Piff 

The rack hardware I'm talking about is this: https://www.rivbike.com/products/nit...pr_seq=uniform




Bought a Specialized Pizza rack and am planning on using some rods to attach it to my fork. The complementary hardware that Riv sells are nice...but if I were to buy 4 @ $17 each the sweet bike co-op price for the rack would evaporate. Anyone got a better source? Or is there something from home depot or McMaster that works?

Rick

Piff: I would also look at Tubus rack accessories.

Piff 

Good tip, thank you. It's somewhat cheaper than Riv, $13 per assembly and you get other nice hardware too...Still a bit pricey.

https://www.campfirecycling.com/prod...-hardware.html

edit: Aha!!! Good ol' Velo Orange, should've guessed. $6 per assembly.

https://velo-orange.com/products/com...-campeur-racks

Rick

Piff: I order German products like Tubus racks and accessories, Schwalbe tires and Rohloff specific parts from Bike24. I order enough parts when I do this to make the slandered shipping charge not a problem. I would also check your banks service charge when ordering across the pond. My bank once charged me $35. on a 400 + euro order. I used the credit union on a near 600 euro order and they charged $2.35. Bike24 has accurate inventory and they have given me great customer service.

imi

I can highly recommend Bike24 and Rose in Germany.
As I live in the EU, the UK’s Chain Reaction Cycles is no longer viable thanks to Brexit.

Piff 

Deeper and deeper the rabbit hole goes...I like the look of the Tubus hardware, especially what's made for their titanium airy rack. Very high quality. But, I admit I am confused how the hardware puts appropriate tension on the rod. Does it work basically like a grub screw?

https://www.bike24.com/p2304794.html

Tourist in MSN

You want to make sure you buy the rods of the correct diameter for the bolt. Nitto and Tubus/Racktime rods are different diameters. I do not know what Velo Orange uses, could be yet a different diameter. I would buy the same brand for all the parts to make sure the parts match each other.

I have bought a lot of stuff from Bike24 over the years, but when buying for shipping to USA, the first thing in your basket incurs a huge shipping fee. So, keep that in mind.

For just a few small items, if you want to buy from Europe, Bike Inn has better shipping rates. But Bike Inn is often very slow shipping, so do not be surprised if it takes a few weeks to a month for shipping. I am not sure if these are sold as individual or as pairs. They list two lengths of rods at this site.
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...s/4177-3361/sm
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...rt/137711847/p
https://www.tradeinn.com/bikeinn/en/...le/137711856/p

Piff 

Awesome, thank you for the advice. I like the look of the 'Tubus Stayholder Fixing Bolt Support' piece, a bit chunky...but definitely more amenable to custom rack setups compared to the other hardware I was looking at.

Rick

Piff: They pinch the rod.

Tourist in MSN

This is the Tubus mounting instructions that show good diagrams of how the pieces go together. But this appears to use a different version than the Bike Inn one.
https://www.tubus.com/fileadmin/user...A_10.0_web.pdf

I use a thread locker on all rack bolts unless they are nylock nuts.

Piff 

edit: After looking at the diagram in the pdf Tourist posted I now understand how it pinches the rod, not like a grub screw at all!


I see that, but compared to their other hardware, I am trying to understand the function fully.

For a different tubus part (see below), as you tighten the nut it will squeeze the rod against the black metal to hold it in place. For your rack, when you tighten the bolt it simply pushes against the rod, correct? Like a grub screw?

Tourist in MSN

The bolt goes through a hole or slot in the rack to hold the black thing solidly to the rack, that bolt does not touch the threaded part that goes through the hole in the black part.

If you are putting this rack that you bought without hardware on your bike, maybe you should buy the hardware that was supposed to be included with that rack?

Piff 

That, of course, would be preferable. The rack in question, Specialized Pizza Rack, was a $20 co-op find and lacks its original hardware. I called up Specialized and they don't sell the hardware separately.

I think it'll be possible to make it work using Tubus hardware though. As well as fabricating a custom piece of steel to make sure there a more stable connection between rack and fork rather than only relying on the kind of hardware we've been looking at. I know Nitto uses them to secure racks, but only up to 10kg. I'm hoping to go up to ~15kg, which is what this rack is rated for. I think with all of my 'customizations' the rack would be good for 20kg or more, but I don't plan on pushing it on tour. Probably when commuting groceries.

Aushiker

At least for us in Australia, the Bike24 shipping price has gone through the roof, so I now prefer to buy from https://www.bike-discount.de/ as their shipping price is more reasonable, and you can see the prices in your local currency. Saves during the conversion.

Tourist in MSN

I bought my Rohloff from Bike24 about a decade ago. I made the mistake of using a credit card that charged 3 percent for currency conversion, so that cost me almost $30 USD. I learned my lesson, do not make that mistake again.

I have one card that does not charge a fee for currency conversion, and another card that only charges 1 percent. I am more careful now to use those cards on foreign currency transactions.

I am in USA. Last fall I ordered something from Amazon in Germany (Amazon.de). They gave me the option to use Amazon to do the currency conversion or my credit card company. I told them to charge me in Euros, thus my card that did not charge for currency conversion made the conversion at no cost. (A side note, next time I ordered something from Amazon in USA, they asked me if I wanted to pay in Euros, I had to reset my Amazon account to have them charge me in my home country currency to avoid a currency conversion charge by Amazon.)

I do not know how banks in Australia are for currency conversions, I have never been there. But here in USA, some banks say they do not charge for that, but instead they use a very profitable currency conversion rate, one bank tried to charge me over 10 percent by hiding the charge in the exchange rate. I use Reuters to get my currency conversion rates, since they are a news agency, they are always quite up to date on the going rates.
https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/aud/

My cards that charge zero or 1 percent for the conversion, I have double checked their rates after purchases and they have been pretty close to the Reuters rate at time of purchase.

I plan to be in Canada for three or four weeks this summer, I already know which credit cards I plan to use there, predominantly the zero conversion fee card, the one percent fee card is my backup. And will have two debit cards to use in ATM machines, I have used one of these cards before in ATM machines and was not charged a currency conversion, the other debit card I have is new to me, but they advertise that they reimburse ATM and currency conversion fees.

Rick

Aushiker: I compared the prices and shipping between Bike24 and Bike Discount. I live in the US and Bike24 won out with lower prices and lower shipping.

Rick

Tourist in MSN: Thanks for the rundown on the credit card companies and their creative overcharging. I ordered from Bike24 a few years ago through my bank and they charged me $35 on a near 400 euro order. The next time I ordered through my credit union. I calculated the exchange rate and the difference in price was $2.35 or thereabouts on a 600 euro order.
Bike24 went from 20 euros to 40 euros on their shipping since 2022. I still saved over $70. on a 204 euro order.

Aushiker

We have similar cards here ... I use one which has no fees and the exchange rate is inline with what XE.com is quoting on the transaction day.

ericoseveins

You know, the only real benefit of the Nitto hardware is to let a customer reposition the rods to attach to various mounting points on all sorts of frames. If you're already fabricating supports then could you not just modify the rods you have and bolt them directly to the rack and the fork? You could just bend the rods to the mounting points and attach eyelets as needed.