MTB Panniers?

Dav3m

Assume I will get a bit of stick for the title of this thread, but it's an honest problem :-)

I'm going to be up in Scotland with my mountain bike for a week (after racing the Nokia coast to coast) and instead of staying in one place I'd like to ride around a bit. However on my mountain bike I have no pannier rack points (no surprise!)

So does anyone have any ideas how I can carry a small amount of gear + tent + sleeping bag around? I don't really want to wear a backpack as that would surely take alot of the fun out of riding...

butcher of bakersfield

Depends on the riding I guess. I'm sure you can get pannier racks that will fit without the mountings, but I'm not sure about the durability, or the compatibility with disc brakes.

A bob trailer could be an option - MBR, I think it was, ran an article on bothies, so mostly off road and praised the trailers highly. Not sure about the fitting, but they were all on full sussers if i remember right, so can't imagine them having any mountings.

Other than that, maybe think about picking up a cheap frame with rack mounts?

Dav3m

hmm... as I'm flying up I think a bob trailer would be too difficult.

I've been googling this morning, and come up with something like this:

http://www.topeak.com/products/Racks/Su ... rRack_disc

However it looks like it needs mount points, which the top ones can probably be satisfied with something like this:

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

but then not sure what to do about the bottom mount points. :S

Penfold06

I've got a bike rack which just uses a QR seat post clamp and it does the job perfectly fine. Only cost me £2.99 from a local store so i expexted it to be a bit naff tbh but is of surprisingly good quality and was spot on for my coast to coast ride.

Have a look around, im sure i've seen them on the net aswell.

Dav3m

Latest thinking is I will need something like this in order to fit a rack:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Tubus ... 360025907/

wolfsbane2k

Dav3m, I'm glad i'm not the only looking at this today - i want to do 200 miles over 3 days off-road so although i don't mind carrying stuff in a Camelbak Hawg, i'd like to keep some stuff on the frame and off my back!

Looking in halfords so i could get my eyes and hands on the panniers lead me to like the look of the Topeak Super Tourist DX Pannier Rack, but then i like the idea of the MTX trunk pack that goes with it, really nice and simple, but costly.

haz_pro

Hello, not sure if i understand your request properly but something like this?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28819

Although it doesnt have side parts to connect backs, i hope you understand me?

wolfsbane2k

haz_pro wrote:

Hello, not sure if i understand your request properly but something like this?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=28819

Although it doesnt have side parts to connect backs, i hope you understand me?

I was looking at those today, but they are limited to circa 7kg, which is a little light. And since it's the same price as the tubular panniers which are a lot sturdier...

Dav3m

Hi guys, spent a fair bit of time in evans today looking at various racks, and in the end went with this:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bla ... RRWidgetID

and bought two packs of

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tor ... gn=froogle

The p-clips actually hold the rack on really well - although takes 30mins or so to assemble... haven't been out for a ride yet but it feels really sturdy.

wolfsbane2k

you'd be pleased to know i saw at least 10 mTB's today with panniers on them doing the SDW.

So there are a good number of us out there!

Shaggy_Dog

There are 2 important points to consider. Firstly and most obviously, your bike doesn't have rack mounts so whatever you fit will essentially be a bodge. Your QR skewer was not designed to bear load, only to clamp the frame against the hub, it is the 9mm wheel axle that bears the load and it is not exposed beyond the frame to take any extra weight. If you convert the axle to a solid threaded item and use nuts instead of a QR it will happily bear the weight of all of your luggage. However, without proper seatstay mounts the upper stays won't be very far apart up on the seapost clamp, and you can forget P-clips altogether, they are not man enough for the job.

Second point is that even if you do find a way to solidly mount a rear rack, camping kit is really too much to put on the back end of a mountain bike. Why? Because modern mountain bikes have geometry that biases the riders' weight to the back of the bike to allow technical descending, this combined with full camping gear on the rear wheel means the front wheel will lift on climbs but far more crucially have little weight over the front wheel making descending VERY sketchy. Even on a full blown touring bike it is inadvisable to put that much weight on the rear wheel only.

