New Bike Rack

A while back I started thinking about putting a bike rack onto my bakkie.
It was on our first Eselfontein weekend that I realised putting 3 bikes and luggage onto the Corsa makes for a tight squeeze and needs clever packing.

So I started formulating a plan. I wanted to pack three bikes and have lots of space for luggage on  a road trip.

So I started planning and sent drawings of what I wanted to my father. He was even more enthusiastic than me and immediately set off with the design.

Along the way things got lost in translation, and my father (bless him) decided that I needed a cover as well and he managed to source one of the last cheap tonneau covers available for my bakkie.

This meant that my design needed to change. This is where I got a bit of a brainwave and dug out my roof rack for my VW Fox that I drove in my varsity days. The foot pieces that fit into the roof gutter of the Fox fits over the knuckles that the Corsa has on the side of he load bin.

So while I went back to Cape Town for the week my father went to work on the rack.

So off my father went, got some square tubing, took out his grinder, had a bit of fun with it and hey presto, I had two new longer roof racks. He cut up the old bike rack I used for my Fox (also a home made rack) and welded that onto the roof rack bars. The beauty of our design is that it can be assembled using off-the-shelf Holdfast products, so no grinding or welding is required.

I went home for the weekend and Saturday was set out for some DIY.

First round of testing

We first put up the rack to see if everything works. For prototype testing being we used my only bicycle as the guinea pig. This entailed driving up and down the street seeing how stable the bike is on top of the rack. That shows trust in your father's workmanship. Preliminary trail runs were successful so we pulled off the rack and started installing the tonneau cover. Because we used the traditional cover that ties down with a rope we had to cut holes into the bakkie. I did not dig this at all, but luckily my dad has a steady hand with a drill. 

My dad with his creation.

While we were punching in the last of the pop rivets Freddie arrived on his new Merida 96 (very pretty.) After installing the tonneau cover and putting the rack back onto the bakkie we decided more prototype testing was needed. The first bike to go onto the rack was Freddie's, followed by my father's and then mine. We calculated that the value of the three Merida's on the rack is worth more than my bakkie (signs of misspent fortune's?) The second round of prototype testing went off without a glitch and me and Freddie decided that a Jonkershoek mission was exactly what we needed. Along the way we stopped to pick up a Damsel in distress, but unfortunately Freddie called dibs and she drove in his car to Jonkershoek, leaving me to drive alone with the sounds of loud rock n roll.

Mountainbikes worth more than the transporting vehicle

The first real road trip test is this weekend when me and Marike will be cruising over to Kommetjie for the weekend followed by an Hermanus mission next weekend. I can't wait!