Steel seatpost racks
- Thread starter ebike11
- Start date
dogman dan
1 PW
Part of why I bought the welder. When I chose a bike to build my second longtail bike, I started with a cruiser that had a steel rack welded to the frame.
But you can do the same thing, make a rack welded to the frame, if you start with any steel frame.
Before I got to that point, I had been reinforcing seat post mount racks with a strut bolted to the rack, with the other end of the strut bolted to the bottom end of the seatpost. This was for full suspension bikes. This was strong enough for panniers.
But you can do the same thing, make a rack welded to the frame, if you start with any steel frame.
Before I got to that point, I had been reinforcing seat post mount racks with a strut bolted to the rack, with the other end of the strut bolted to the bottom end of the seatpost. This was for full suspension bikes. This was strong enough for panniers.
DogDipstick
100 kW
I always lok at those " seat post mounts" and cringe..... I can almost hear the metal cry, twinning, as it is stressed, in ways the frame was never intended...
I'm weird though, so take it with a grain of salt,. Whatever. I certainly consider one for my bike.
I'm weird though, so take it with a grain of salt,. Whatever. I certainly consider one for my bike.
I bent one aluminum seat post rack, they arent made for anything except to hang your rear mud guard off of.
Your closest bet is what I showed, if you can find it and just drill and bolt stuff to it.
Even the older racks are alum, if you find a steel rack its really old rat trap style kicking it old school
Your closest bet is what I showed, if you can find it and just drill and bolt stuff to it.
Even the older racks are alum, if you find a steel rack its really old rat trap style kicking it old school
Keep in mind that if you are having failure (bending, etc) problems with the aluminum seatpost racks, then if they are steel (or stronger aluminum ones) that then don't fail, the stresses that were breaking them are now being fully transferred to the seatpost itself, and the seattube part of the frame, and then you'll start seeing the limitations of those parts.
I would recommend that since you can't weld anything (and presumably are unwilling or unable to get someone else to do it), that you bolt triangulation braces from the back end of whatever seatpost rack you use down to the lowest and farthest back point on the frame that you can; this is typically just above or behind the bottom bracket shell, on the seattube.
I would recommend that since you can't weld anything (and presumably are unwilling or unable to get someone else to do it), that you bolt triangulation braces from the back end of whatever seatpost rack you use down to the lowest and farthest back point on the frame that you can; this is typically just above or behind the bottom bracket shell, on the seattube.
dogman dan
1 PW
I never bent an aluminum rack, but I've walked home because the seat post broke off and I couldn't ride home carrying the battery and still steer with one hand very well.
This is the solution for supporting seat post racks I came up with. It can be done without welding, on any kind of frame. To avoid drilling a hole in a regular frame, you could bolt through the support piece in two places, creating a clamp mount. In this case, I used half inch conduit for the support tubes. I never had a rack break where I drilled it to bolt on the struts. To make it max sturdy, bolt it on, then loosen the seat post clamp, and scrunch it down tight, then tighten the seat post.
As for welding, look into a small, inexpensive wire feed welder from harbor freight. They run on 110v, can be used in a small area without throwing sparks all over the place. They are really easy to use, easy enough that I could learn it. I never mastered the big stick welder, and weld about as good as a chimp on LSD. Yet I built bikes that were strong enough to carry huge loads. It's true, it might be hard to use one of these on the porch of an apartment. But it won't take more than a 10 foot square of dirt or pavement to use one safely. This might not work for you at all, but a lot of other people will read this.
This is the solution for supporting seat post racks I came up with. It can be done without welding, on any kind of frame. To avoid drilling a hole in a regular frame, you could bolt through the support piece in two places, creating a clamp mount. In this case, I used half inch conduit for the support tubes. I never had a rack break where I drilled it to bolt on the struts. To make it max sturdy, bolt it on, then loosen the seat post clamp, and scrunch it down tight, then tighten the seat post.
As for welding, look into a small, inexpensive wire feed welder from harbor freight. They run on 110v, can be used in a small area without throwing sparks all over the place. They are really easy to use, easy enough that I could learn it. I never mastered the big stick welder, and weld about as good as a chimp on LSD. Yet I built bikes that were strong enough to carry huge loads. It's true, it might be hard to use one of these on the porch of an apartment. But it won't take more than a 10 foot square of dirt or pavement to use one safely. This might not work for you at all, but a lot of other people will read this.
dogman dan said:
I hope your seatpost broke off BEFORE you came up with this idea!
And what a good idea! I'm only mad I didn't think of this myself! I have ordered my first seatpost rack and am going to use this, only with some square tubing I have laying around to act as supports and another seatpost type clamp on the frame to bolt them to.
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