Break your front rack

How to solve a broken rack when you're on the road

Break your front rack, I think many cyclist have had to deal with this problem. In this story, I had been cycling for some months. Many people think cycling is a cheap form of transport. In fact it is when your bike is in perfect condition. Mine was in good shape, or at least, that's what I thought.

I had been cycling in Laos for some time and was on my way to Kunming in south China. It's about 1000 km from the Lao border to Kunming and the facilities are limited. With facilities I mean bike facilities. But if the bike is ok, why would you worry?

The plan I had was to clean the bike (which actually now had a name too... Jim) in Kunming from top to toe, so to say. I had broken a few spokes which surprised me very much. But that can happen, isn't that right?It was just before Jing Hong, the capital of the southern areas of Yunnan where my front rack broke at different places. Fortunately I didn't have to cycle very far and in Jing Hong I found someone who was able to repair the problem. It didn't last long. Simao is a town 2 days cycling from Jing Hong. Just before Simao it broke again.

The front rack broken at two places on this site. The damage on the other side is not visible on this photo.

When I arrived in Simao, I checked in a hotel and looked for a weld shop. This time however I didn't have the intention to repair the rack. I wanted a new one. A good tubus rack is easily over $50-60. I would not be able to buy even a lousy rack here. What I wanted was a new excellent rack, what I didn't want was to break the front rack again!

So rode all over the town until I found what I was looking for: a street with many weld shops. I stopped at one but they weren't able (or willing) to help me. The second one however told me he could not repair the broken rack. I pointed to some iron pipes, found the Chinese word for new and pointed then at the rack again.

The man understood what I wanted and started to work. Contrary to normal I had not asked him the price. But whatever his price would be, I would have paid, I needed a rack anyway.

The man and his associate took a few iron pipes. Then they asked me to remove my old rack. With chalk they outlined the design on the floor and then they calculated what they needed. Part of the work was bending, part was welding. But in less then 2 hours, I had a brand new, silver painted (!) almost identical looking rack.

The paint didn't last long, the rack is still intact, after many years of cycling with heavy gear. I never suffered any problems with it. And the great thing is, if in case it ever breaks, any weld shop can repair it now since it just iron.

But, I can you asking, isn't that rack heavy? Yes, indeed it is heavier then an aluminum rack. I was cycling in China with about 35-40 kg luggage and in other countries with similar (south east Asia with much less) amounts.

And the costs of this 2 hours work by 2 men? Altogether it costs me Y50, about $6. If you ask me if I ever want to change my handmade Chinese rack for a nice tubus, I will answer that I actually did get hold of a tubus rack which I gave away.

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