Cutting rack stays

[Joe Bernard]

Whelp, I have this shiny new RBW51 rack with way-long stays and I can't get the search feature here to work sooooo how do I cut these suckers? 

Joe Bernard 

[dougP]

Dremel.

dougP

[rlti...@gmail.com]

I just cut some stays on another rack with a hacksaw. I don’t have a vice so I held the stay down on my bench and went at it. Not optimal but it worked. I do need a vice here. Next time I’ll likely use a Dremel.

Robert Tilley

San Diego, CA

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 29, 2020, at 4:22 PM, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:

Whelp, I have this shiny new RBW51 rack with way-long stays and I can't get the search feature here to work sooooo how do I cut these suckers? 

Joe Bernard 

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[Eric Daume]

I used to use a dremel of hacksaw, but a few years ago I bought a cheap angle grinder at Harbor Freight, and it is awesome for this sort of thing. I don't think I've touched my hacksaw since then.

Eric

On Tue, Dec 29, 2020 at 7:22 PM Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:

Whelp, I have this shiny new RBW51 rack with way-long stays and I can't get the search feature here to work sooooo how do I cut these suckers? 

Joe Bernard 

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[Alex Wirth- Owner, Yellow Haus Bicycles]

For me/us the quickest way was to keep everything on the bike for fitting/leveling, mark stays, loosen rack and slide the rack down on the strut so there's enough clearance to cut, cut with bolt cutters and clean up with a coarse file.

No fumes/grinding dust contaminating your breathing space, overheating struts and no risk of tools jumping off the strut and nicking anything. 

my two cents ☺

Alex in Rochester 

[Kainalu V. -Brooklyn NY]

To add a couple more cents, regarding grinding dust- most abrasive cutters like grinding wheels on dremels and larger hand grinders are made to cut iron and most all ferrous stuff. If one uses the cutter on aluminum or brass, the "pores" of the wheel will clog with those softer stickier dusts and eventually become burnishing wheels. Not much of an issue with dremel cutters as they're usually one and done, but with your larger tools, it can be a headache. And, and, and... if you cut steel/iron first, it'll imbed steel dust into the surface of the cut, and can rust!!  Nobody likes rusty aluminum (however insignificant), am I right?  So, in my opinion, either Alex's bolt cutters or a hack saw in chorus with a file to finish things up real pretty is the best course of action when shortening them struts.

All that said, I'll say to ditch those adjustable racks and pay somebody a bunch of money to build purpose built racks with set stays.

-Kai

[James Valiensi]

I use a portable bandsaw mounted in a SWAG OFF ROAD stand and a belt sander to clean it up.

Any other way is just pure hackery- :)

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[Joe Bernard]

I think I'm gong to go with Alex's bolt cutters idea. Unless I run out to get a portable bandsaw and a belt sander to cut two struts. Could happen! 😂

[David Person]

Pipe cutter does a clean job with no mess.

[Joe Bernard]

Oh for crying out loud and Pete's sake (little inside joke there), I have a pipe cutter! I totally forgot I owned this tool. Thanks David! 

[Mike Godwin]

measure 90 times, cut once Joe.

I have about 1 cm too long fender struts, may just leave them alone. 

For cutting small round stock without a hacksaw,  put in the crease of a large book - that unused encyclopedia - place book on solid surface, place foot upon book to anchor book and secure small diameter piece to cut, hack away.  (I have not tried it but I think I read that here or on ibob list.)

Mike SLO CA

[David Person]

I think I picked up that tip from Russ at Path Less Pedaled.

On Wednesday, December 30, 2020 at 12:08:10 PM UTC-8 Joe Bernard wrote:

[Joe Bernard]

New year, new rack! The deed is done, the pipe cutter was the way to go. It went pretty smoothly, but you really don't want to watch Joe Bernard stress over how to attach things to his custom frame without scratching all that pretty paint. Grant would be appalled at my fear of beausage 🤦

Check it out and happy it's not 2020 anymore!

[Joe Bernard]

And per an earlier thread about looks..yeah, it works without fenders. I was picturing a much larger touring-type rack but this is just a bag support, I like the minimalist 'small rack over big tire' gravelbike vibe. Swanky!

[Todd G.]

I will usually mark where I want to cut and put them in a vice, gently of course. When I use a vice, I like to wrap them to avoid damaging the finish. I only have the portion I want to remove, and then another inch or so sticking out so that I don’t have too much leverage working against me. You could also lay them on a workbench, however preventing them from moving around can be challenging. Grab a hacksaw and make your cut. File (with a file) or grind (if you have a bench grinder) the ends to smooth out any burrs and call it done.

Oh yeah, measure twice, cut once.

[Ryan Nute]

Hacksaw, bastard file and sandpaper worked for me.

Ryan

[Eric Marth]

For some reason this stuck in my head as "fender stays," which I cut with a pair of Knipex diagonal cutters and finish with a file. 

For the much more robusto rack stays: +1 on the bandsaw and belt sander if you have access!