Pannier Rack help needed

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to this forum and need a little help please.

I have a Trek 7.1FX and I plan on doing some weekend trips on it.
I have some Avenir 23L Universal Panniers and need a rack to fit my bike that will take these pannier bags.
Does anyone have any recommendations as to which rack is the best for my model of bike?

I do have an Avenir pannier rack but it's extenders (is that the right term for the metal strips that link it to the bike frame?) are too short.
I did consider making some new ones but I am wary of how secure it will be.
Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance for any help.
Kingley

I don't have that model of bike, but I do have a couple of racks I can measure for you if you tell me which measurements are critical to you.

Thanks.
The problem seems to be that the extenders are too short by about 3 inches.
The rack itself is 15 1/4" by 6". From the attaching leg (the bit that goes down towards the gears) to the front of the rack is 5".
My concern is that the rack is too far back and that the panniers weight will therefore be too far back.
I have posted some pics to demonstrate what I mean.
http://picasaweb.google.com/kingleyharp/BikePics

Thanks for any help on this.

Kingley

I have a springer rear-end and the Avinir rack had to turned around and the bracket had to be bent so it could attach to the rear brake assembly bolts and then u-bolted to the rack (I still have about 3 inches of bracket left over). Now I can use the panniers (something you can't do with the seat tube mounted rack) with the rear axle nut rack (which is a lot stronger too).

chilln

How is your heel clearance when you have the pedals level?
Panniers need to allow your heels to clear when packed as full as you will ever have them..... one of the reasons why touring bicycles have longer chain stays. How long are your chain stays?
If you use any kind of extender it is a very good ideal to have 2 bolts per side with locking nuts or at least blue loctite on the fastener threads.

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David Ornee, Western Springs, IL USA

Hi David,

Thanks for the help.
My heel clearance seems fine.
My chain stays length is approx 17 1/2 inches. It took me a while to work out what that was (thank you google!!).
I added two new aluminium extending bars to the existing extenders today.
They have two bolts on either extender at the rack end and one on the existing extenders (if that makes sense?).

In the end I decided to go with a Blackburn EX-2 rack. They seem to have a great reputation.
I found out that luckily I live near a very good bike shop and they said this was the rack that they fit on all their touring bikes. It fits my Trek 7.1FX perfectly and the heel clearance is fine.
I am hoping to give it a live test this Easter with a 2 day tour in The Trossachs