Panniers - Racks - Bags - Bike Luggage

These are the commuter ones, 12mm thick. Should have gone for the 25mm wide ones.

Just installed a front basket on my bike, it's a crappy BLB one but it does the job. Only issue is that the fixings that came with it seem to be M4 and for some odd reason the eyelets on my fork are the same size as the mudguard eyelets, in that they seem to only take M3 (I presume, seeing as M4 are too large) bolts. Can't be arsed to go find two M3 bolts to fit it, so for the time being I've put P clips around the bottom of the fork and have threaded the M4 fixings through those instead with a large washer between the clip ends for more stability. Would it be worth getting some M3 bolts at some point to attach the rack directly to the fork, or is it just as (or more) secure with the P clips on?

I never had a bike or fork that not had m5 but M3 eyelets, what's your fork?
Pretty sure the blb rack should come with M5 bolts, but you never know.

And I would probably prefer p clips to tiny M3.

The Allday, which website I note with some amusement features a bike with a rack attached via Pclamps rather than the fork eyelets. Seems odd to have fork eyelets so small. The BLB rack came with bolts which would fit in your bottle braze-ons, think those are M4 but never went and measured it..

Thought as much about the M3 v PClips but just thought I'd check given as the eyelets were presumably put there for a reason.

Bottle bosses are M5. Any fork bosses that are M4 will be designed for mudguards rather than racks, but I highly doubt that is the case on the Allday fork. There is no chance they are M3.
It may be that the holes weren't masked properly and some paint has gummed up the threads. If you have or can get hold of an M5 tap and run that through it'll clean them out very easily.

Anybody got a Trek 920 front rack they could measure for me? I’m interested in the spacing between the holes and the width.

Ah - thanks for the tip! I thought the size of the key that you use to undo the bolt corresponds to the bolt size but clearly that was too simplistic an understanding.. The Allday fork eyelets do seem to be M4 though.

Another question - what is the best way to secure the contents of a front basket to stop them from rattling around? Currently have bungee cords but they do a fairly poor job. I've seen people jerry rig inner tubes with carabiners which I quite fancy trying..

If it was my bike and they were M4 I would drill and tap them to M5 so that they are useful.

Do you really need to drill to get from M4 to M5?

Seems risky to me.

I would just tap them.

Put them in a bag. Secure the bag with a strap.

You are likely to break your tap if you don’t drill them out to 4.2mm

There's that, but certain odd size things don't sit properly in my bag and weight distribution (wanting to leave some weight on my back rather than in front) and all of that. Think the answer to my question is the Topeak cargo net?

Looking at getting a backpack to sporadically use on the bike or train when I go to work carrying a laptop and change of clothes. I've narrowed it down to these 3 options for me, any thoughts recommendations between them? I think they're all fairly popular.

1. Ortlieb commuter daypack
   
2. Chrome barrage cargo
   
3. Mission Workshop Rambler
   

Got n0. 1 and its ok but a bit stiff

that fork should be M5, have your lbs run a tap to clean out any overspray.

I have an Apidura 1.5 litre bladder that fits in the lower section of my frame bag which is on my hardtail mountain bike.

The drinking tube runs up the base of the bag that sits on the downtube and exits behind the head tube, just under the top tube.

In order to get enough length to be able to drink comfortably whilst sitting in a natural position on the bike I need a long hose, which introduces the question of how to stow it neatly.

Currently I have a webbing-clip that fits to the frame bag webbing on the top tube, very close to where the top tube meets the seat tube.

The hose doubles back on itself from it's point of emergence from the frame bag, along the top tube, makes a 180 degree turn from the webbing-clip and runs back along the top tube and is secured by a magnet on the valve, which clips to the bar-bag.

I tried using a magnet fixing rather than the clip on the top tube, but being a steel frame that meant that the hose just stuck to the top tube wherever and whenever it touched it.

However, this current setup doesn't really work as you can't get the hose into the clip without stopping.

What I would like, and which may not exist, is a smooth edged hook that I can attach to the top tube, and loop the hose round before latching the valve down using it's magnet on the bar bag.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for this; have done and as everyone rightly guessed it was M5 (why don't they just match the hex sockets to the bolt?) but I've now gone and cross threaded the damn eyelet with an alu bolt which I got about halfway in before realising it was well and truly stuck. I imagine tapping it would further compromise the already weakened thread material so am thinking of chasing it through from the back; are there any better ideas? Alternatively I can just leave it all alone given that the P-clamps work fine, but feels like an imperfect solution.

why don't they just match the hex sockets to the bolt?

Because different types of head use different size keys. Socket, button etc.

Also you can get torx, Philips, Allen key etc. so the size of the Allen key that goes into the head of a screw doesn’t really have anything to do with thread diameter

Evening. I'm looking to buy a wide rear rack for my Bullitt.

Was looking at this one:
https://www.paradisecycles.co.uk/minoura-gamoh-rear-rack.html

But it seems to be out of stock in most LBSes. The only place that seems to have in stock is Amazon

https://amzn.eu/d/4Wwo9uX

But, the weight in that listing is 41 pounds !!!

How is that even possible? That's a mistake, surely. Maybe 4.1 pounds is more likely? There isn't enough metal in there for it to weigh any more than a couple of KG right?

Yeah it has to be a mistake. Looking at the cage version of it is like 2kg.

The max load on the one above is 18kg. Anyone know of a wide rear rack brand with a slightly higher max load rating?

What are the mounting points of the minoura / bullitt? I think if you have 5mm rack mounting bosses you aren’t going to get much better load limit wise. 6mm or axle mounted etc will have much higher capacities.

(That said I’m fairly confident 18kg is a conservative load limit)

I doubt you will have done much damage to steel threads with an aluminium bolt. Your suggestion of chasing it through with a tap from the back side is the best option.

Yeah there are standard rack mount eyelets on the seat stays near the hub, but then you need one of those seat clamps with the mounts for attaching the rods.

My load will be 17kg and there won't be anything else on there so hopefully it'll be OK.

The Tortec rack (not wide enough for the new load) I have on it at the moment says 35kg max. load but I have only ever had 11kg on there, which broke the Tubus rack roundstays. A couple of times.
But the stays that originally came with it were the ones with a kink in them - that was where the fractures happened. I only use the straight rods now.

(That said I’m fairly confident 18kg is a conservative load limit)

I hope so. It's a top heavy load, no panniers down the sides. I have to strap it down very tight with ratchet straps. I'm thinking that this might cause a loss of a bit of flex when travelling and put extra stress on the stays. But I can't have the load moving around or falling out.

Are there any bike shops in London that specialise in touring gear, i.e. premium grade rear racks?