Rack Tabs are here

Jeff Lyon brought up the idea of making these a few months back, and now I've gone and done it.  They are "mass produced" tabs for racks where the rack attaches to the bicycle frame.  Everyone makes these one at a time and it is time consuming to make ones that look good.

They started with some basic sketching in CAD software that produced this:

 

I sent that off to Vashon Image Works and made a few tweaks here and there and then they turned into real pieces of metal.   

I had 160 made in size small (designed for M5 bolts), 64 in size large (designed for M6 bolts, but with an M5 sized hole).  Many already have homes to go to, but I have extras (mostly in M5) for sale.  Both are made of 4130, the M6 ones are .125" thick, the M5 ones are .100" thick.  If you are interested send me an email.  The tabs are .400 wide to work well for 3/8" tubing, but can easily be filed down to work with 5/16" or 1/4" tubing.

Published 15 October 2009 01:48 AM by AlexWetmore
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Comments

# Fred Blasdel said on 14 October, 2009 06:27 PM

Aw man, just two months ago I ended up making a pair of these out of 1/8" x 1/2" 4130, that were then TIGged onto the surface of a Kogswell P/R fork.

Why'd you use M5 holes for both? I used M6 bolts.

Are you brazing these on? Into a slot or onto the surface?

# AlexWetmore said on 14 October, 2009 06:39 PM

Fred -- These are for the rack, not for the fork.  I left the holes at M5 so that the builder could decide on M5 or M6 themselves.  It is pretty easy to drill the hole out one size.  They are designed for brazing into a slot in the rack tubing.

They aren't hard to make, but they take time especially if you want them to look good.

# Jeff Lyon said on 14 October, 2009 08:20 PM

Alex, well done they really look great!  Cheers Jeff

# Spencer Wright said on 14 October, 2009 08:30 PM

I made some of these earlier this year out of stainless, it was a huge relief not to have to hacksaw and file them.  Eventually it'd be cool to have some plug or socket style tabs CNC'd, but simple tabs like these are awesome.

# Russ Norvell said on 14 October, 2009 09:31 PM

Hey that's a great idea.  I'd take 4 off your hands if they're still available

Russ in SLC

# Zhefei said on 15 October, 2009 12:44 AM

I love waterjet parts. What kind of loads are these racks seeing? I was about to say they look way overbuilt, but then I realized the pictures make them look far bigger than they actually are.

I'm a new reader to your blog (from a link on BikeHugger). Cool stuff you're doing.

# AlexWetmore said on 15 October, 2009 06:42 AM

Zhefei -- They are for any style of rack.  The larger ones are well suited to large porteur racks which are secured with M6 bolts.  The smaller ones work well for smaller porteur racks, rear racks, or handlebar bag racks.

They aren't that large.  The small ones are designed for an M5 bolt head and have a radius not much larger than a typical M5 washer.  The large ones are scaled up for M6.

# rory said on 16 October, 2009 08:22 AM

these look like a good option to help build a rack that isnt lopsided...

# AlexWetmore said on 16 October, 2009 04:34 PM

They'd be easy to retrofit to your rack if you'd like Rory...

# Chauncey Matthews said on 18 October, 2009 05:27 AM

Nice execution of a great idea. I'll be making my first racks this month and, if possible, I'd love to get about 6-8 of each size. Please email to koyconn(at)aol(dot)com and let me know.

thanks,

Chauncey.

# AlexWetmore said on 18 October, 2009 09:02 AM

Well, that was fast.  It looks like I'm delivering and mailing out the last of my tabs today, and then will be wiped out of my initial production run.

If they are popular (and so far those who have seen them have really liked them) then I'll be doing another production run soon.  I might do some in stainless (I've had a couple of people request those).

Alistair was the first to use them:

www.flickr.com/.../4021197260

www.flickr.com/.../4020436733

www.flickr.com/.../4021196136

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