I just put a cheap rear rack, similar to this one, on a very small bike (rider is 5' 1", not sure of the frame size). The Ortlieb panier is does not feel securely attached to the rack and the rider's heels kick the rack with every petal stroke. I considering recommending a Topeak Super Tourist DX rack), thinking that with the square bottom, the pack can attach a little farther back on the rack.
Does anyone have experience attaching Ortlieb panniers to "squre-bottomed" racks like this? I want to make sure that it will attache securely before I buy it.
Any other recommendations for attaching racks to small bikes and mitigating issue of the heels kicking the panniers?
by sugarmaple9728
3 Comments
I used Ortliebs on the regular (non-uni) Super Tourist DX and had no problems. I used the lower rail to hang the pannier on. IIRC, I ended up with the lower clip on the panniers facing forward and cradling the vertical rack tube rather than the bottom horizontal tube — essentially preventing the pannier from sliding forward when slowing down.
It’s hard to provide any advice without any photos of the rack/pannier as they’re currently set up.
Have you tried tilting the current rack fowards slightly? Rocking it towards the seatpost would tilt the panner, moving the bottom of the pannier further away from the riders heels.
That Axiom rack is a fairly standard design so I’m not sure why you’re having trouble getting the rack securely attached. Are you using the correct inserts for the top hooks so that they match the tube diameter of the rack?
Furthermore, the bottom hook on ortlieb panniers can be adjusted to have more or less space (also to accomodate different rack tubing diameters), you unscrew it fully and rotate the circular part of the hook 90 degrees which will make it sit more or less proud of the bag, making the space between the hook and the rail smaller or larger.
On top of this, you can also flip the rail that the hooks are mounted to, moving the hooks higher up if that might provide better purchase on the rack.
You could try a rack like the Soma Rakku 2, which moves everything a couple inches rearward to avoid heel strike.