Cheap Bike Rear Rack, Aluminum 3 Leg Rear Bike Rack with spring,Black

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List Price: $49.00
Sale Price: $35.75
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

This inexpensive, well built rear rack is listed on Steven Scharf's rear rack page and has many features of the better racks found there: three-strut construction, long horizontal dogleg, welded and recessed reflector/taillight mount, even pegs for a frame pump (tips 232mm apart). It has a Pletscher-style mousetrap hold-down that is easily removed if you have no use for it.

Mounting flexibility is where it loses stars. The photo shows that this rack's seatstay braces are made from round tube, just as in the better racks on Scharf's list. But on those other racks, the round-tube braces mount in clamps that give four-way adjustment: reach, drop, width, and seatstay angle. On this rack, they don't--a point that Scharf missed when he reviewed the rack from a photo.

On this rack, the braces are just flattened and drilled at both ends, and can bolt to the rack in your choice of 5 positions fore-and-aft, which gives you some adjustment for reach and drop (but not independently), and nothing for width or stay angle.

The lower mounts at the dropouts are height-adjustable, but only in 3 fixed positions marked 24", 26", and 28", referring apparently to nominal tire diameter. The 2 inch diameter increments should make the height marks 1 inch apart, but they're really 3/4 inch apart. It doesn't make sense, so just pick what fits. :)

The lower mounts come straight vertically down. If you have, say, an aluminum frame with fat seatstays that end at skinny dropouts, this rack won't work and you will need a rack whose lower mounts come in at an angle from the rear. You could spread this rack and mount it with thick spacers, or fabricate new lower mounts, but you'd have to refigure the load capacity and, really, there are other racks that will work without mods.

This is a great rack at a great price if you have a steel frame with tapered seatstays and all the dimensions happen to match the available choices. If not, another rack may work better. These measurements should help you decide before you buy. They're all taken by me, by hand, don't sue me if they're not exact:

Vertical, dropout hole center to underside of platform: 348mm (24" position), 369mm (26" position), 389mm (28" position).

Horizontal, front of platform to projected dropout hole center: 194mm

Front of platform to seatstay brace hole centers: 12mm, 32mm, 47mm, 62mm, 77mm (yes, the first jump is bigger)

Seatstay brace length: 165mm (the braces are bent, but this is the straight-line length between hole centers).

Platform length overall, while we're at it: 375mm

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This rack was easy to install, lightweight, and very handy to use. I bought this mainly to haul groceries with a foldable picnic cooler strapped to the rack with an elastic cargo net. Works great! The rack is very strong and stable, and for the price a very good value.

Best Deals for Bike Rear Rack, Aluminum 3 Leg Rear Bike Rack with spring,Black

Good and sturdy. The only problem I had was with the lower bolt that screws in next to the chain. It was to long and prevented me from changing into the 2 smaller gears. But I just backed it out and ground off the extra length and put it back in. Works great now.

Honest reviews on Bike Rear Rack, Aluminum 3 Leg Rear Bike Rack with spring,Black

First off, the picture of the item is correct as of 5/12/2012. It does come with a reflector, and has several adjustments to all it to fit most bikes. I had no problem attaching it to my Schwinn 26" hybrid (target brand).

The only problem I had was the to aluminum post that attach the rack to the bike just below the seat posts came bent. I had to bend them back in order for them to line up correctly.

Also, the rack had some scratches on it even though it was the only item in the shipping box. It must have been scratched before shipping.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Bike Rear Rack, Aluminum 3 Leg Rear Bike Rack with spring,Black

It took me maybe 30 minutes to install this rack. It wasn't terribly complicated, but the directions are sparse and didn't jibe with my bike. For example, the 4 screws provided (2 large, 2 small) fit the reverse of the printed directions (small screws on bottom near wheel hub, large screws on mounting bracket at top). No big deal, but then the 2 provided nuts only fit small screws, and I needed them on the large screws at top.

Another issue is that while the rack leg is adjustable to fit different size bikes, I had no success at using the correct 700 setting, and had to settle for 26" (which lowers the rack). The top mounting struts would not screw together on the 700 setting. And with the 26" setting, the rack isn't quite level. The bottom screw was also too long and interfered with the chain when it was on the small (outside) sprocket.

I took the rack to my bike shop, where they installed nuts on the struts and a shorter screw on the bottom. Works fine, but it's still not entirely level. And the rack could be further back. I think the short bracket length at top puts it too close to the seat to allow a travel bag on top of the rack.

Postscript-I contacted the supplier, and they are sending out a set of longer 8" struts. Hoping this will correct for the 700 setting and make it level.