Making a rack fit an Apollo double bouncer

[Gixxerman]

My sister gave me a Halfords Apollo bike to commute on,
I used it for a few weeks with a rucksack for my gear. But really I wanted a rack to fit panniers on to avoid a sweaty back.
I spotted a Topeak super touring rack at Halfords for £22.
This said that it fitted any bike.
However, it quickly transpired when I got it home that it would not fit the Apollo with the brackets supplied.
I could fit the lower stays fine, but there was nowhere to fit the upper stays.
At first I thought that I could mount them onto the seat post or seat post clamp.
But I quickly realised this would not work as the seat post moves up and down with the suspension.
After a bit of thought I figured that fixing them to the shocker mount might work.
So after a few hours of work, I made some aluminium brackets that seem to fit quite nicely as you can see from the picture. It seems stable and my panniers fit OK.
What do you reckon to my handy work?

 

[redvision95]

One of the finest bodges I have ever seen.
Coming from the king of bodges.

 

[growingvegetables]

It's a bodge!

A fine bodge, I'll grant you. But worth watching for issues - don't carry a lot on it. There'll be a lot of bendiness, side-to-side, and backwards-forwards, if the rack is overloaded?

 

[OskarTennisChampion]

It's a good effort,so well done there.
But will it not start to move downwards with any(not much) weight on it ?

 

[Gravity Aided]

It might give on you under load, as aluminum is a bit more malleable than steel. I'd keep an eye on it, and if it goes all bendy then I'd use the aluminum struts as a pattern for some steel ones.

 

[steve50]

Looks to be a tidy job, the struts look to be fairly thick too so should be able to take some weight but as above i would get some made out of steel just in case.

 

[raleighnut]

Again I'd swap em for steel, I'd also be tempted to fit a long bolt down a piece of tubing between where they join to the Topeak brackets to brace/steady that area up.

 

[Gixxerman]

Thanks for the feedback guys / gals. The aluminium is actually quite thick (3mm) and I don't intend to be carrying large loads. It will just be a bit of food some clothes, waterproofs, gym gear, and maybe a small bit of shopping on ocaisions. Plus the panniers are mounted behind the lower mounting point, so any movement *should* be backwards which will stress the aluminium struts in tension rather than compression, which should be OK. I do have some steel of similar thickness, so if the ally ones prove to be not up to the job then I shall replace with steel. Haeth Robinson would be proud of my efforts I reckon .