A few weeks ago I bought a Pletscher rack for Hedwig. Unfortunately I discovered that I was going to have a hard time getting it attached to the frame, as you can see here:
When the rack is sitting level, the holes sit right over the tubing. Hedwig's aluminum tubing is just a little bit bigger than the steel tubing on other bikes (like my Fuji, which the rack fits fine on). So, since I was trying to mount the rack about half an hour before I needed to leave for work, I just mounted it as low as it would go, which just barely let the screws clear. It put the rack at an angle, which at first I was fine with.
I just added my bag, which wanted to slide under the seat some, and off I went. It's been that way for a couple of weeks now, bothering me a little more everyday and yesterday I finally had it. The problem was that because the bag wanted to slide under the seat, it was also being semi divided in the middle by the narrower bracket end of the rack. The bag wanted to hang on either side of it, making it difficult to get things in and out of it. So I brought it into my husband's shop and we brainstormed.
We tried several things, some involving wooden blocks, and drilling out new holes for the original hardware. None of those ideas would work. Then we noticed the little tapered points up near the seat and decided to try just zip tying there.
And it works! So long as I don't try to haul enormous loads on this bike, I think that this is going to be just fine. We may switch out the plastic zip ties for metal, or some other metal wire intended to support heavy loads (and not stretch). Now, since the rack is level, I don't have room to put the bag on the back of the seat and still have room for my rain coat on the rack, so I hung my bag from the side of the rack. Which I really like, and am formulating a little scheme to make some custom panniers.
With zip ties. :)
The racks on both my bikes tilt forward a little. So far, it hasn't bothered me.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it also never occurred to me to try to make matching socks with patterned sock yarn until I saw folks doing it on Ravelry. O_o
Janice - Oh my, I haven't used patterned sock yarn before, but I once used some self striping yarn for a pair of socks. I loved the first sock! Then I started the second one, and A: it would never match the first, but B: I could never get it to go in a color sequence that I liked. I still have just that 1st sock. :/
ReplyDeleteI have a bit of the same issue. My mechanic solved it for me, by putting a little strut (1/4" wide by 2" long by 3/32" thick metal piece) up from the place where the fender attaches. That keeps the front attachment bridge from sliding slowly downwards.
ReplyDeleteI also want to cut down the home-made legs on my rack to make the rack lower and more level that way..