DIY Bikepacking Carrier Rack

This is a carrier rack for bikepacking that can be made without specialist tools, equipment, or skills. Don’t be put off by the bends in the aluminum tubing; it’s easier than it looks. It can be adapted to make use of the materials you have available and any improvements you may want to make.

I made a weldless front bike rack for commuting a while back and began thinking about making a rear bikepacking carrier rack with the same method. This was due to wanting something more robust than a cheap carrier but not wanting to go to the expense of buying a dedicated bikepacking carrier. I also had some leftover materials sitting in the shed!

Looking for a DIY handlebar cradle? Take a look at this Instructable.

Limitations and variants

This design does only work for hardtails, and it only works for the bike you build it for, as there is no way to adjust it. That’s no problem for me as I tend to hold onto my bikes; I happily kept my last one for 15 years. If that’s not you, I’m sure there are ways to modify this to make it adjustable. I’ve got some ideas, but nothing tested.

One thing you might like to look at is the mounting of the rack to the bike. I used tie wire sleeve anchors, a type of masonry bolt with an eyelet in the head. These seem to work fine. You may be able to fabricate something tidier, or even get away with fixing the tubing straight to the mounting points on your bike (possibly with some partial crimping and something inside to strengthen the tubing around the bolts).

There are some minor improvements I would make if making this again, which I will detail through this Instructable (the main one is something to stop the bag sliding forwards on a rough descent), but overall, the rack has proven to work well to date. If you make one, I strongly recommend testing it on smaller trips and with lighter loads before going anywhere remote.

Testing 

The tube bending and sleeve anchor mounting system on my front rack proved itself for the year or so I commuted with it daily. Staples were vibrating out of the wooden crate while the rest of the rack held together well. (I did have some trouble with the clamps on the top of the forks coming loose after a while, due to being slightly too large).

I’ve undertaken some serious testing of this rack before sharing it with you. This includes riding two of New Zealand’s Great Rides: a modified St James Cycle Trail loop and the legendary Old Ghost Road. To give you an idea of the Old Ghost Road, this is an 85 km multi-day rugged singletrack ride. My observations over a long weekend put the number of people who ride it on hardtails at less than one in 10. The rack held up fine on both of these rides, and some smaller ones in between. I do carry spare parts, including bolts, hose clamps, and I have been riding with a backpack just in case something happens. I suspect the most likely form of failure would be the tubing splitting where the sleeve anchors are inserted. Using anchors that extend further into the tubing would reduce the risk of this. I haven’t been able to test for longer term fatigue.

Weight and loads

The rack itself, excluding the seatpost mount and any extras such as the cage, weighs approximately 700 grams.

I know someone is going to ask about loads. My thoughts are that the rack can carry more than what you would want to carry! I’ve found with a tent around 3 kg riding some rocky terrain, that the weight was starting to pull the back of the bike around a bit, most noticeably when cornering. Softer loads such as clothing and food didn’t seem so noticeable, even on rougher terrain. I have also done a few days gravel riding with a 4 kg 3-person tent, which was fine.

Parts

1. Seatpost clamp with rack mounts. Note that the diameter of these usually relates to the diameter of the bike’s down tube, not that of the seatpost. This would normally replace the clamp on the seat tube, except I couldn’t find one to fit my bike, so I got one that fitted the seatpost, filed off the lip, and mounted it upside down. This made the rack sit higher than I would have preferred but is fine otherwise.
2. Deck material. I used 3 mm HDPE, which looks a little flimsy, but was worked out fine. I guess most of the load goes straight to the aluminum tubing. My deck was 400 x 140 mm, which worked well. Aesthetically, it would have looked better if the deck had extended a little further at the rear.
3. Sleeve anchor tie wire bolts x 4 (a type of suspension anchor, generally used with masonry, often known as DynaBolts) - the longer the shaft the better. These are for attaching the rack to the bike, although as noted in the introduction, there will be other ways this can be done.
4. Aluminum tubing. I used 13.2 mm outside diameter with 2.5 mm wall thickness, which fits the 8 mm DynaBolts. I don’t see a need to go with anything thicker than this. Two lengths of 1 m each was plenty for my bike - each finished piece was around 850 mm long. 
5. Pipe saddles (from the plumbing section of your local hardware store) and blind rivets - to attach the deck to the tubing
6. Cap head or hex screws and washers - for attaching the rack to your bike

