Comments on: A couple of new racks

By: AlexWetmore

AlexWetmore — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:00:22 +0000

Dan — The bend was done with a 3″ diameter pulley off of my drill press. There are similar pulleys for sale at most hardware stores, and under $10 will usually get you one with 2″ to 5″ in 1″ steps.

Arthur — The rack does work with the busses. I”ve used it on the 545 a couple of times already. I don”t think it could be much longer and work however.

Scott — I either let them rust or get them powdercoated. At the moment I”m building up a collection of racks to powdercoat and will take them all in at the same time. The local place (Seattle Powdercoating) is a lot cheaper (per rack) if I bring a lot of racks than one rack at a time.

By: dan

dan — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:37:06 +0000

that is a nice large radius bend on the lowrider rack. what did you use for that?

By: arthur strum

arthur strum — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:49:45 +0000

I really like both these racks, particularly the minimalist one. Does the second one work with bus racks, as the one you built with Rory last year did? It looks like it should. I”ve also got a Ravenna bag (with custom colors!) and want to finally have a rack built for it now that I”ve decided that the bike it will go one will be a custom.

By: Scott Atwood

Scott Atwood — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:13:10 +0000

Alex, After you build the racks do you do the painting or do you take them somewhere else to have it done. I”m curious to know what is the best paint/method to have that done.

By: AlexWetmore

AlexWetmore — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:58:42 +0000

It looks like the VO and Acorn bags are the same size, both are 28×20x15cm. In my emails Ron at Acorn has been a very pleasant guy to deal with, and I”m excited to finally buy one of their products.

By: AlexWetmore

AlexWetmore — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:55:20 +0000

I think the Ortlieb Hooks work a little better for bags which have a fixed shape. The snap things work better for bags which are a bit floppy. Both work well.

I don”t know the right term for that type of attachment, but it is like a Breezer-style dropout. I originally wanted to get a lathe so that I could make these, then kind of forgot about them until this excellent example came across on the framebuilders list:
http://www.clockworkbikes.com/rack_4.html

They are pretty easy to make.

By: jim g

jim g — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:07:26 +0000

Doug, I think Velo-Orange is coming out with a black canvas front bag soon as well. See http://velo-orange.blogspot.com/2008/11/miscellaneous-bits_25.html

By: Jimmy Livengood

Jimmy Livengood — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:47:24 +0000

Looks like the small rack has a new attachment style – a mitered bit of tube instead of flat stock. Reminds me of what I”ve seen called a Breezer-style dropout, is there another term for it?

I like the Ortlieb hooks idea, what about the snap-button thingys you used on an earlier rack? Just two different solutions, or is there an advantage to one over the other?

By: AlexWetmore

AlexWetmore — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:18:55 +0000

Yes, it”ll be the boxy bag. Oops. I”ll fix that soon.

Doug — I also have a huge bag, and the Acorn seems like it”ll be a nice smaller size. It isn”t small, it isn”t big, it seems like a happy medium.

By: Doug Van Cleve

Doug Van Cleve — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:25:51 +0000

Hey Alex,

Any thoughts on the size of the Acorn bag? I want to get a front bag for my not yet put togther Ira Ryan, but I”m not too sure about the size. Any size should work on my rack and I don”t have anything planned/figured out decaleur-wise and don”t yet know the height from my bar/stem to the rack. I was leaning toward Berthoud since I want black, but this Acorn will be less than half as much and they do very nice work.

Thanks, Doug