Weekend fixing and rear rack reinforcement

[WheeliePete]

Now that the bad weather has finally arrived I've been working on the bike.  Did a complete removal, inspection, grease, and reinstall on the rear suspension.  10yrs, 12000 miles and not a single bearing or seal was bad enough to warrant replacement.  They all looked great.  The prior owner(s) must have been really gentle on it.  The only thing I found off in the suspension was the nitrogen charge was down to about 90psi so I just recharged it and let it sit for a few days and then checked it again.  It was holding fine, no fluid leaks, etc.  I also ran the adjuster nuts down a 1/4" (still within allowable spec) to put some more pre-load on that spring to help deal with the luggage.  Feels a bit stiffer, but not bad at all.

 

 

Found a factory weld on the kickstand that was cracking.  Ground it out and re-welded it good as new.

 

 

Finally got around to modifying the rear rack so it was better supported.  The stupid design on this rack has the front two mounts at the seat bolts, but then the rear mounts are just back a little ways on the fender which leaves the rack unsupported all the way to the tail of the bike.  Well, on the last big ride I did, I had quite a bit of weight on there and it just toqued all day long on those two rear posts and eventually broke through the welds of the rack plate to the rack tubes.  Since there's no more area under the fender to drill and attach to, I built an arch and support that sits on top of the fender with a 1/4" piece of rubber under it.  The arch is located and extends to approximately where the end of the subframe wraps around under the fender.  So now at least the rear end of the rack won't be flexing down under cantilevered load.  We'll see how the subframe holds up over time...  I really need to fab up some side supports so I can run my saddle bags...wish there were more attaching points on that subframe... 

 

So here's the load that caused the welds  near the mounts to tear through on the top plate of the rack I'd even tried to push the bulk of the load up so that it was directly above the mounts.... Probably about a 50lb load):

 

 

And here's my fix that I'm hoping will help alleviate the cantilever action.

 

 

 

 

 

[ohgood]

if you lift it up a little, toolbags fit very nicely underneath rear racks. nice job

[DrD]

Now that the bad weather has finally arrived I've been working on the bike.  Did a complete removal, inspection, grease, and reinstall on the rear suspension.  10yrs, 12000 miles and not a single bearing or seal was bad enough to warrant replacement.  They all looked great.  The prior owner(s) must have been really gentle on it.  The only thing I found off in the suspension was the nitrogen charge was down to about 90psi so I just recharged it and let it sit for a few days and then checked it again.  It was holding fine, no fluid leaks, etc.  I also ran the adjuster nuts down a 1/4" (still within allowable spec) to put some more pre-load on that spring to help deal with the luggage.  Feels a bit stiffer, but not bad at all.

 

📎2015-10-23 22.07.53 (Medium).jpg

 

Found a factory weld on the kickstand that was cracking.  Ground it out and re-welded it good as new.

 

📎2015-10-31 11.52.25 (Medium).jpg

 

Finally got around to modifying the rear rack so it was better supported.  The stupid design on this rack has the front two mounts at the seat bolts, but then the rear mounts are just back a little ways on the fender which leaves the rack unsupported all the way to the tail of the bike.  Well, on the last big ride I did, I had quite a bit of weight on there and it just toqued all day long on those two rear posts and eventually broke through the welds of the rack plate to the rack tubes.  Since there's no more area under the fender to drill and attach to, I built an arch and support that sits on top of the fender with a 1/4" piece of rubber under it.  The arch is located and extends to approximately where the end of the subframe wraps around under the fender.  So now at least the rear end of the rack won't be flexing down under cantilevered load.  We'll see how the subframe holds up over time...  I really need to fab up some side supports so I can run my saddle bags...wish there were more attaching points on that subframe... 

 

So here's the load that caused the welds  near the mounts to tear through on the top plate of the rack I'd even tried to push the bulk of the load up so that it was directly above the mounts.... Probably about a 50lb load):

 

📎20150919_071 (Medium).JPG

 

And here's my fix that I'm hoping will help alleviate the cantilever action.

 

📎Text.jpg

 

📎PB019077 (Medium).JPG

 

Exactly why I built my own rack. Most racks available are just a laser jet piece of sheet metal welded to the hoop. What I didn't like was the cheesy spacers they use. Some of the available racks are so poorly made that the main structure hoop piece is actually two pieces welded together at the back. Spacers to attach to the subframe and just tubes and washers with bolt heads exposed at the seat posts. My rack attaches at the same areas as yours did, but its a direct attachment like you added and I provide hardware with large washers to distribute the weight. I also added wings on my rack to add support and rigidity