Steel and Wood Bicycle Cargo Rack

     I've recently started riding my bike more often. Driving to campus is becoming impractical, and finding parking is increasingly frustrating since the school decided to build new facilities over some of the parking lots. Riding a bike certainly has its advantages, but bikes don't normally have a place to carry your things. Handlebar baskets are too girly for me(I'm a guy), and in my opinion look funny on a mountain bike. I decided building my own would be cheaper and more fun than buying a rack at the local bike shop.

I intend to paint my bike and the rack at some point, however I wold like to leave the wood it's natural color. I'm looking for paint ideas that would go well with the natural cedar look. Give me some tips in the comments if you have any.

Pro Tip: Listen to jazz while you work!

Step 1 Design Goals, Materials, and Tools

Design Goals:
     -build it myself
     -save money
     -good lookin'
     -very sturdy
     -no welding
     -square bucket pannier compatible


Materials:
     -flat bar(many sizes will work)
     -1"x2" wood of your choice(I used cedar)
     -all thread or round bar around 1/4"
     -4 or 6 nuts and bolts to mount the rack
     -2 or four nuts and bolts to attach the supports and rack together
     -6 nuts to mount the wood planks
     -nuts, washers, or spacers to separate the wood planks and align them on the all
      thread or rod(there are 12 spots that need something)

I've omitted some amounts here as they will change depending on your bike and personal design.


Tools:
     -vice
     -large hammer
     -angle grinder or file
     -drill or drill press
     -hack saw
     -wood saw
     -wrenches
     -sandpaper
     -a die(to thread the round bar if you choose it over all thread)
     -marker
     -ruler

Comments

[pyrogreasemonkey]

hey dude just go to any hardware store and they can help you. its probably a 5 or 6 mm x 1 thread per mm

[escher7]

Also - there should be some way to attach bungee cords. I use a rear rack all the time and you need to fasten things down for obvious reasons

[jrh065]

Well it seems the notifications system missed your comments or something. Oh well, I'm here now.

You can attach bungee cords to any point on the frame, so there are plenty of possibilities for that.

I did trim the bolts and replaced the nuts with acorn nuts, so they're actually smooth now.

[escher7]

2 minor criticisms. The projecting bolts are a disaster waiting to happen - ripped clothing etc. And the wood could be varithaned to bring out the grain and protect it from weather.

[stormy0314]

You asked for info on bolts. The threads are one of several standard sizes, from very fine to very course. Most people that work with hardware on a regular basis can just look at it and tell you the size. Just stop in a local mechanics shop aand they can tell you the size of the thread by sight. Now your next 'ible can be a front mounted bracket to balance your load.

[jkm]

great job.
suggestion: there's hardly a perpendicular part on a bike, I don't think it would compromise strength if you aligned the supports at an angle similar to the seat post, or another part of the frame. (for looks & symmetry)
Also, consider cap nuts (if that's what they're called in the US), to protect the delicate skin of any passengers from chafing ;-)

[scraptopower]

Sweet, this looks nice.

[jrossetti]

Instead of trimming the ends of the cross-bolts, you could also just dip them in plastidip and use them for bungie strap points.

[jrh065]

You have no idea how bummed I am. That's a really good idea, but I just trimmed those off about an hour ago. I'm sticking your idea in the 'ible at some point if you don't mind.

[jrossetti]

It all balances out. :) I just bought a new rear rack a couple days ago, but I like your idea a lot more than the one I bought.

[davis65536]

Good work. The mounting points you're screwing the upper part of the rack to are indeed rack mounting points. They're sometimes called "braze-ons" (because they were always brazed on), and, if a bike doesn't have them, one can usually use "P Clips" to create mounting points.

I think you'll also find that the holes at the very top of the rear wheel dropouts are for mounting a rack and are M4 or maybe M5 thread. Does your bike have bottle cage bolts you can try for size?

Nice work though; wood's pretty classy.

[ChrysN]

Nice!

[redplanetcorridor]

Looks great!

Two points of feedback, which you asked for :)

- Use the little yellow window image tagging deal to tell us more about what's going on in the photos

- You don't have to tell us it's incomplete. It's like a cook apologizing for the meal before we've tried it. If you never said it wasn't done, I'll bet not many would have noticed. It's built, installed, and doing it's job already - It's just waiting on some paint. No biggie...

4 Stars!

[jrh065]

Thanks man!