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    Easy solution to leveling this rack?


    My wife wanted a rack for the back of her bike, and when I was donating bike parts to a local charity, I saw this on the shelf and they gave it to me. I assumed they were pretty much universal, but this one isn't adjustable at all.

    I'd really like to make it work, but I'm assuming that I should probably just bring this one back and find another solution. My only ideas were to see how big of a hole needed to be drilled for the front mounting holes, and see if I can cut off a section of the front rods and use new holes to mount it, or to just try to bend the front 2 rods in a way that levels out the rack. I'm not super confident in either of these solutions and I wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas?

    Thanks

    by burnerciao

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    18 Comments

    1. RipNshreadGames on

      Get one that fits your bike. Just cutting and drilling won’t work. You will need to bend and those are almost always made out of cheap aluminum that cannot be bent. It will just break or crumble very soon.

    2. unwilling_viewer on

      A z bend in each stay would work.

      It’s never going to be neat, and the extra bends will make it very unstable.

      I’d get a better rack TBH

    4. chickenlizard on

      you could possibly p-clamp it to the seat tube. it might work. but really it’s just the wrong rack.

    5. sar_tr on

      Do the bars that connect to the stays definitely not have a sliding mechanism under the rack surface to allow you to slide it forwards? Can’t tell from the picture but racks normally have something

    6. troru on

      I don’t see a way other than bending those supports on the rack that bolt to the stays. I’ve got a rack where those supports are adjustable rails, eg the topeak explorer to see an example

    7. c4sport on

      1. Unfasten top bolts
      2. Set level and mark s

      upport bars

      1. Cut and hammer flat
      2. Drill holes
      3. Paint and install

      I actually am unsure if this would work but that’s likely what I would try if my next step was to just buy a new one. Throw that Hail Mary and find out.

    8. jdsmn21 on

      >see if I can cut off a section of the front rods and use new holes to mount it

      That’s what I’d do. I don’t know if you can hammer/flatten/drill two new holes, but you could use P clamps to hold the front tubes to the frame.

      It’s probably a take-off, sized to a specific frame/mounts – which is why you don’t see adjustments.

    10. theyogidentist on

      Yeah you’re right. Short of major mods (angle grinder and metal drill) this is both not adjustable and doesn’t fit.

    11. dermsUK on

      I’d love to know what type of bike it’s supposed to go on with fixed stays that long 😭 just bin it and get a Tortec tourer or something. You can’t reliably drill new holes because the current holes are on flattened tabs. The M5 bolt required to mount it will be too thick for a new hole in the arms

    12. the_weird_turn_pro on

      That’s a nice bike. Buy a nice rack, like a tubus that will fill.  Even if you hack that rack to fit it looks low capacity, not good for loaded panniers.

    13. Superb_Recording_769 on

      I’ve never seen a rack where the front stabilizers don’t slide.

    15. _haha_oh_wow_ on

      Get one that fits is the *real* solution but you could rig something up with P clamps maybe or possibly cutting it, then epoxying it to 3D printed adapters so it can affix to the frame.

      Janky work around solutions are unlikely to be as good as a purpose built version though.

      Unless that rack is steel you probably won’t really be able to bend it or cut and flatten then ends to make it the correct length for the frame.

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