Panniers on my road bike?

[MetalPig]

Hi all

I currently commute to work on my hybrid (a very old Trek Soho), with rack and panniers attached but i am starting to fall rapidly out of love with it. Problems i have are the whole setup feels really heavy, and (probably the main reason) i realised that i hate the flat handlebars - i only like riding on drops. Now, i have my road bike, a (again quite old) Raleigh Airlite 300 which i absolutely love (well, now that i've put a new shorter stem on it!). Now, i have a rear mudguard on the raleigh but that uses up the only eyelet available on the frame, and there are no more mounting points on the frame but maybe a P-clip would work?... so is there any way i would be able to fit a rack on there? (i also need a mudguard if i'm going to use it through the next few months!)

So, as far as i can see my options are:

- Fit drops onto the hybrid?... a no-no as it would involve new shifters etc too.
- Go back to carrying a rucksack to and from work which i now hate!
- Is there some way to fit both a rack and mudguard on there? (pic shown below)
- Is there some kind of combined rack/mudguard i could use?

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Personally id use longer bolts and mount both on the one eyelet or use P clips for the guards.

 

[MetalPig]

Ahh, thanks for that, didn't know if it would be possible! So i can put both a rack and mudguard on the same eyelet, then use two p-clips (or seat-post-clamp-type-thingy) to fasten said rack to frame further up, yeah? It wouldn't be carrying too much weight-wise, just dinner, change of clothes, security chain, puncture kit/pump etc so think that would be fine on a road bike.

 

[MetalPig]

Of course the other option i have is the good old n+1, but that won't be happening until sometime next year

 

[HLaB]

Unless your post is Carbon and you need to carry heavy loads I'd go for the type that claps on your seat post.

 

[cyberknight]

Unless your post is Carbon and you need to carry heavy loads I'd go for the type that claps on your seat post.

Thats what i use since i got a bolt head stuck in the hole shown in your photo, works well enough for commuting duties as most seat post rack are rated for 10 kg , you can pick up a seat post rack cheap enough and it means you can take it on and off easy enough if you want to use the bike for a non commute ride without the extra weight .Taking the standard rack on and off is what knackered my bolt in the first place i reckon.
if you want to use a permanent rack and not share the eyelets you could look at a non eyelet mudguard like cruds.

 

[MetalPig]

Erm, yeah i'm sure its not a carbon seatpost and looking at the seatpost clamp ones now. I do like the idea of easily taking the whole thing off for a weekend leisure ride etc, thanks

 

[cyberknight]

Erm, yeah i'm sure its not a carbon seatpost and looking at the seatpost clamp ones now. I do like the idea of easily taking the whole thing off for a weekend leisure ride etc, thanks

I used to take the permanent rack off for use as the winter club bike .
Today i managed to drill the bolt out but knackered the threads in the process.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Bontrager do a rack that is for road bikes. Needs a QR hub as the bottom mount is on the skewer; it comes with a slightly longer one to accommodate the rack eyelets. At the top end is a bracket that you need to fit onto your brake caliper bolt and which then provides the eyelet for the rack to bolt onto without damaging the frame paintwork.
It is a narrow rack so doesn't look too odd on a skinny wheel frame and gives a surprisingly solid feeling unit.

It can be removed in a matter of moments, undo the top Allen bolt, pull the QR skewer and its off. All that is left is the unobtrusive negligible bracket in the brake caliper.

 

[ufkacbln]

Unless your post is Carbon and you need to carry heavy loads I'd go for the type that claps on your seat post.

My experience with these is very poor

They tended to swing round into the wheels

 

[HLaB]

My experience with these is very poor

They tended to swing round into the wheels

Interesting, I've known a few folk who have used the Topeak ones, most recently by a mate to done LEJOG and he never complained (I'm only going on 2nd hand experience and not personal however).

 

[MarkF]

My road bike has a rack, the solid base of it (with a little rubber addition) acts as the mudguard.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Or you could take a piece of corroplast and zip-tie it to the bottom of the top of the rack. You can also get little add-on side pieces for those seatpost racks that fit to some . Some racks come with them.http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_120260_-1___202601

 

[brand]

Unless your post is Carbon and you need to carry heavy loads I'd go for the type that claps on your seat post.

Useless for panniers (a little over the top) as the bags move/bounce as you cannot attach the bags on the bottom but top box type of bag would fit and not wobble around or better still the unbeatable Carradice equipment:-
http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?page_id=category&category_id=30

http://www.carradice.co.uk/index.php?page_id=category&category_id=51
Note the cycle loops again very clever.
Oh and there old man mountain rack may solve all your problems Carradice are the only UK suppliers.

The designers for Carradice are plain and simply geniuses!

 

[Kies]

As above. Zip tie an old rear guard to the bottom of the rack. I used this for many months without issue