Thorn Sherpa, rack, and heel clearance

[dick220369]

Hi,

I just recently bought a new Sherpa which I love. However, I am having an issue with pannier bag/heel clearance. I have some large Altura Orkney 56 litre bags which I have had to attach as far back on the rack as possible so that my heels don't clip them as I cycle. I also bought some 40 litre panniers, thinking that size was the issue, but the same thing happens with the new bags. Has anyone else experienced this? I just find it strange as it never happened on my old bike.

Thanks,

Richard

[Danneaux]

Hi Richard!

Heel-pannier interference can be caused by many things...placement of the dropout eyelets, rearward offset of the rack and its crossbars, but mostly as a result of chainstay length, crank length, and of course...foot length and their placement on the pedals, and even pedaling style (heel up, down, or level). On the panniers themselves, shape can make a big difference, as can the placement and adjustment of the mounting hardware.

I had no problems fitting and clearing my 40liter Ortlieb BackPacker panniers on my Sherpa, but it was a Mk2 560S, a bit larger than yours and with longer chainstays. The MegaBrochure lists a Sherpa Mk3 in size 500L as having 438mm chainstays. My Mk2 560S had chainstays 445mm long, so a 7mm difference. This is what you would also get if you went up a frame size. Would that 7mm make a difference in clearance for you?

There's a number of remedies that can be tried if adjustments allow: Placing the bags rearward and higher can help, as can tilting them if the mounting hardware will do this. On one of my randonneur bikes, I needed a Tubus Logo Evo with its secondary, extended mounting rail to get the panniers back far enough to clear my heels. On the other randonneur bike with 429mm chainstays, the rear panniers mount on lowrider frames attached to the rear rack. If I hold my foot horizontal when pedaling, my heels strike the panniers as well as the lowriders. However, with my high-cadence style, I lift my heel just in time to avoid a heel strike in practice. A lot of my clearance depends on saddle height. If mine were lower, my heels would be also. Fortunately it all came out right for me on that bike, but have you checked if your saddle height is correct for you?

56 liter bags are pretty large, so I would expect to have more clearance issues with them, but the 40 liter panniers should be much easier to fit. Since they also have clearance issues, I think the solution may be to move the bags rearward if you keep this frame size.

Richard, is your foot placement on the pedals any different with this bike? Are your crankarms the same length as your past bike? Are you using different shoes?

Best,

Dan.

[dick220369]

Hi Dan,

I'm using same shoes/pedals and I cycle on the balls of my feet. The cranks are shorter than those of my old bike but my old rack is on longer rail so it is sitting further back on the bike. That bike also has longer chainstays because it is a 54 cm frame. Do you know if Thorn can provide longer rails for their rear carrier?

Thanks,

Richard.

[Danneaux]

Do you know if Thorn can provide longer rails for their rear carrier?

Richard, Thorn (via their sister company, SJS Cycles) can supply longer tangs for connecting the front of the rack to the chainstay bosses, but the lower mount of the rack is fixed, so much be mounted directly to the dropout without aid of a setback plate, as is possible on some Tubus racks.

As it is, the Thorn rack-top rails are extended so the taillight can be exposed beyond most touring loads to aid in rear and side visibility. This generally allows for some rearward movement of the panniers beyond "normal" racks.

Please, could you post some photos of your mounted bags, taken vertically so we can see where the hooks rest in relation to the rack's crossbars? I think would help to see how the bags are placed.

All the best,

Dan.

[jags]

Dan is there extension steel clips that's bolted to rear brazeon's  allowing the rack to be moved back a couple inches.

[Danneaux]

an is there extension steel clips that's bolted to rear brazeon's  allowing the rack to be moved back a couple inches.

Yep, Anto...sure is for Tubus racks that have places for two bolts. They can then secure to the rack and then under the hub q/r nut or the dropout bosses.

In the past, I've made some myself for bikes with really short chainstays, but I don't know of any that will work readily with a Thorn rack and still maintain adequate rigidity with a load. I keep thinking the extended length of the Thorn Expedition rear rack will surely work for Richard, but I'd like to see how his bag hooks fit before I can go further with suggestions.

All the best,

Dan.

[jags]

Oh right i thought they worked with any rack  live and learn.


anto

[Danneaux]

Anto,

It is possible to do the reverse and make/attach a bracket to two of the dropout eyelets and then cantilever a rack mount off that, but it is not as rigid as a direct mount and can put the weight too far back to be ideal.

Best,

Dan.

[jags]

i suppose that's the good thing about ortlieb panniers loads of room to manover.

[Danneaux]

i suppose that's the good thing about ortlieb panniers loads of room to manover.

...and -- on their QL-2 mounting system -- the mounting rails and bags can be tilted to pick up that bit of extra heel clearance. Plus, there's a lot of mounting slots to engage the hooks to get everything spot-on. Not a perfect system, but very convenient for fitting purposes.

Best,

Dan.

[mickeg]

Some racks have lower mounting rails that are farther back.  I do not know if the Tubus Logo EVO on my Sherpa puts the load further back than the Thorn rack, but it might.  I do not have a Thorn rack.  You can see from the photo that you can put the pannier really far back.  There is a little bump on the rail at the back that allows you to put one pannier hook all the way back on that rail.

[dick220369]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies/suggestions/advice. I am just going to make do with sitting the panniers further back on the rack. It's not as though they are as far back to the point that they are almost hanging off the rack. I don't think it is going to be an issue other than obscuring the cat's eye rear light's side visibility. It also forces me to carry less than I need - I am now using 40 litre panniers instead of the 56's. I've always found that the more room I have the more stuff I take - half of which I probably don't need. I am planning to get a handlebar bag soon anyway which I'll use for my tools, lock, telephone, wallet, etc. Can anyone suggest a strong handlebar bag that won't sag overtime? I don't know if handlebar bags do this because I've never had one. I know that rack top bags do so I am just assuming that handlebar bags will probably do the same.

Richard 

[JimK]

I use a Carradice Super-C handlebar bag. It doesn't seem destined for any kind of sagging!

[jags]

yes ortlieb or carradice both 100% waterproof i think carradice just beats ortlieb on the COOL look tho  .

[mickeg]

My Louis Garneau handlebar bags sag badly.  When I got home from the trip where I took the photo, I used some aluminum strapping to add reinforcement, they are much better now.  In the photo you can see the bracket is angled up quite a bit, yet it still sagged way down.