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I have a gravel bike, a Nukeproof Digger, and I'd like to fit a lightweight pannier rack to it. It comes with 2 rear facing eyelets on the seatstays.

Nukeproof Digger rear seatstay eyelets

Pannier racks seem to mount using eyelets on the side of the seatstay, rather than rear facing, like this:

Pannier rack

How can I mount a pannier rack using the eyelets on my new bike? Do I need to fashion some kind of 90-degree bracket?

Update following answers: thanks to everyone who answered. I went with the "make an L-shaped bracket" option. I made a bar from 2mm aluminium, bent the ends 90 degrees and drilled holes in the correct places. Here's the result:

bracket 1

bracket 2

I used blue threadlock on all the bolts (M5 throughout, M6 seemed like overkill) to prevent them shaking loose. Pretty happy with it and seems very robust.

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  • Tubus Fly uses a single, central bolt.
    – Michael
    Oct 31, 2021 at 17:19
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    That is awesome - thank you for coming back and sharing your solution!
    – Criggie ♦
    Nov 3, 2021 at 2:09

2 Answers 2

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I would go with two small L brackets into the existing two holes in the rack, and avoid bending the rack to fit.

I'd suggest M6 bolts and nylock nuts between rack and L bracket, even if you need to enlarge the holes a little. M5 and lower is just a bit small, unless you only want to carry a coat on this rack.

By using both mounting holes you have 4 points of contact for the rack, and it will resist sideways motions better than just 3 points of contact.

The bolt-on brake bridge should be left in place if you can do so, but may need longer bolts that fit the threads in the frame. You'll want that if you choose to fit a mudguard.

The reason for M6 or even M8 in the rack-L bracket bolt is that those will be under a rotational force that will slowly back off the securing nut. That's why I've suggested Nylock, or at a minimum use two nuts jammed together, to resist an unthreading force.

The existing threaded holes in the frame are probably only M5, but the main force there will be push/pulling into the frame and the bolt is more to stop the L bracket sliding off, so the forces are lower.

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  • The existing holes on the frame may well be M5. I'm not sure it's worth going up to M6 for the added fastener if they are. If they're actually meant for brakes they'll probably be M6
    – Chris H
    Oct 31, 2021 at 20:39
  • @ChrisH sorry will make that clearer....
    – Criggie ♦
    Oct 31, 2021 at 21:09
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    I see what you mean. In that case locking is probably more important than size, and jam nuts would be better than nylock (I've got a nylock that slowly works loose from vibrations on my aerobar phone holder with about a 6cm lever arm).
    – Chris H
    Oct 31, 2021 at 21:29
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Yes, you can make 90 degree brackets but you would be better off using a rack that uses the single central stay connected to the middle of your seatstay bridge.

Wald make such a rack as well as Wiggle and others producing these under their own name. There are plenty of options. Just make sure your eyelets at the rear axle are suitable and you have enough adjustability to get the rack level.

enter image description here

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  • I know where that rack will fail: where the bracket is bent over a hole. You'd get a few years of light use out of it if the bracket is steel, but it will go eventually
    – Chris H
    Nov 1, 2021 at 9:56
  • @ChrisH The bracket is steel and quite thick on that particular rack. Other designs use a round section tube etc etc. However, the bracket doesn't really take any force and on the older french bikes and some Velo Orange designs, an aluminium mudguard is used as part of the stay design. The loadbearing structure is the pair of stays going down to the axle.
    – Noise
    Nov 1, 2021 at 12:07
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    I've just had a similar-sized steel bracket fail on a light mudguard - in a similar place where it again shouldn't take any force or be subject to movement . Yes, the stays should take the weight down to the axle, but the further the centre of gravity of the load is from above the axle, the more this bracket has to hold as the bottom mount can be assumed to be a pivot (even if it's not, the stays will flex with the same effect)
    – Chris H
    Nov 1, 2021 at 12:32
  • @ChrisH I think we can agree that the rack mountings will be (should be) built for purpose and able to take the force. Weak, underbuilt items do break, no argument. Quality is worth paying for.
    – Noise
    Nov 1, 2021 at 12:39
  • I can agree with that. Steel in particular shouldn't fatigue easily but almost everything will wear out eventually
    – Chris H
    Nov 1, 2021 at 12:48

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