Homebuilt Racks: or how to throw time and scrap parts at a problem instead of money

Due to the fact that
A) my new touring bike is disc brake only and
B) the fact that Jamis engineers in 2010 were incapable of putting a rear disc caliper ahead of the chainstay where it won't be in the way of rack mounting points, I had a bit of an issue figuring out where I was going to find racks which would work on my tourer.

Add to the above issue the fact that a decent set of racks (assuming they even work with poorly designed disc frames) will generally run close to or over $100 individually for front and rear, and there's a pretty strong incentive to come up with an alternative solution. Fortunately, I've got access to loads of scrap bike frames, and own a welder which I keep in my parent's garage/workshop about 45 minutes away from school.

The general idea was to utilize the chainstays and dropout from a steel-framed full-suspension bike and orient them such at the rack passed behind the disc caliper.

The original disc-workaround concept

Its a pretty tight fit between the lever arm and the stays

Another set of chainstays serve as the top bars of the rack

While I was designing a rear rack, I decided that I might as well work on a front "lowrider" style rack as well. Cue slicing up another hapless scrap bike:

Sharp edges aplenty

I actually cracked a rib whilst snipping one of the dropouts in half with a set of bolt cutters- turns out bracing one handle against your chest is a terrible idea. Not a huge deal; I ran the McGuires 5k the next morning and two weeks later I can almost do pullups again!

Anyway, back to the general design of the front racks:

That's one rear triangle completely re-purposed

Thought about putting a platform on the front rack, but decided against it

Any further progress in the rack design and construction department depended on the arrival and installation of the front fork, so this project languished for a few weeks until yesterday... At which point I feverishly assembled the bike, headed out for home, and spent until 3 AM working in the shop.

My (cluttered) workspace

Prior to any cutting or welding, all rack parts were cleaned to bare metal with an angle grinder and a wire brush.

PPE is a good thing

Would you believe that this was covered in old, flaking paint and rust shortly prior to this photo?

The rear rack, being the highest-priority item, was constructed first.

Start with a (partial) rear triangle

Cut lower chain-stays in half at 45 degree angle and flip

I'm of the opinion that welding gear looks badass

Welded rear portion of rack- the "triangles" are to prevent loads from swinging into the rear wheel

The rack was mounted to the frame in order to spot-weld the top rails into place

The top rails partially welded into place

Some truly awful looking welds (but I got penetration!)

The finished rack

Mounted on the bike

The front rack was simple in comparison to the rear, since I decided that I didn't want a platform and only wanted to mount low-rider panniers.

The individual parts were bolted to the fork...

...then welded into position

Final welding was performed while the rack was vise-mounted

All that remained at that point was to spray a coat of paint on the racks and drag my tired self through a shower and into bed. Pictures of the final results are from next morning.

I felt about how I look in this picture

Front

Rear

I'm probably going to paint them something other than flat black before installation.


Upcoming: I build/repurpose panniers, mount them to the racks in some clever and not-yet-fully-developed fashion, then ride the loaded bike a short distance before complaining about how heavy it is!