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Anybody found a better alternative to the crappy arms/clamps on the standard t5 boot rack? Got to be a better option somewhere... new carbon frame impending and I want to keep this one a bit tidier.
Bit of cloth or towel on frame keeps it in good condition. Think the clamps get sort and grit on them so if clamped straight on they will sometimes leave marks.
Know what you mean they are pretty small. Fine for tubular frames but oversized fancy shaped frames it is a sub optimal solution! The clamps off the T6 rack look a lot better so not sure if you can buy those separately and retrofit. All there is inside the tubular clamp arms is a big threaded bar so should be similar on the T6 rack.
Will fiamma arms fit? Rubber inside the arm & ratchet strap.
I asked the same question recently as the rubber coating on a couple of the clamps was wearing through and I also found the metal ridge could dig into the frame. Wrapping bits of old inner tube round the frame worked fine until I lost one of them and didn't have anything to hand for the return journey. I bought a 4th bike adaptor for the t6 rack from CampervanBits. It was about £35 bit comes with two useable clamps and also a locking knob. A meter length of stainless threaded bar from eBay was also needed as the T6 clamps are a little bulkier than the T5. If you use the T6 knob you might get away with the using the T5 bar as it's lower profile. I've swapped the 1st and 3rd bike clamps as they're the ones I use most of the time. Will probably do the other one at some point.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/shop/product/genuine-replacement-arms-for-vw-t6-bike-rack-black
Hi, this is something I’ve been pondering for a while (swapping out the T5 clamps for T6 ones) . Can you please explain in a bit more detail how you swapped in terms of the threadbar ? Is it the same diameter for both clamp versions just longer for the T6 ones?
Thank you
Yes, both T6 and T5 are M8 nuts in the knobs. Depending on the diameter of the frames you're clamping you might get away with using the existing bar. From memory, the T6 clamps are about 30mm deeper than the T5 clamps. I wanted to be able to fully open the clamp so swapped the bar. It's quite straightforward following the steps below:
- Undo and remove the knob.
- Slide the old clamp and external sleeve off the bar.
- push the bar out through the top of the bracket which attaches to the top rail of the rack. Be careful that the two plastic pieces that fit round the top rail don't fall out.
- Remove the nut from the end of the bar and swap over to the new length of threaded bar. It's worth adding some locktite to this nut to stop it unthreading when you're trying to undo one of the knobs.
- Go through the stages above in reverse to put it back together.
Hope that helps
Brilliant , thank you. Will get ordering.