unterhausen

I got some rack tabs cut and now I'm going to be building some racks. The triangular parts are for rear cargo racks. I tried cutting something like that by hand and it was too much work, so I'm really happy with these parts. The other parts are for rando style racks and French style lowriders. They are in stainless. Nobody is selling parts like this in stainless, so I had my own made. Gugie helped me refine the designs, so that was appreciated.
IMG_20191213_130212999 by unterhausen, on Flickr

Nessism

Wow! Looks like two (or three) lifetime's supply! Please come back and post some photos of your racks next!

unterhausen

Gugie and another builder are getting some of these. I'll probably still have a lifetime supply. I have a lifetime supply of steel ones, been using them for simple fixturing.

Foxonabike

Reminds me of a rack I just made for my son out of stainless steel, the links are side plates off #40 stainless chain.

unterhausen

that's an interesting rack. Are the parts other than the struts made from aluminum?

Andrew R Stewart 

Shades of Harlan Meyers! Andy

I wonder how flexible this Al riveted rack is. I don't see any side triangulation to the braces and rivet connections are not the best long term fastener for prying/flexing constructs.

Foxonabike

100% stainless steel, there is a clamp piece not shown that connects to the top of the rear triangle just below the saddle that is made of aluminum. It is very rigid, he had his 4 year old son sitting on it All scrap pieces

Foxonabike

They are not rivets, M5 socket button heads with nyloc nuts, stainless steel of course.

Foxonabike

Here is the whole thing, I put some thin rubber tape on the clamp pieces to protect the frame.

degull

Can I buy some of the rack tabs?

Andrew R Stewart 

https://framebuildersupply.com/collections/rack-tabs Andy

degull

Those rack tabs are steel, I want stainless. My rack is made with 3/8” .028 wall 304 stainless from McMaster Carr.

Andrew R Stewart 

How many do you need? Can you make your own? Andy

rumrunn6

how about thin, narrow, flat, bar stock which you can just drill a hole in (no tabs required). maybe I don't understand how these are used

unterhausen

yes, it's not hard to make them with a little patience and good drilling technique. Apparently I don't have either. And stainless bar seems to be particularly hard. Turns out I ended up with fewer 3/8" than I wanted. I might sell some on the second go-round.

wsteve464

Have you looked at 6mm stainless eye bolts $6-7 for a pack of 6, check amazon for 6pcs M6x30mm Eye Bolt Screw Lifting Ring

unterhausen

https://www.amazon.com/Screw-Lifting.../dp/B07R1WQ3JK
Those are interesting.

degull

I am not entirely sure what I need at the moment. I have spent a bunch of time making a fixture to hold the deck of the rack while brazing and another to attach the deck fixture to a bike. How it will attach to the front fork is still to be determined. I know I that I can fashion my own, the rack tabs here look sweet and ready to fit!

Andrew R Stewart 

dequall- I'm only on my 6th rack and by #2 I didn't want to make more tabs... I have a stash of various tabs from different sources and find these are my favorites. The trim shape sits well with my aesthetics and are as strong as I need. This is on the Framebuilder's Supply site that I earlier linked to.



Here's an exception to my "usual" tab preference. Home made to allow for 2 braces to attach. Note the poor thinking things through that resulted in the struts not bring symmetrical WRT the tab and mounting hole.

degull

That looks like a great rack!

I made the mistake of choosing stainless tubes so I rather stick with stainless tabs.
I can’t upload any pics of my racks until I have 10 posts.