Pannier Rack Width

You just bend the legs to suit if not.  Just checked my tubus rack - its 190mm but has been widened to fit with a disc brake thus spaced out

Oh right I wasn’t sure about stretching it surly that will put strain on it and crack it when it has weight on it ?

Some gentle outward and inward pressure won't put that much strain on it.  Our Topeak racks that supported a child seat are naturally wider than a 135mm QR rear end.

The safe working loads of the rack will no doubt have allowed for a small degree of "flex to fit" otherwise you'd have broken racks all over the show and 50 different sizes of rack.

If loading heavily a quality rack with a reasonable amount of meat to it would be wise.

The issue with discs and racks is usually where the rack mount hole is Vs the widest bit of the caliper.

My on one had no spacers so it's quite possible.

It be interesting to find out what most racks are width wise. There doesn’t seem to be measurements out there. Maybe I’ll have to risk it and try one

The old style racks are really over engineered. Just bend them to fit. We use to stand on them while some one else pedalled. Don’t try this with a tail fin

I wouldn't worry. I have 2 topeak racks - one made for disks and one not. The disk rack has the spacers built in to the bottom stands off the caliper. The other one, I've had to bodge it using long bolts and spacers, but it's about 15 years old now and working fine...

Can anyone recommend a rack with a wide top platform?

I have a LOMO tailbag  https://www.lomo.co.uk/products/15l-dry-bike-motorbike-tail-bag/

When I fit it in-line on my narrower rack it moves alot bikepacking on rough trails, I have to mount it 'sideways' like a caradice bag and strap tightly to the saddle rails and bike frame.

Thanks

Topeak's super tourist models are quite wide, just measured mine at 14cm compared to 12cm for the tubus rack and 13 for the random other rack I have. That 14cm is the platform, side panniers mount to other tubes offset downwards about 1cm and about 1cm further out. so you could even strap round those too

Interesting so Topeak’s super tourist might be the one to try. Even at 14 I’ll have to stretch it abit. Seems daft putting pannier mounts on a frame but it’s stupidly wide

@covestiff2016 14cm is the platform at the top, the base is a fir bit wider. Bear in mind I'm running both of my topeak racks on tandems with 145mm OLN hubs, as opposed to 135mm OLN which you would see on "normal" QR mtb rear hubs

I have that bag. Its fine on a narrow rack if you really anchor the Velcro bits. Loop them round the uprights and tie in place longitudinally. Or I’ve heard of people zip tying the Velcro to the rack

Think I’ll try a toppeak super tourist. Do you think try the one for disc or not ?

the disc one is very clunky and heavy.  I have never had issues using non disc ones on disc braked bikes - sometimes you need a small standoff to space the pannier leg out a bit for clearance

sometimes you need a small standoff to space the pannier leg out a bit for clearance

Depends on the bike and the brakes. ON my CX bike, I used 3 of the screw-on rings from presta inner tube valves to space out the leg so my brakes would work (had both Avid BB5 and TRP Spyres on that bike, and later a Hope V-Twin with X2 calipers), but on the tandem it's on now the mounting holes are lower and the Bengal disk brake needs a LOT more clearance, so it's using a sleeve from an old v-brake mounted mudguard that gives about 30mm clearance. The other tandem has the same frame with TRP Spyres mounted and the disk-brake rack works fine out of the box as that caliper doesn't need as much clearance