Bikewright Workshop Project-Diamondback Apex || Rawland Raidoverks Rando Rack
This is the fifth post in our series. Navigate over to our previous articles at At the LBS and Phase One Completed
Not being happy with the P-clamps I went to my local LBS to see if they could order some longer struts for me. Just so happened the shop rat had a set on hand. Pictured below are the offset struts I purchased for $10. I believe straight struts would have also worked just as well.
Pictured below I have replaced the Raidoverks strut with the one I purchased from my LBS. Since I am not an engineer I have no idea if this changes the strength of the original design. The Raidoverks is a rock-solid design. Since this rack was designed for both straight-blade and traditional raked forks, the only improvement I could see is making the point where the strut attaches at the top of the rack more adjustable.
A couple more test rides are in order!
Follow the rest of this project at Houston We Have A Problem
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| Rawland Raidoverks Rando Rack |
I picked the Diamondback Apex frame for this project because it was originally built for adventure. Mountain bikes in the early days came with rack mounts and they were made for off-road camping and touring trips. Today's bikepacking or off-road touring is a refinement of what started over 30 years ago. The Apex came with rack mounts for low-rider panniers (see picture above). I had been on a quest to find a black porteur rack that I could use with a low rider rack mount. Now there is a difference between a low rider mount and a mid-fork mount. A mid-fork mount is the same type of mounting point used for a rear rack on the seat stay, but a mid-fork mount is at the front of the fork just up a little higher than the low rider mounting point.
Rawland Cycles just came out with their Rawland Raidoverks Rando Rack. It looked as if this was what I was looking for. For the most part, it is. It came with two pairs of struts. One set of straight and one set of offset struts. The straight braces are 219mm and the offset is 205mm. You could also use P-clamps (something I did not want to use) if you do not have fork mounts.
In the pictures above and below you can see that I had to use P-clamps. This setup works it's just not the look I am looking for. The Rawland Cycles Raidoverks Rando Rack is a nice rack and has three mounting locations for light and fender mounts. The rack also mounts at the top of the fork, so I had to change my straddle cable to an old-school cable mount to be able to get the straddle cable over the fork mount. I just used a brake cable for a straddle cable which seems to work out well.
In the pictures above and below you can see that I had to use P-clamps. This setup works it's just not the look I am looking for. The Rawland Cycles Raidoverks Rando Rack is a nice rack and has three mounting locations for light and fender mounts. The rack also mounts at the top of the fork, so I had to change my straddle cable to an old-school cable mount to be able to get the straddle cable over the fork mount. I just used a brake cable for a straddle cable which seems to work out well.
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| A first long ride on the Highbridge trail |
Not being happy with the P-clamps I went to my local LBS to see if they could order some longer struts for me. Just so happened the shop rat had a set on hand. Pictured below are the offset struts I purchased for $10. I believe straight struts would have also worked just as well.
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| Off-set Strut |
Pictured below I have replaced the Raidoverks strut with the one I purchased from my LBS. Since I am not an engineer I have no idea if this changes the strength of the original design. The Raidoverks is a rock-solid design. Since this rack was designed for both straight-blade and traditional raked forks, the only improvement I could see is making the point where the strut attaches at the top of the rack more adjustable.
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| Install the off-set Strut |
A couple more test rides are in order!
Follow the rest of this project at Houston We Have A Problem
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