Fitting Bob Yueh Low-riders to Thorn Club Tour

[Brucey]

Nick's photograph is good; it also shows why putting washer of the correct size each side of the clip allows it to be properly tight.

FWIW a stack of many washers as a spacer is often slightly springy (washers are often dished slightly) and if you want to make a really good spacer a length of aluminium tube is often a better arrangement.

cheers

[Brucey]

I've had a few alloy racks in the past that I have had to do a bit of careful bending with to get things to line up nicely.

Yes, I don't have very happy memories of fitting front racks (fat forks were an issue) but I would always get there in the end. This one seems impossible but, as I said above, I am going to swap-and-see.

FWIW nowhere is it writ that the middle rail must be straight; why not just bend it a bit?

cheers

[foxyrider]

I blame tubus; they make models with different spacings. I have no idea who came up with a (pointlessly) different spacing to blackburn, but tubus have to carry some of the blame for perpetuating it, and so do the manufacturers who make their forks this way.

cheers

To be fair to Tubus they have tried to make it so their racks will fit the largest number of forks - they don't position the mounts on the myriad bikes people ride! I understand, from talking with Tubus some years ago, that most German brands do use standard-ish location points but when mfrs can't even manage that on forks on the same model of bike its a no win situation for any rack mfr.

Over the years the only front racks I've always got to fit have been Tubus, Tortec, Bor Yeuh and Blackburn I've simply had to give up on with some bikes then offered up a Tubus and its gone straight on, as their compatriots used to say, Vorsprung durch technic!

[johnt]

For Blackburn Low riders I think the top and bottom bosses on frame have to be 6 1/2 inches apart, centre to centre. mine weren't (on Dawes Galaxy) so I got them re-brazed when I got the frame enamelled. Hope this may be of some help. johnt

[johnt]

For Blackburn Low Riders I think the top and bottom bosses on frame have to be 6 1/2 inches apart centre to centre. Mine weren't (on Dawes Galaxy) so I had them moved when I had the frame enamelled. Hope this is of some use. johnt

[Norman H]

Horizon,

Have you measured the distance between the bosses on your Club Tour forks?

The distance between the centres of the upper and lower bosses on my Club Tour is 165mm. My CT is around year 2000 vintage.

The Bor Yueh rack measures 155mm between the upper fixing hole and the centre of the Diagonal rail, measured at 90º to the rail. This allows 10mm offset for the P clip.

[horizon]

Horizon,

Have you measured the distance between the bosses on your Club Tour forks?

Yes, it's 165 mm like yours (measured again today). But there seems to be a difference between the upper boss and the diagonal bar on the BY compared to the Blackburn on the other bike. I'm going to have to explore further to get to the bottom of it.

[Ivor Tingting]

I had some of those Blackburn front racks on one of my bikes a few years back and I can say with confidence they were crap. Fitting was the most challenging of all racks I've had on my bikes. Once fitted they weren't particularly robust either. So glad I ditched them in favour of Tubus Ergo and Tara front low loaders and then a Surly front Nice Rack (heavy) and now the excellent Specialised Pizza Rack with mounting for panniers and shelf on top for tent etc. Plus it is light. The best of the bunch. But boy those Blackburn front racks were crap.

[Vantage]

Yet on the other hand, my nitto front rack is the same design and I think it's brilliant

[horizon]

Yet on the other hand, my nitto front rack is the same design and I think it's brilliant

I find them good (I bought mine when the alternatives were worse) but they have three flaws:

1. They have a tendancy to slide downwards unless you are really strict with the setting up (it's inbuilt into the design).
2. The struts narrow to the extent that it affects the positioning of your pannier clips.
3. Fitting can be a struggle (see this thread!).

[Brucey]

Yet on the other hand, my nitto front rack is the same design and I think it's brilliant

I find them good (I bought mine when the alternatives were worse) but they have three flaws:

1. They have a tendancy to slide downwards unless you are really strict with the setting up (it's inbuilt into the design).
2. The struts narrow to the extent that it affects the positioning of your pannier clips.
3. Fitting can be a struggle (see this thread!).

FWIW 1) is 'solved' with careful fitment, (typically including a couple of washers) and avoiding overloading. 2) is a problem especially if you are trying to fit larger panniers than are ideal and 3) seems only to be problem if you have a fork that is badly designed/made; I'm not sure why any bike manufacturer would choose to make forks where they are not dimensioned correctly, but it usually just requires a bend to fit the rack to fit it.

FWIW I have used Blackburns and copies of Blackburns like Bor Yueh. I fitted them carefully and didn't overload them, and they were OK.

cheers

[horizon]

For those who wondered how this ended, I found a pair of Blackburns and fitted those instead. They went on a treat and actually feel really solid. I compared them to the Bor Yeuh and found that the Bor Yeuh, although the same size, had the middle bar about .5 cm lower and this obscured the braze-on hole.

Why the Bor Yeuh are this size I have no idea. I did try bending them (half-heartedly) but gave up on that. Mostly, I'm very satisfied with the Blackburns (and that is also from years of use on other bikes).

[Billy007]

For those who wondered how this ended, I found a pair of Blackburns and fitted those instead. They went on a treat and actually feel really solid. I compared them to the Bor Yeuh and found that the Bor Yeuh, although the same size, had the middle bar about .5 cm lower and this obscured the braze-on hole.

Why the Bor Yeuh are this size I have no idea. I did try bending them (half-heartedly) but gave up on that. Mostly, I'm very satisfied with the Blackburns (and that is also from years of use on other bikes).

I had the Blackburn ones and thought they were rubbish so these Bob Yueh front racks must be dreadful. The Tubus Tara Low rider front rack is far far far superior. For an extra £30 it is worth paying for a rack that is strong, durable, solid, able to carry weight and most importantly safe. These and Blackburn's offering are just an awful design all round. I never felt safe riding the fews times I did with them on my bike. Never again.