Technical > Luggage
What to do when your rack fails
onebikeoneworld:
I'm flying off to South Africa in a week and decided to clean my bike up. To do a stellar job, I decided to remove my rear rack. I started undoing my bolt on the right hand side, and turned out the mount came straight off my frame. There was a little bit of rust, but it didn't seem anything major. I'm going to be calling SJS for advice tomorrow, but any suggestions that people have would be welcome. Googling around suggests that https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/carriers-racks/14mm-tubus-clamp-set-rack-eyes-for-seat-stay-mounting/ could work as a solution. Are they as sturdy as they claim? If not, would it be a case of welding it back on? I'm not far from Manchester. If I had the time, I could go to somewhere like Bob Jackson Cycles (http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk) who chopped my bike in half to apply S&S, but there's no way they'll get it done in such a short time.
Danneaux:
It may well be Bob Jackson could work you in, as rebrazing a rack mount is quick work. If you were near me, I'd do it for you right away.
Lacking that, the Tubus seatstay mounts aren't a bad option -- just make sure they're large enough to fit your stays. If you have a Nomad (I don't recall...), then they need to be able to wrap around 19mm.
The reason they work okay is the bottom mounts bear the bulk of the weight, while the upper ones tend to serve as fore-aft locators. Where you're in a hurry, these should get you going...but a proper repair would be most desirable.
Based on repairs I've done, the biggest component in upper mount failures seems to be loose rack bolts, allowing the rack to fret on the upper mounts, leading to failure. Looking at yours, however, it appears there wasn't full penetration of brass into the joint ("cold joint") -- but that is just going off of one rather dark photo. I'd have to see it in person to say for sure.
The silver lining to this is you found it while prepping the bike, instead of mid-tour. You've got more ready options as a result.
Please let us know how you fare.
All the best,
Dan.
martinf:
I have used Tubus seat-stay clamps with no problems on at least two family bikes, though not for long distance touring.
I had seat-stay clamps (not Tubus) on my old 700C lightweight, which was used for several long distance cycle camping trips when it was my only bike, again no problems.
And, several years ago, when one of the brazed-on attachments on my old utility bike broke, I used a seat-stay clamp instead. That bike was used for hauling fairly heavy loads, most of it in the rear panniers.
So I reckon seat-stay clamps are quite tough enough to do the job, although they don't look as neat as the braze-ons.
onebikeoneworld:
--- Quote from: Danneaux on March 19, 2017, 07:15:34 pm ---It may well be Bob Jackson could work you in, as rebrazing a rack mount is quick work. If you were near me, I'd do it or you right away.
Lacking that, the Tubus seatstay mounts aren't a bad option -- just make sure they're large enough to fit your stays. If you gave a Nomad (I don't recall...), then they need to be able to wrap around 19mm.
The reason they work okay is the bottom mounts bear the bulk of the weight, while the upper ones tend to serve as fore-aft locators. Where you're in a hurry, these should get you going...but a proper repair would be most desirable.
Based on repairs I've done, the biggest component in upper mount failures seems to be loose rack bolts, allowing the rack to fret on the upper mounts, leading to failure. Looking at yours, however, it appears there wasn't full penetration of brass into the joint ("cold joint") -- but that is just going off of one rather dark photo. I'd have to see in person to saw for sure.
The silver lining to this is you found it while prepping the bike, instead of mid-tour. You've got more ready options as a result.
Please let us know how you fare.
All the best,
Dan.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have a Thorn Raven Tour, so I guess seatstays are a similar size as on the Nomad but marginally smaller. I'll try and give the nearby frame builders a call and see if they can squeeze me in. Would I be best putting my old mount back on?
bobs:
You probably would, but I would take a set of a tubus brackets as a standby.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version