Tools

Bending smaller sizes of aluminum tubing doesn’t require any special tools. I bent mine around the washing line pole, with some timber pegs (and a helper’s foot) behind it to hold it in place. I filled it with sand so that it would retain its shape. All the tools required are fairly common:

1. Hacksaw 
2. Metal file 
3. Vice (recommended) 
4. Ruler/measuring tape 
5. Marker pen
6. Spanners 
7. Drill and bits 
8. Riveter and rivets (blind rivets)
9. Allen/hex keys 
10. Sandpaper (optional) 
11. Craft knife (or small plane)
12. A pair of helping hands (or tape and clamps)
13. Electrical tape
14. Thin sheet of closed cell foam (for the deck - optional)
15. Eye protection 

Attach the seatpost clamp with rack mounts to your bike. Take a couple of thin timber battens and attach these to the seatpost rack mounts and to the rack lower mounts on your frame (I’m assuming you have these, otherwise you’re going to need to find a Plan B). Once you’ve found an angle and length that works, fix the two battens together and remove them from the bike. You’ll use this as a template to bend the tubing to.

Now for the fun part! See my front rack Instructable for all the details, but essentially the idea is to pack the tubing full of sand, brace it against something sturdy such as the washing line pole, and gently pull the tube around, applying force at the leading edge of the bend and progressively moving your hands following it.

Repeat for the second tube, making sure they’re of the same angle!

It’s worth having the tubing longer than you need to allow it to be cut the correct length. Check the bent tubing against the template, each other, and the bike. When marking the lengths to cut at, remember to allow the length of whatever your mounting method is, i.e. the tie wire anchors. If your cutting skills aren’t the best, leave a little extra length and tidy it up with a file.

If you’re using sleeve anchors, insert these into the tubing and tighten the tie wire head with a spanner until the tubing shows its first sign of bulging and the head is pointing in the right direction.

I got my deck material pre-cut to the size I wanted from a local plastics supplier. A thing I wish I had done, and will one day retrofit, is a small lip or upwards bend at the front of the deck to help stop my bag from sliding forwards on rough descents. I made simple changes to the rectangular sheet by taking some corners off for aesthetics and to reduce the risk of the rear of my leg touching the rack.

I used a hacksaw to cut the plastic. Tidying the cut up wasn’t that easy. I found a small modelling plane to work well, with a craft knife and sandpaper also helping.

This step and mounting the deck to the tubing (Step 7) can be done in either order. I mounted the deck to the already attached tubing, to make sure it would fit together, even if it was more labor-intensive and fiddlier.

To attach the tubing to the bike, you will need to have in mind what angle you want between the two arms. I splayed the rear of the arms for clearance to the tyre (or tire) and to give more support to the deck.

Originally, I used those curved vee-brake washers between the rack and the bike top and bottom to take out the angle difference from the angle of the arms. I subsequently found that this extra width between the load point and the rack was causing the bolts to bend, so I’ve removed the washers from the lower legs, where I think most of the weight goes. The tubing bends a little more but seems happy enough. I’ve left the washers on at the top fitting point, where I need them for the spacing and angles.

When all is ready, simply place the tubing on your bike and tighten the bolts. Eye up how they sit, checking they’re symmetrical and have even clearance to the tyre.

I positioned the deck where I wanted in on the tubing, then marked the locations of the holes through the clamps held to the tubing. After positioning the first few clamps, I drilled the holes and popped the rivets through, giving me a more stable base to work on, continuing until all clamps are riveted over the arms to the deck - I used a total of six; three on each arm.

The rack is now almost ready to go. Here are a few finishing touches and potential improvements you could make:

1. Cover up the rivets with electrical tape, as they may cause wear to your bag.
2. Attach a layer of thin, good quality closed cell foam to the deck to reduce abrasion to your bag.
3. Build the deck with a lip at the front so that your bag is less likely to slide forward on rough descents.
4. Add a cargo cage to one or both legs for extra load options.

Enjoy, and reach out if you have any questions about the design or construction and let me know if you’ve made the rack (and what you did differently).