Pannier Rack for 24 in wheels

[summerdays]

My 10 year old daughter cycles to school with a large ruc-sack on her back (she has learnt the felmale art of being prepared for everything means you need to transport the kitchen sink with you at all times).

She has a 24 in bike, do normal pannier racks fit onto that size bike (Dawes Bandit), or do I need to look for a rack specific to that size wheel? I assume panniers would be better than a basket?

 

[bonj2]

My 10 year old daughter cycles to school with a large ruc-sack on her back (she has learnt the felmale art of being prepared for everything means you need to transport the kitchen sink with you at all times).

She has a 24 in bike, do normal pannier racks fit onto that size bike (Dawes Bandit), or do I need to look for a rack specific to that size wheel? I assume panniers would be better than a basket?

probably more street cred than a basket which is all important . Baskets are bad imho anyway as putting any significant weight on the handlebars is bad for steering, especially when its contents and thus weight distribution can move around.

From looking at my pannier rack there's nothing I can tell that would prevent it from fitting on a smaller frame with a smaller wheel size, as there's just two mounting points, one just above the rear dropout and one just behind the seat tube. But I'd take it to an LBS that sells them with your daughter's bike and ask if you can try one. That's how I bought mine.
Has it got braze-ons for it? Again, if you don't know what they look like the LBS will be able to tell you. I didn't know my bike already had the required braze ons as I was trying to ask if they had an aftermarket clip thingy but he said 'you don't need one, that bike's already got the braze-ons for it'....

 

[summerdays]

Well I forgot where I was going today (too busy questioning my positioning on the road) and sailed past the shop I meant to stop at ... and before I realised where I was I saw a bike shop (Fred Bakers), and popped in.

Yes they do sell 2 specific pannier racks, 1 priced about £10 and one about £24. Obviously the £24 one looks far more robust.
Now I need to ask her opinion about it ... as there is no point buying one if she isn't going to use it. (He also said you could even get ones for 20 in bike wheels).

Do you think she would loose a lot of street cred if she had a basket mounted on the back of her bike - cos panniers are n't going to be much use around school. Or is it possible to securely !!! strap a rucsac to the pannier rack?

I'll have to look for the braze on bits (but the bikes at school and I'm at home).

 

[frog]

Hi SD. I've got a pair of http://store.securehosting.com/stores/sh205601/shophome.php?itemkeyw_%%=ortlieb
these. They are much smaller than ordinary ones (Height 32cm - when closed, Width 25cm. and Depth 14 cm).

As you can see they ain't cheap - but they are 'very tough as old boots'! Their mountings are very adjustable so you can adjust where they sit on the rack either backwards or forwards. There's no height adjustment and there is 21.5 cm between the upper catches and the bottom mount. You'll need to check just just what size pannier the two racks can accommodate.

It's very easy to bungee a small rucksack onto a rack top. You just have to make sure the shoulder straps are tucked away and it's bettter to hold it in place with two bungees rather than one. I woild recommend you roll up the spare bits of strap on the bag and hold them in place with a couple of elastic bands.

Putting the bag on the rack is easy. Take the shoulder straps and cross them against the back of the bag. Lay that face down onto the rack. Bungee one clips onto the front of the rack, over the bag and either under the back and over the top to the front or clips onto the back of the rack. Bungee two goes under the middle of the bag and rack and clips together on the top.

 

[bonj2]

you can get pannier bags that the top half of IS a rucksack and it just zips off.