Farkling with rubber tubing...
Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:03 am
... Or how to make a pannier rack when you can't weld and don't have a tube bender.
Worried that my new panniers would melt onto my exhaust I decided to make up done support to hold the exhaust side away and balance up the look of the bike. But, as I'm hose-sitting in France I didn't don't have much in the way of tools and anyway I don't have much in the way of metalworking skill. So this is how I did it.
First I got hold of some 8mm stainless threaded rod, and some 10mm internal diameter fuel hose.
[center]
The bits, total cost £4.75, tool kit not included[/center]
The rod slides inside the hose fairly easily, a bit of washing-up liquid helps ease things along. Then, the point of no return, the first bend. A lack of pipe-bender meant I ended up clamping everything in an old vice, hardly nice radiused curves, but I figured the fuel hose helped a bit.
[center]
high tech it wasn't
[/center]
A few more bends, a bit of head scratching and lots of offering up to the bike and I ended up with this.
[center]
Ready to attach
[/center]
Having screwed a Nyloc nut onto each end, I simply took out the two 8mm bolts holding the exhaust and indicator on, the reason I choose 8mm rod, and replaced them with the new pannier supports.
[center]
One down[/center]
The other side annoyingly had nothing to bolt onto, but a look under the plastic revealed a support welded onto the frame with bolt holes ready and waiting, luckily a rummage around my parents'garage revealed a shelf bracket. Unluckily the holes were 6mm and I only had a hand-drill.
[center]
Twenty sweaty minutes later[/center]
A bit of tweaking to get everything to line up and my panniers are now secure, and cool.
[center]
Looking almost powder coated steel[/center]
The whole thing took about forty-five minutes, and about £5, so I'm quite pleased with how good they look.
[center][attachment=0]20120518_195219.jpg[/attachment]
Panniers well supported and fastened on, and hopefully cooled[/center]
Now, wouldn't a tool tube look good in that great big space on the nearside.
Worried that my new panniers would melt onto my exhaust I decided to make up done support to hold the exhaust side away and balance up the look of the bike. But, as I'm hose-sitting in France I didn't don't have much in the way of tools and anyway I don't have much in the way of metalworking skill. So this is how I did it.
First I got hold of some 8mm stainless threaded rod, and some 10mm internal diameter fuel hose.
[center]
- 20120518_171754.jpg (105.04 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
The rod slides inside the hose fairly easily, a bit of washing-up liquid helps ease things along. Then, the point of no return, the first bend. A lack of pipe-bender meant I ended up clamping everything in an old vice, hardly nice radiused curves, but I figured the fuel hose helped a bit.
[center]
- 20120518_180649.jpg (41.74 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
[/center]
A few more bends, a bit of head scratching and lots of offering up to the bike and I ended up with this.
[center]
- 20120518_183517.jpg (97.04 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
[/center]
Having screwed a Nyloc nut onto each end, I simply took out the two 8mm bolts holding the exhaust and indicator on, the reason I choose 8mm rod, and replaced them with the new pannier supports.
[center]
- 20120518_184556.jpg (40.48 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
The other side annoyingly had nothing to bolt onto, but a look under the plastic revealed a support welded onto the frame with bolt holes ready and waiting, luckily a rummage around my parents'garage revealed a shelf bracket. Unluckily the holes were 6mm and I only had a hand-drill.
[center]
- 20120518_191242.jpg (30.22 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
A bit of tweaking to get everything to line up and my panniers are now secure, and cool.
[center]
- 20120518_194725.jpg (67.38 KiB) Viewed 2646 times
The whole thing took about forty-five minutes, and about £5, so I'm quite pleased with how good they look.
[center][attachment=0]20120518_195219.jpg[/attachment]
Panniers well supported and fastened on, and hopefully cooled[/center]
Now, wouldn't a tool tube look good in that great big space on the nearside.