overhang the rack a lot, preventing attaching a normal trunk bag.

I attached mine with 4-bolt clamps that I made, because the puny screws that US bike companies use to hold racks on are simply crap. The disk brake made attaching it at the rear dropout a problem and the seatstay tubes were un-tapered anyway, so making clamps just made sense. I also welded a pair of hooks bent from 1/16" x 1/2" steel on both sides, to hang grocery baskets from.

I use an oxy-acetylene torch which I like for working with steel, because you don't have to weld everything--you can heat steel red-hot, bend it into a shape you need, and after it air-cools again it is still as stiff and strong as before. If you bend the same metal cold, it loses a lot of its strength and stiffness.
....
Aluminum can be welded and brazed with the same kind of torch, but it's more difficult to work with than steel and the heat-affected zone of aluminum tends to soften a lot (unless it is heat-treaded again, which you can't really do at home). I use steel for welding projects unless for some reason I must use aluminum.

The first attempt I carefully planned out in a CAD program, cut all the tubing and welded it together and it ended up a mess overall. It sat too high and not level. The second one I eyeballed most of the way, cutting everything slightly over-length so I could trim it to fit and only using a tape measure to make sure parts were generally cut to the same lengths, and it ended up a lot better overall.

The kickstand didn't turn out ideal, but it still works way better than anything else I could find. With the grocery baskets on, I can put three 2-liter bottles of soda in one basket with the other empty, and (on level ground) the bike won't fall over. I'd have liked to make it spring-loaded like a "real" kickstand is, but that would require a solid attachment point on the frame a couple inches long, rear of the back axle. I wasn't quite courageous enough to try that this time around.
~

wahoonc

I have seen racks made out of plywood and metal bar stock, all types of metal scraps. Your imagination is the limit. On the other hand if you are doing it just to save a buck you probably won't. I have picked up bike racks out of the trash for free, gotten them from the LBS for $3-$5 off the clearance/used stuff table. Swapped odds and ends for them and of course paid full price for a set of Jandd Expedition Racks

Aaron

oldfool

I have made rear racks from a skateboard (using pieces of an old frame and kickstand parts), an old child carrier and aborted attempts using wood and/or old bicycle frames. It seems there are as many ideas out there as there are backyard engineers and most work. I finally gave up and bought a well made and sturdy one for less than ten bucks on Amazon. However, the kickstand problem remains. When I have a real load for the three baskets on my home made long bike it tends to, in the words of my neighbors 4 year old," tump over". It's embarrassing because I always seem to have an audience when it happens. I really thought of trying to fabricate one modeled after the delivery bikes of the 1940's but they seem a little massive and cumbersome hanging out behind the front wheel. Your design solves all of that and I intend to start on one for my bike as soon as it gets warm enough for my hands to work in the shop. Thanks for the idea.

JunkyardWarrior

thats a really nice rack doug, very impressive and i love the curves.....the first one wasnt bad either

Doug5150

Some people think it's nifty to try to spend nothing and improvise as much as possible, but I don't like making stuff that I know is going to fall apart. Especially when I expect to occasionally carry expensive and important things with it.

Also I added another picture and a bit of advice on that link at the bottom, if you care.

Before I started on the first rack, I had planned on fastening the dual-rear kickstand to the rack itself, near the lower-rear point where the rack attaches to the frame--but that was when I assumed I'd be able to buy some kind of fairly-small clamps to use, to hold the rack to the frame tubes. I looked all over online and couldn't find anything really ideal, so I had to make my own clamps (which are very solid) but are too bulky to mount down near the dropouts, because of the room taken up by the disk brake.
~

Nightshade

IMO, rear rack are so cheap it makes no sense to weld up your
own. It would cost 3x more in time & materials to DIY.

dwood

[QUOTE=Doug5150;5683899]

I use an oxy-acetylene torch which I like for working with steel, because you don't have to weld everything--you can heat steel red-hot, bend it into a shape you need, and after it air-cools again it is still as stiff and strong as before. If you bend the same metal cold, it loses a lot of its strength and stiffness.

___________________

Not to be too nit-picky . . . but if you "bend the same metal cold" you actually work-harden it some and it becomes stronger. The 'stiffness' remains the same. [this is assuming you are not bending it back-and-forth, back-and-forth until it is ready to fail].

Just for general information . . . the 'stiffness' for all carbon steels of any type remains the same whether it is annealed, heat-treated, whatever. Makes no difference. For example, that hardened drill bit that seems so stiff is actually no stiffer than if it was made from some crappy mild steel. Of course the hardened drill bit drills holes better <g>.

DON

StephenH

Well, after making two or three trips to the hardware stores trying to scout out material, I finally checked online, and found some racks a lot cheaper than what I saw the other day, including one at REI. So I went over and picked one up for $20 at REI. Still a bit of work to mount it to a bike that wasn't intended for it, but it'll work out all right.

