Rear rack

[Nevis]

Took a few mates out on Dartmoor over the weekend as a taster to see if bike packing is for us. Needless to say we totally loved it and need to do more :D

Unsurprisingly weight was an issue and so was carrying the kit. I've got some suitable kit already but I want to find a better way to carry it on my bike.

I was thinking that if I could get all my camp gear (mat, sleeping bag, bivi, tarp) on my bike then my ruc sack would have plenty of room for everything else and wouldn't be too heavy.

My bike is a full susser (Spec Pitch Pro) so frame bags are out and I don't want anything over the front so I was thinking a rear rack could be the way to go. There are very few full sus specific racks, here's one that looks pretty good but they cost http://www.freeload.co.nz

Anyone have any thoughts / experience / solutions that may help me?

[valleydaddy]

you could get a small frame bag made for the Pitch that would take some items - contact IanB (Wildcat)

also wildcat do a handle bar harness for strapping a drybag safely to the bars, I've used drybags on the front with suspension forks and have no issues with it, just put sleeping bag, mat, other light stuff and it doesn't effect the front end at all in my opinion.

try a drybag with some straps and have a practice run and see for yourself - worth a go.

Those racks look great but like you say expensive.

If you get the bug bad you know you'll be building a 29er HT specifically for bikepacking

[slugwash]

Some of us are using these cheapo seatpost racks from Trago Mills in Newton Abbot (£8). They're fairly sturdy alloy/plastic and suprisingly lightweight and fit seatposts up to 31.8 mm. Here's a piccie of one on shinything's bike. He's also managed to replace the seatpost q/r bolt by clamping the rack onto the frame

[Ian]

The disadvantage with the rear rack on a full suspension bike is the large increase in unsprung weight - that's the weight between the shock and the contact point (tyre). More weight in this area would result in much less responsive suspension. You'd be better mounting something under the saddle, but as it is higher up it tends to have an influence on the handling especially when out of the saddle.

I've no experience of a seat post mounted rack personally, though a good friend did hurl one into the wilderness somewhere in the Lakes in sheer frustration of its ineffectiveness, while on a Polaris a few years back.

Mounting your gear at the front of the bike is usually better and has less influence on the handling of the bike, see here: http://welshridething.blogspot.com/2011 ... uting.html

You could cobble together some sort of retention system yourself out of some webbing, or go and buy something purpose made for the job. There are quite a few of these out in the wild now, and between them have probably clocked up over 10,000 miles without any problems.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Ian ... surely a seatpost mounted rack is sprung weight as it's part of the frame and held up by the shock. Unsprung weight would be wheels, tyres, brake calipers/discs and anything suspension related below the shock ... in the case of forks the bottom 1/3 is unsprung and the top 2/3 are sprung.

However, seatpost mounted racks are still poor show

[Chew]

I have a pannier rack on the commuting bike, and it over weights the rear of the bike, unweighting the front. Ok on the road, but wouldnt want to be offroad with that setup.

[Nevis]

Chew - Know what you mean, I did the end 2 end a few years ago and my panniers were so heavy they made the front very light. Not easy to handle even on the road at times, especially if you were knackered. This is the reason I was only considering putting my camp gear (tarp, bivy, sleeping bag & mat ~ 3kg) on a rack.

I have a seatpost rack which I used in the Highlands a few years ago and I agree, although the work they are pretty rubbish. To complicate things further I have a dropper seat post which I love so won't be getting rid of.

I could get something on the bars and in fact I did put my tarp and bivi there to begin with but it caused problems with my lights so I ended up sticking them on my top tube which worked but was not ideal. I guess a proper harness would drop the load down enough not to interfere with the lights but there is no way I could get all my camp gear on the bars so I'd still have a sleeping bag and mat to deal with.

My tarp and bivi do fit in my bottle cage but that space was taken up with ginger wine! I guess if I got one of those decathlon bottle mounts I could put the ginger wine on the underside of the down tube.

You could argue that my bike is not ideal but on the other hand I still want to have a bike that can handle the big downs.

[Ian]

surely a seatpost mounted rack is sprung weight

Agreed. I was referring to the freeloader racks with regard to unsprung weight, as they mount onto the seat stays, thus adding to unsprung weight.