Portland Design Works Payload Rear Rack - Steel

This rack is so close to perfect. It is obviously built really well in terms of sturdiness, and it is beautiful.BUT, and this is a big but, it does have one fatal design flaw. Maybe that's just due to the geometry of my bike or the specific panniers I have, but both my bike and panniers are pretty standard design. The way this rack is designed (and you can see this in the picture if you look closely) does not keep the back corner of the panniers from rubbing the wheel. There is nothing blocking the back lower corner of my bags. If I'm riding on smooth straight pavement that's not really a problem, but if I turn too sharp or stand up to get up a hill (I ride single-speed so that's kind of necessary) then one or the other bag will rub into the spokes, especially if the bag is full. I believe this is what another review was referring to when he/she said they could only turn left.An easy adjustment would fix this. If the vertical tubes coming down from the continued just a few inches farther then it would keep the bags out of the spokes. I will play around with it for a day or two to see if I can eliminate this problem but I'm afraid I won't be able to, and I will have to send it back. I will update my review if I can fix the problem.

This is a beautifully designed and functional rack. Installation on various bikes is extremely easy due to the adjustability of the seat stay mounting arms. The picture does not show the seat stay mounting arms. See Portland Design Works website for an installation video. The seat stay arms mount to a sliding piece in the slot at the front-center of the platform. It is easy to loosely fasten the rack and then level it by sliding the arms in the slot. Two allen screws secure the sliding piece. The bottom of the rack likes 6mm screws, the seat stay mounts like 5mm screws. PDW includes a bag with P clamps and screws in case your bike doesn't have brazed on mounting holes. There is a two hole rear reflector mount as well, reflector not included. The rack is sturdy powder coated steel and will carry a touring load easily. The bamboo wood platform is beautiful and acts like a rear fender to keep a rain stripe off your back. A platform lets you can carry bulky items with a cargo net or straps. Not the lightest rack available, but certainly up to whatever job you give it, (they rate it at 55 lbs) and it looks fabulous doing it. I plan to install some Woody's Custom wood fenders in bamboo to my bike to match this rack. The price is unbelievable compared to other sturdy racks such as Tubus or Nitto, and the installation is much easier to do. Kudos to the design team that invented this!

I installed this on my sixthreezero In The Barrel and I am very pleased with the fit, finish, and quality. It is more expensive than some other racks which gave me pause before ordering. But considering it comes with everything you need to install (no adapters needed) and the good looks, I think it is well worth the price.Installation took only a few minutes. It is steel so flexing the arms to line up the holes in the frames (this will work with fatter tired bikes too) took little effort, but nothing difficult. And extremely easy to adjust the angle of the deck in relation to the bike. Really a well engineered product.

Love this rack. I was looking for something to complement the curving lines of my all black cruiser and this one fit the bill. Didn’t want a cheap flimsy job, you never know what makes it on the back of your bike right? The Payload supports anything I’ve thrown at it. And PDW makes a bunch of other cool stuff! I picked up a high quality light for the bike too.

The rack will not fit a beach cruiser with normal size frame bars! the materials sent do not wrap around the bars to hold the upper bracket in place, I will have to go to the hardware store and make something to fit it to hold in place.The material will ONLY fit a road bike or a bike with a small frame.

I was worried about this being to heavy or not right for my Bianchi Milano Parco; but it looks great plus there is the extra benefit of my onguard U-lock fitting under the rack so I don't have to deal with a strange U-lock mount hanging on my bike.I did have to work on it a bit to get things right:- The Bianchi Milano's rear frame rods are bigger than the clips provided; I had to go to a hardware store and get some larger electric clips in their stead.- The wood did not go with the bike colors; so, I covered it with a couple strips of black booking binding tape and then sprayed a little scotch-guard on it. Then I added some red reflective tape here are there to balance out all the black.- The screws were cutting into the u-lock; so I got some slightly shorter screws at the hardware store. Now it's perfect.- The U-lock was bouncing around; so I ended up getting some adhesive padding to where the u-lock head and U where resting and I also bungie the u-lock head down.- It was difficult, but I managed to bolt a cat-eyes led light to the back reflector mount.

I love the look of this rack. It is classic, and it looks perfect on my vintage cruiser. The only downside to this, was that the brackets to attach on my bike were too small. I ended up going to a hardware store and buying larger electrical brackets (looked the same as what was included in the package) to get the rack attached. It wasn't a perfect fix, and I have to tighten the bolts occasionally to prevent it from rattling. I am still very happy with it though. I would also recommend having a simple install paper included. I was able to find a youtube video on how to do it. A quick step by step would have also helped though.