Best racks for 20" wheeled bikes?

[Tangled Metal]

Planning on getting a rack for a 20" wheeled bike. What's a good rack for it, is there one?

In case you're curious it's for a kids bike with the necessary features to take one. One brand we're looking at sells one for their 20" & 24" wheeled bikes - same rack for both.

Any recommendations?

PS to the Mods, please don't move this to the kids ghetto section because people don't tend to visit that section often. Plus this wheel size also used on adult folders so might interest adults too.

[whoof]

I've got one of these for my 20" wheeled folder and it's OK. I have used it with either a rack bag of front pannier. There can be issues with heel clearance but if it's for a child they probably have smaller feet than me.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/100-rear-pa ... gIHsvD_BwE

[gaz]

Useful thread.

IME 20" wheel specific racks on adult folders have considerable issues around heel strike if used with panniers. I do have a small Carradice set which (with a bit of fiddling about) can be put far enough back to work although they then obscure the side view of any rack mounted light. Kids feet are smaller, may be less of a problem.

20" wheel specific racks are fine with racktop bags.

Edit:Typo

[mjr]

Maybe you could fit viewtopic.php?f=1&t=115886 to the rear.

[pjclinch]

Planning on getting a rack for a 20" wheeled bike. What's a good rack for it, is there one?

In case you're curious it's for a kids bike with the necessary features to take one. One brand we're looking at sells one for their 20" & 24" wheeled bikes - same rack for both.

Our sproggen had Islabikes Beinn 20L and then Beinn 26L, both with Islabikes supplied racks. They worked very well. The 20s did "the school run" with medium sized panniers, the 26 also went touring with full size rear rollers.
They supply the racks separately as well as fitted to complete bikes. I would think they'd work on other bikes as long as they have rack braze-ons.

Here are the 20s in action with an Altura Orkney 17l pannier each.


Pete.

[RickH]

I have a Circe Helios tandem which has 20" wheels - I just use standard rear racks (unless I am using the cargo rack that fits instead of the rear seat) - a Blackburn that the child seat or panniers fit on & a Topeak one that fits a rack bag &/or panniers. I notice that Topeak now do models that have adjustable height that would probably let you bring the rack down a bit.

On the front I have used an Old Man Mountain rack (both using the QR adapter & bolting the rack straight to front dropout eyelets). I now have a lowrider made for small wheels (so not as low as full sized ones) supplied by Circe, but I don't think it is custom made (it is possibly originally intended for Dahon, but I wouldn't like to be quoted on that). It also has a second set of mounts that are probably for 24" wheels (but I don't have a suitable bike to try that on). Both front racks work well but the one from Circe puts the panniers lower (more like standard lowriders on a large wheeled bike) than the OMM one.

I hope that helps.

[PaulB]

It depends on your folder but I had no problems with a standard rack fitting my Xootr Swift.

[foxyrider]

Over the years i've fitted quite a few to small wheel bikes.
Racks specifically made for that size are great but invariably are too low if you want to put panniers on them - the bags almost dragging the floor. I've been very successful using full size racks with long stays, Tortec do the job well, the standard stays may work on some bikes but otherwise the extra long Tubus stays can be used (I have to do this with my Airnimal and you still get a stable set up that'll take a good load.

Using full size racks can also save you a bob or two as specific small wheel racks are either cheap and nasty or IME, over engineered and expensive.

[Tangled Metal]

It'll be for a kids bike. A full sized rack would probably look bad.

[pjclinch]

Racks specifically made for that size are great but invariably are too low if you want to put panniers on them - the bags almost dragging the floor.

Our experience with the Beinn 20 rack was there was plenty of clearance, at least used with lowrider/universal type panniers. We didn't try dedicated rear panniers on them, because the sproggen had no need of that sort of capacity when they were only big enough for a 20" wheel bike.

A bit like low-slung derailleurs on 20" wheel bikes, looking closer to the ground than you're used to isn't the same as dragging.

Pete.

[freiston]

I have one of these on my 20" folder - specced to carry 25kg:

https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/accessor ... ack-p11722

[hercule]

Dahon do a rear rack for their 20” folders that will take full size panniers. IMHO it looks OK, full size racks can look a bit awkward and leggy. There doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason that it couldn’t fit any other brand.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Bike Friday do one too, but I removed it from my BF and now use a Xootr Crossrack instead (https://www.xootr.com/crossrack-seatpost-bike-rack.html) as the BF rack compromised the fold too much. The Crossrack doesn't appear to be sold in the UK any more but there's a Dutch online retailer selling it.

[slowster]

OP, it might be worth posting details of the particular bike to which you want to fit the rack.

Furthermore, have you considered or decided what luggage you plan to fit to the rack (not just type, e.g. panniers, rackpack etc., but also the particular brand and model)? I suspect that there might be compatibility/practicality issues depending on the choice of luggage - e.g. as indicated above heel clearance, or bike handling if using a rack for large wheels with loaded panniers - so it might be advisable to choose the rack based on the luggage.

For a child's bike, I would rule out full size panniers, and even Ortlieb's front panniers might be too large.

You haven't told us what the rack/luggage will be used to carry: would a saddlebag or bikepacking type luggage be suitable? If so, that might give you more options, such as the Nitto R10 saddlebag support below which is secured to the seatpost and seat stays. Such alternatives, especially bikepacking luggage, might be more expensive, but might prove better value in the long run because they could be more easily transferred to bigger bikes as the children grow and/or could also be used by adults on their bikes.

[freiston]

I now have a lowrider made for small wheels (so not as low as full sized ones) supplied by Circe, but I don't think it is custom made (it is possibly originally intended for Dahon, but I wouldn't like to be quoted on that).

It is identical to the Tern Spartan - same photo
https://www.tritoncycles.co.uk/accessor ... ack-p11710