One of the materials that I overlooked at the hardware stores was metal conduit. They had 1/2" conduit that would be sturdy enough and is fairly light, and cost was like $1.67 for a 10' piece. Meanwhile, aluminum and steel angles and similar sections were around $8-15 for a 4' or 6' long piece.

zonatandem

Have one made from carbon fiber and titanium . . .

JunkyardWarrior

no worries StephenH...sometimes just getting one is the best solution....if anything this post motivated me to finally make my own.....and since i already had everthing it didnt cost me anything......but thats not always the case...thx again for the post and let us know how it turns out when your done.....mine just needs quick wire brush and some white paint to replace the melted rubber coating where all the welds are......im not sure if they make an extra wide rack but thats what i wanted so i had to make one.....it ended up being 14'' long by 10'' wide........next is panniers that will tuck under the 3'' overhang of the rack ....the main thing is your happy with whatever you get

Doug5150

Normally that's true--but if you want something special (how many times have we seen "I keep kicking my panniers off!"*) or, in my case--for that particular model of bike, no regular racks will fit and the adapter kit that the bike's manufacturer sells (for attaching a regular rack) doesn't really work so great.
~

jonathan180iq

https://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/233886-homemade-rear-rack.html

I used this for a couple of months until I get a new bike which came with a manufactured rack.

It worked well. You can just cut the lengths that you need and wing it. Like I said, despite what others said, it worked well. I carried a backpack with books, bottles of water and a change of clothes daily

KnhoJ

Don't forget these!

Aluminum or steel flatbar is easy to come by, then all you need is a drill, a hacksaw, a crescent wrench (the better to bend with), a beer, maybe even a bench vise. Stainless flatbar's not as common, but not hard to come by if you have metal or welding suppliers around. I like flatbar for stuff like this, it's easy to twist and bend. The twisty bit's a neat idea to help with swaying.
But whatever you do, deburr everything before doing any bending! It's a dull process, (har, har) but you'll feel clever when it slips and smacks you with the edge you just rounded off.

StephenH

Some excellent information above!

I actually did consider the PVC pipe. Two problems: I was anticipating mounting a small piece of plywood on the rack to hold a 3-gallon plastic container, and didn't see a convenient way to attach to PVC. And, I didn't see a convenient way to make the attachments to the bike- still have to transition to metals.

A rack about a foot longer would have been nice. I was planning to put a container on top, not hang panniers off it, so kicking the load shouldn't be a problem.

The carbon fiber and titanium sounds good...this is going on my Worksman Industrial Bike, that would be great! (Some day, I'd like to order a custom $10,000 racing bike and then as an afterthought, ask them to mount a big front basket on it.)

StephenH

Here's the rack I got- it was $20 at the store:
https://www.rei.com/product/682277?vcat=REI_SEARCH

My original idea was to put something like one of these on a homemade rack:

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...TODAY.m238.lVI

https://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...TODAY.m238.lVI

Notice these units tend to have built-in backrests which are pointless on a bike. I may still get one, we shall see.

What I got for right now is one of these, planning to bolt it to the rack when needed:
https://www.rubbermaid.com/rubbermaid...d=HPProd150018
It was about $4 at Lowe's. The lids on these don't stay on that well, so a bungee cord will be required as well.

wahoonc

Stephen,
I would have gotten the Action Packer the lids snap lock on those and you can add a small snap link or padlock to keep them closed. I have one of the larger ones that drops down on my old S'Cargo trailer and attaches with a single ratchet strap. The Action Packers are as close to indestructible as I have ever seen in a storage box. I have some that are 10 years old that have spent their entire lives out of doors and are still in pretty decent shape...

Aaron

StephenH

I actually have a small action packer. Not obvious from the website maybe, but it is still way bigger than that little tub I have. (My son's scout troop used the bigger Action Packers to pack camping gear- that's where I got familiar with them.) I got the small one at Walmart several years ago and haven't seen them there since. I may try to rig it up for a longer trip some time.

I was by Northern Tool and Supply, and they had some generic version of the Action Packer that looked pretty decent as well, two different sizes.

CharlesC

I made the rear rack on this bike from 3/8" aluminum tubing to mount my Express touring panniers on. The tubes were bent using a spring bending device that slides over the tube. The joints were secured with an aluminum solder or brazing rod I bought sometime in the past - not sure where. It's sturdy and doesn't sway or wiggle at all.

MMACH 5

When you factor in the time (i.e. time is money), this might be true. However, I spent $6 on aluminum angles and $3 on pull-rivots. Everything else came out of the LBS dumpster.

Having said that, even if it did cost more, it's just too much fun building stuff for your bike from scratch. That alone makes it worth more than a store-bought anything.