Addons for mountain style bikes

[Footie]

Am I in one of those minorities?
I have been trying to add bits to my mountain style electric bike but it seems manufactures are still stuck on the standard bike frame design and many of the "off the shelve bits" don't fit.
Has anyone had difficulties fitting a speedo to mountain style electric bikes?
I've finally got mine fitted and working, but I had to put the sensor right at the bottom of the forks to get the 5mm minimum gap - it's almost touching the spindle.
I also had fun choosing a pannier rack as my bike has rear suspension.
I eventually went for the type, which clamps to the seat post.
I have posted a picture of it on flickr if anyone wants to see it.
Flickr: Photos from skmiles
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[giguana]

what rack did you find for it?

that bike is a very unusual design, the back wheel is actually 17 cm wide!

I had a speedometer that came with my mountain bike it's one of the wireless ones, it's pretty good.

 

[frank9755]

I fitted a Cateye Velo 5 to the suspension forks of my Wisper. To get the right clearance I put some packing between the fork and the sensor. I actually used a bit off an old inner tube but almost anything would do.
Works fine.
Don't worry about the speedo being near the centre of the wheel. They work best there as the linear movement of magnet past sensor is slower hence less risk of misreading.

 

[Capn_Phil68]

Hi,

Got a very similar bike and wonder how much weight the post rack will take?

Ps bike looks good

 

[Footie]

I visited a couple of places (bike shops – all had plenty to fit standard frames) I even trawled the Internet. As I already had a set of panniers (on another bike) the rack had to be suitable for them – no way was I going to shell out £40 for a second set of panniers. In the end the rack came from Halfords. It’s a QR Beam Rack EX and its maximum indicated load is 7kg (15lbs). The only modification I had to do to the bike was relocate the rear light

frank9755
“ .... I fitted a Cateye Velo 5 to the suspension forks of my Wisper.”

How do you get on resetting it? I have the Cateye Vel08 and everytime I try to reset it, I clear everything, even the km or mph setting. It's really annoying. I must be doing something wrong, but I can’t see what

frank9755
“ …. used a bit off an old inner tube but almost anything would do.”

Never thought along those lines.

Capn_Phil68
“ …. wonder how much weight the post rack will take?”

Being an aluminium frame I don’t want to over stress it, so any loads will be kept to a minimum. Just the odd items from Tesco’s. According to the racks maximum loading specification (15lbs) I could carry three 5lb bags of potatoes max. The last thing I want to do is over load it. I’ve done that in the past and suffered the consequences. A number of years back I didn’t have a vehicle and I used to buy a weeks shop and carry it home on my ordinary bike. Unfortunately, the weight used to snap the spokes for a past time. I solved the problem by getting a 21-gear mountain bike and had panniers front and back.
I think if I ever thought I needed to carry heavier loads then I would get a trailer to carry the load rather than wreck my bike
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[flecc]

I have the Cateye Vel08 and everytime I try to reset it, I clear everything, even the km or mph setting. It's really annoying. I must be doing something wrong, but I can’t see what

After setting it up, start using it. Then to reset any one statistic, just go to it and hold the front pushbutton in for around three seconds. It will then zero. Each readout has to be zeroed independently, and only the Odometer is not resettable in that way. For that the rear pushbutton does the trick, clearing the lot as you've found.
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[Footie]

Thankyou flecc you solved the mystery of resetting the Cateye Velo8.
One interesting point; I couldn’t find written instruction on how to do this in the instructions even with the aid of a magnifying glass.
To make matters worse they are on a double-sided sheet (A3 in size) and in multiple languages.
However, if one looks really really carefully, it is there, but in the form of a little picture.
I just couldn’t see the wood for the trees
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[steve_allen]

I had a cheap seat post rack on my bike but it was bending under any load so i took the plastic rack part off and fitted a skateboard deck to the seat post mount.
it needed reinforcing with bars down to the rear axle area,(also sets the height above rear wheel) i used old tripod legs for weight savings.
it works fine with full suspension as long as you dont tighten the joints up so much they cant flex and takes the weight of a very large full backpack(85 litres at least).

 

[coops]

Hi Footie,

Probably a bit late, but you might find the 5mm minimum gap limit is a bit exaggerated - I find it does work very reliably at around twice that distance between sensor & the other bit, so if you have problems, just try it further up the forks .

Stuart.

 

[Hector_Ida]

I visited a couple of places (bike shops – all had plenty to fit standard frames) I even trawled the Internet. As I already had a set of panniers (on another bike) the rack had to be suitable for them – no way was I going to shell out £40 for a second set of panniers. In the end the rack came from Halfords. It’s a QR Beam Rack EX and its maximum indicated load is 7kg (15lbs). The only modification I had to do to the bike was relocate the rear light

Hi all,
This is my first post and I need a little bit of advice, please. I've bought a Cyclamatic bike a couple of weeks ago which looks like this:

Cyclamatic Power Plus Electric Bike - The Sports HQ

I couldn't find a rear rack for it! The motor and drum brake are so wide that a conventional rack won't fit at all. I also need something a bit more robust than 7 kg load limit, as my chain and lock weigh about 4 kg already.

Could anyone recommend a rear rack which I can use, please? I'd really appreciate it!

Thank you

 

[flecc]

Most racks just spring out to accommodate any width, especially the steel ones. Your width over the motor and brake within the forks is probably less than 150 mm so most racks will spread far enough to match the frame width beyond that.

Racks are commonly rated for as much as 25 kilos so most of them should be ok for your needs. I'm sure any of those listed on the webpages of St Johns Cycles below will expand to fit ok, but you may need to make up some way of attaching at the front since the bike doesn't look standard there:

Rear racks at SJS

An alternative is to use a seatpost mounted rack which you'll also see listed, but only rated for just over 9 kilos:

Seatpost rack example
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[Hector_Ida]

Thank you for your advice flecc, you're right it's not standard at the front at all, there's nowhere except the seatpost to attach it. It'll be a bit of a pain to remove the rack each time I wanted to take the battery off, but nevermind. Should've done a bit more research before buying the bike I suppose. It did look like a bargain on the website.

 

[flecc]

Thank you for your advice flecc, you're right it's not standard at the front at all, there's nowhere except the seatpost to attach it. It'll be a bit of a pain to remove the rack each time I wanted to take the battery off, but nevermind. Should've done a bit more research before buying the bike I suppose. It did look like a bargain on the website.

You may be able to make a squarish U shape strip of metal to bolt to the front rods of a conventional rack and then to that mudguard centre bolt point. Just one strip of about half inch wide alloy from the DIY store, cut off to length and ends curved to 90 degrees with three holes drilled. The bolts will be at a DIY store as well.
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[Hector_Ida]

Yeah, that does make sense and it's a very good idea flecc, thank you. I think I'll try that!

 

[Hector_Ida]

Or I could use something like this.

LifeLine P-Clips Only £2.49

 

[flecc]

Yes indeed, that would be a cheap and simple way of achieving the same thing.
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[flecc]

And if those aren't quite big enough for your seat stay tubes, here's two sizes at SJS that are actually made for the job and only 99p each:

Seat Stay Clips
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