Turning a road bike into a commuter

caw35slr

I'm going to convert my current road bike into a year-round commuter bike and I'm seeking advice. It's a Surly Pacer which has eyelets for mudguards but not for a rack.

My current thinking is that I should buy a Tubus rack with their QR/axle mount (which allows the rack to be mounted via the rear axle, which sounds ideal for a bike without any rack mounts). If you use this set up I'd love to hear about it.

Link: http://www.tubus.com/index/lang/en/rubr ... cessories/

I'm interested in opinions on panniers. I won't need to carry much beyond a U-lock and a laptop so any ideas for slim, traffic-friendly, waterproof kit would be appreciated.

For mudguards I'm looking no further than SKS ChromoPlastic, unless anybody has a better idea.

redddraggon

I'm lost...

If you have eyelets for mudguards you put the rack on them. If you haven't got the braze ons on the seat stays you can use one of these...

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/MPart ... 300005198/

caw35slr

redddraggon wrote:

I'm lost...

If you have eyelets for mudguards you put the rack on them.

I think it is me that is lost. Maybe the answer to this question will clear things up: if I put the rack on the mudguard eyelets, where do I mount the mudguards? Can I mount both on the one pair of eyelets? I have friends with touring bikes which have 2 pairs of eyelets, hence my question.

The M-Part component is an elegant solution. Thanks for that!

amaferanga

caw35slr wrote:

Can I mount both on the one pair of eyelets?

Yes

caw35slr

Well that's that sorted then! :oops:

LOL

Any thoughts on a slim pannier?