Topic: Rear rack and back pad

[754]

 I have to admit, I first thought of this  in regards to making a cooler mount and some kind of bag orsaddle bag on the sides of the bike. Then I thought , a small luggage rack would be quite doable. .
There is many old old racks out there but I think they are better suited to a multi day ride, than packing say your rain gear in case you hit a storm on a day ride or a 6 pack of bear or your lunch and work stuff.
 I think 1/2 round tubing looks pretty good for this  5/8 would look big on a small rack.

[RAFster122s]

If you need more strength with 1/2 in tubing, just increase the wall thickness and wear some heavily padded gloves if you are bending stuff by hand, bruising your hands making racks is not worth the pain of sore hands. Do you use a pipe to slip over the pipe you are bending to give you a stronger, and longer if needed, pipe to use when bending by hand as well as to not bend anything but what you want bent...

I am glad you are getting a shop setup again Frank, it will be good for you.

Daviud

[MauiK3]

I can't help but get excited. I like the idea of 1/2" material. It could be chrome moly for strength.
Orrrrrr Titanium! But that would require welding in a glove box with an argon purge.

I really think that once it's worked out you would be very busy. I'm still in it, let me know if you need a deposit or anything for materials.

[754]

I have a very nice bender that would be perfect for this  and have built one die previously.
T think about tge same radius as what Kevin built.
 I had a job where we were bracing a bicycle fork, similar to what a boardtracker used. It was to help deal with the torque of a front wheel electric motor. . I was bending 180 degrees, just jury rigged on the mill table
 We used Hydraulic tubing  that was .06 wall and seamless m it's easy to source. 

[scottly]

This isn't really a rack, but more of an anchor for bungee cords, while the rear cowl supported any weight. I whipped it up just before the 2012 relay out of 1/2" tubing, bent around a V-belt pulley. If I had more time and material, I might have done it differently, but I was in a hurry, and it did serve the purpose.
 

[The Lone Builder]

FWIW, here's a pic of my recently mounted rack, once I got the necessary brackets made up.

Personally, I prefer it "naked", but this rack is pretty inconspicuous, I think.

The indicators will be moved right to the back once the luggage bits are fitted.

Sean

[MauiK3]

Nice rack!

[RAFster122s]

Yes that is a nice one and looks like it will support more than the 5 pounds many of them state for insurance safety purposes...

[MauiK3]

I’m hoping 754 comes up with a cool take on a rack.

[RAFster122s]

Once he is able to get his shop up and running then we will start seeing him crank out more frame kits for those winter builds and  he will have time to fabricate a few new dies to get things done towards building a rack.
If Frank builds me one I will see if he can do removable pannier mounts to support my soft panniers/saddlebags and having the strap system captive by both the seat and the pannier frame they won't be walking off.


Segues into hard vs soft panniers and downsides and upsides...
Hopefully the small lock on the zippers will dissuade those not interested in cutting the bags free or cutting the bags themselves to access the contents. There is an expensive cable mesh product out there that can be wrapped  around soft bags and backpacks etc to prevent access to the contents in all but a very determined thief who has beyond ordinary lock cutters as this stuff is suppose to be difficult for bolt or lock cutters to cut. I forget the name of them. Large ones were close to $100 to $120 retail ask recall and they came with locks that were very durable yet small, also high strength steel shackles to make it hard to cut them off.
If you have hard bags they lock and it is all good, the soft bags are vulnerable if you want to leave your bike for a 5 mile hike to a vista or ridge line on a trail while touring without worrying about your bike's stuff. I guess I need to check into trip insurance to see if something like that could cover gear that your insurance riders would not...
My panniers are capable of expanding to 90L of capacity if I would need it. I got them large enough to. Accommodate a 15 or 17 inch laptop along with work papers and a change clothes, raingear, as well as other typical work stuff I might of need to take home to deal with...
They would go inside when commuting to work and then return when I was done for the day...

David

[The Lone Builder]

Segues into hard vs soft panniers and downsides and upsides...
Hopefully the small lock on the zippers will dissuade those not interested in cutting the bags free or cutting the bags themselves to access the contents. There is an expensive cable mesh product out there that can be wrapped  around soft bags and backpacks etc to prevent access to the contents in all but a very determined thief who has beyond ordinary lock cutters as this stuff is suppose to be difficult for bolt or lock cutters to cut. I forget the name of them. Large ones were close to $100 to $120 retail ask recall and they came with locks that were very durable yet small, also high strength steel shackles to make it hard to cut them off.

David

Kriega do something akin to what you describe, David? Not quite $100, £29 is about $40.

kriega.com/adventure/steelcore-security-strap

I'm planning to get some of their OS-Adventure stuff for an upcoming African Adventure; I'll let y'all know what I think of it.

Sean

[andy750]

Hard luggage often has a cheap lock that could easily be punched so I wouldnt always say that its always more secure. At least on my Jesse hard luggage - panniers and top box it wouldnt take much to break the lock. It may appear more secure. PacSafe make the cable mesh you are thinking of.

As for soft luggage these are near the most secure/hardy you can buy

https://www.adventure-spec.com/default/review/product/list/id/10745/

Where are you going on your African Adventure, Lone Builder? Very curious as I right now I am prepping for a South African adventure and hoping to go see the rack builder Kevin

[The Lone Builder]

Hi Andy,

There's a town in S Africa called Belfast, and I'm from the original Belfast in Ireland. When I first saw the SA town back in 1982, I thought "What a great ride that would be!"

It's taken a while, but next year, all going well, I plan to head south, run around SA for a few weeks to visit friends and to test the systems and then point the front wheel north.

When and where are you going?

[754]

Check Mosko Moto for straps with metal to prevent cutting  20 or 30 bux I think.
 Looks like 27.00 for a 4.5 footer
 31.50 for a 6 footer..they have a lock on them too. It has steel wire down the middle.
Hope you can see the features in the pic.

[RAFster122s]

Thanks Guys!  What I had seen was a spiders web type mesh that could be locked to a bag or pack or pannier. Forget the name of it and I think they were way too expensive. They were designed to minimize pilfering of a bag or pack.