Today’s SPOTD is more of a group award to the people that make bicycles and bicycle accessories. In what is turning out to be a needlessly excessive saga I still don’t have a pack rack on my bike after a couple of weeks of trying.

First the pack rack I bought didn’t have anything to attach to because the seat stem was too high, so I took it back and changed it over.

Then it was still not high enough so the bike shop assistant gave me a bracket to attach it to a different point on the bicycle. That sounded good to me until I got home and realised the only way to attach the pack rack was to cut the rear brake cable. Facing the choice of brakes versus storage, I chose brakes and decided to return it to the store.

Before I did that I went to another store in the same chain of bike stores and explained the problem to a different person. They sold me some brackets to use to attach it instead, uncertain why I’d been given the other bracket since it would never work with the cantilever brakes I have.

And that’s when I finally had the ability to attach the arms of the pack rack to the frame of the bicycle and I was able to connect it up. But wait, just when I thought it was working, it all fell apart again. It turns out that the bolts used to attach the legs of the pack rack to the frame near the centre of the rear wheel come in two sizes - 5mm and 6mm. I had 5mm bolts and, of course, 6mm holes to screw them into. Oh joy.

At the fourth bike store I went to they explained that bicycle manufacturers use either of the two bolt sizes but accessories only come with one set of bolts and you have to hope they’re the right size when you buy them. There is, of course, no way to tell until you open the packet…

Finally, I found a pack rack that fit, with the right size bolts and everything looked rosy. Except now the carrier basket that fitted with the old pack rack didn’t fit with this one - seems the new pack rack has thicker horizontal bars and so I can’t attach it. This is just getting stupid now.

In summary, thank you bicycle and bicycle accessory manufacturers of the world. You’ve made it as hard as it can possibly be to just go buy something off the shelf and expect to be able to attach it to your bike. Go and have a refreshing beverage to celebrate. Better yet, go eat the pudding leftover from the Heaven’s Gate cult - that would make me happier.

Categories: SPOTD