As far as I see it you have 3 options

1. Don't take a tent, take a bivvy bag or sleep at B&B's or hostels.

2. Buy a single wheeled trailer like this one from Madison http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?vertical=Cycling&catref=ADBCT1

3. Buy yourself a frame and fork that can take a rear rack and front lowriders. The original inbred frame has rear rack mounts here http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROOIN/on-one-inbred-frame and the Kona Project 2 fork comes in a version for 700c wheels with lowrider mounts here http://activesport.co.uk/shop/article_400.FK20.0.101/Kona-Project-2-Forks.html?pse=coa The 26 and 29 versions do not have lowrider mounts but you can get lowrider racks which will bolt on to a steel fork very securely with U-bolts. Blackburn make one here http://www.madison.co.uk/productinfo.aspx?&catref=KALR1B

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it really is quite dangerous if you don't do these things properly

Shaggy_Dog

Dav3m wrote:

Hi guys, spent a fair bit of time in evans today looking at various racks, and in the end went with this:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bla ... RRWidgetID

and bought two packs of

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tor ... gn=froogle

The p-clips actually hold the rack on really well - although takes 30mins or so to assemble... haven't been out for a ride yet but it feels really sturdy.

This is not a good idea, whoever at Evans suggested that this will be adequate clearly doesn't know what they are talking about. It may feel sturdy now but they will not hold up with camping gear for very long. I know it sounds severe but I have a lot of experience in this field.

Dav3m

Shaggy_Dog wrote:

Dav3m wrote:

Hi guys, spent a fair bit of time in evans today looking at various racks, and in the end went with this:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bla ... RRWidgetID

and bought two packs of

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tor ... gn=froogle

The p-clips actually hold the rack on really well - although takes 30mins or so to assemble... haven't been out for a ride yet but it feels really sturdy.

This is not a good idea, whoever at Evans suggested that this will be adequate clearly doesn't know what they are talking about. It may feel sturdy now but they will not hold up with camping gear for very long. I know it sounds severe but I have a lot of experience in this field.

Shaggy - thanks for your input and advice there.

I need the rack to allow me to be mobile for 4-5days - ie not staying in one place for too long, possibly riding for ~50miles on-road. My camping gear isn't heavy, on the rack will only be a lightweight 1man tent + sleeping bag and a pannier with a few clothes. I won't be carrying the entire kitchen sink... do you think this will still be overloaded or OK? I'm a bit worried now!

Shaggy_Dog

Only way to find out is to do a shakedown run and give it some welly through some corners. Grab the rack and give it a bloody good tug back and forth and side to side, there should be absolutely no movement.The bike probably won't be overloaded in terms of handling but I'd be very suspect of mounting a rack on 4 P-clips, in all my time working in a bike shop I've never seen it done well enough to safely carry much more than what you may need for a commute. I must admit I've just got a conventional 2 man dome type tent so don't really know how much lighter your setup might be. Things like a merino base layer come in handy as you can use a nice one all week on and off the bike because they don't get smelly and just look like a normal long sleeve tee. Are you planning to ride 50 miles in total or per day?

butcher of bakersfield

There's plenty of fully loaded touring mtbs out there. A mate of mine has now covered all four corners of north america, toured alaska, austraila C2C, hawai, the entire coast of britain (a 3 month trip!), and much more: half of it on a bike he found abandoned, and the rest on sheds that he's picked up for well under £100. All budget MTBs. Roughing it the whole way, fully loaded on panniers at the back.

Obviously not all trail bikes are going to be well suited, since they're designed very much for a specific purpose. If you're not doing any serious off road in between, I'd think of picking something up like the handsome dog, which will set you back less than the panniers..

alfablue

Dav3m wrote:

Latest thinking is I will need something like this in order to fit a rack:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Tubus ... 360025907/

This works very well, used this touring with my mtb for a few years, now selling it (you may be too late, but here it is on eBay. Selling it as I have a proper tourer now.