Trail a bike rack?
04-22-09, 06:42 PM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 142
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Trail a bike rack?
I wanted to put a rack on our trail a bike for our panniers. Does it require a special sized rack? Our standard rack just looks odd.
04-22-09, 07:24 PM
#2
Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Posts: 46
Bikes: '09 Surly Big Dummy, '08 Surly LHT touring bike, '96 Fisher Mt. Tam MTB/icebike, '54 Schwinn Tiger cruiser
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
I've been down this road myself... The problem is that trail-a-bikes aren't made for such things--they're "recreational," not utility-oriented--so they don't have rack mount eyelets, for example. Or when you jerry-rig a rack made for a 26 inch bike it just looks weird, as you pointed out. My solution was a bit elaborate. I added a back rest to the trail-a-bike, to which I attached a seat-post rack. Mind you, it's not a strong rack, holds maybe 25 pounds max and won't hold panniers because it has no support legs. But I put a basket on it which has made it very useful. My kids and I call it "the trunk" and it works great for holding backpacks, an extra bag of groceries, etc.
04-22-09, 09:39 PM
#4
Year-round cyclist
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Montréal (Québec)
Posts: 3,023
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times
in
2 Posts
I don't know if they have changed, but both the Addams Trail-a-Bike (2000 edition) and the Burley Piccolo (2001 edition) have eyelets for a rack near the dropouts. One needs to use P-clamps (not a problem) and really long struts to attach the top at the top of the seatstays.
One word of caution: it you don't want the tail to wag the dog, I would advise against putting too much weight on that rear rack. For instance, when I toured with my children, I would put two sleeping bags in the rearmost panniers as it is a bulky but fairly lightweight load. Clothes, food and tools would go in the four panniers of the main bike.
One word of caution: it you don't want the tail to wag the dog, I would advise against putting too much weight on that rear rack. For instance, when I toured with my children, I would put two sleeping bags in the rearmost panniers as it is a bulky but fairly lightweight load. Clothes, food and tools would go in the four panniers of the main bike.
