Yah! It looks like it could hold a controller and battery packs. Lots of fun for only "one"!Chalo said:It looks like a sturdy enough steel frame mounted not to the rack eyelets, but the bike's rear axle and seatpost (or seatpost collar). Mechanically, that can be made strong enough for the job. The trouble lies in the bike frame and the wheel to which it's attached. Most are not structurally sound enough to withstand such an unusual extra load without problems. Chalo
amberwolf said:As an aside: Probably the rack is strong enough to hold the static weight claimed. The problems come with shock loading from bumps, and the wiggling/twisting/yawing/etc loads back and forth on all the joints and connections while pedalilng or turning, anythign that adds side forces.
Every rack that failed me (built by me or bought or found, etc) with a load on it over the years, both long before and after motorizing my bikes, did so during some type of shock loading, when the energy of changing G forces (usually vertical from potholes or bumps) multiplied the equivalent weight on the rack from far below it's max loading to what may have been several times it's max load.
Most of them failed at some joint, usually where they bolt together the rack to the vertical supports, often with visible stress fractures where they had been bent side to side repeatedly under load from swaying motions of the rack, despite all hardware being tight. Sometiems it was a collapse of the side vertical in a front-to-back fashion, crumpling in the middle.
At various points over the years I've modified racks to add triangulation to those points, preferably as an X across the side vertical supports, with the point of the X just over the rear tire, and the beams going as far down as possible. A curved arch can also work, but I only tried that one once with some pieces I already had from something else, that happened to be almost the right length and curve for the purpose--but it had occasional tire rub on sidewalls cuz it wasn't quite wide enough or stiff enough.
Chalo said:It looks like a sturdy enough steel frame mounted not to the rack eyelets, but the bike's rear axle and seatpost (or seatpost collar). Mechanically, that can be made strong enough for the job. The trouble lies in the bike frame and the wheel to which it's attached. Most are not structurally sound enough to withstand such an unusual extra load without problems.
I have a Redline Monocog that might do the job. It has big beefy plate dropouts and generously sized steel frame tubing. Even in that case, I''m not so sure.
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Most frames don't have what it takes, which is why they typically suffer bent axles and dropouts when folks attach axle pegs and carry riders on them. Hefty BMX type dropouts, and hubs with 14mm axles, and skirt guards (for toes) would be wise features to combine with a rack like that proposed above. To be frank, I don't think most folks would bother going to the necessary lengths to make this rack right, especially when for a similar overall cost they could just use an Xtracycle Free Radical instead.
Chalo
chalo i agree. The A frame is king. It may have precedence over/under the arch, in construction. The Tubus is much more well designed. Well then, Tubus is the winner in this weeks' special question from the barnyard..Chalo said:...a V (as viewed from the side) helps stability, if one of the pairs tapers inwards when viewed from the back. The Tubus Cargo rack is an example of everything done pretty much the right way:
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and it is less "arch" and more "A-frame" that contributes stability to the rack.
if it has four solid mounting points to the bike frame. Three solid points aren't nearly as good.
The ODK, that's great! Your Bomb is beautiful. I actually started grinning on your ride.neptronix said:Sketch o' rama.
Yuba's Boda Boda is much better.
Xtracycle edgerunner would be best![]()
The juicedriders ODK would be great as well. I rode one the other day with the electric setup - not bad!
The fingers said:Two people on a bike in Cali requires 2 seats, 2 sets of handlebars, and 2 sets of functioning pedals to be legal. Putting a child on the back like that might get you arrested for child endangerment.