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Tubus
Fly Chromoly & Fly
Stainless Steel Rear Bicycle Racks
OUR PRICE for the Fly Chromoly Rack is $99.00 with
FREE Shipping
to lower 48 States!
OUR PRICE for the Fly Stainless Steel Rack is $136.00 with
FREE Shipping
to lower 48 States!
Fly Chromoly Suggested Retail = $110.00
Fly Stainless Steel Suggested Retail = $160.00
AK & HI . . . on Tubus and Ortlieb purchases I
will give you credit toward USPS Priority Mail shipping.
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Click on Thumbnail Photo for Larger Image
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See Photos Below of the Fly Rack Installed
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Available in both Chromoly Steel and Stainless Steel Versions!
-
THE TUBUS FLY rear rack fits fast road or cross bikes with
narrow tires. It is a very clean fit with a single mounting strut that
fastens to the hole in the brake bridge between the seat stays. The
photo above shows it mounted to the bridge that crosses between the seat-stays
behind the V-brakes. It will also mount nicely to a road bike with caliper
brakes - sharing the same mounting hole with the rear brake. It is very light weight and stable.
This is a great rack for the minimalist who wants a rear rack, but needs to keep
it light!
- The Fly Chromoly Steel version fits bikes with 700C tires, or narrow 26 inch
tires. It weighs only 330 grams (11.5 ounces) + assembly parts. The load capacity is 18kg (39.5
lbs).
- The Fly Stainless Steel version is the same as the
Chromoly Steel version. The weight is only slightly different at 369
grams (13 ounces) + assembly parts. The load capacity is the same at
18kg (39.5 lbs).
- If you are one of my customers who
want to use a rear "rack trunk," you'll find that the Fly rack is probably
too narrow on top. For that purpose you will want to use a rack at
least as wide as the Tubus Vega or Logo, and probably something more like
the Cargo.
- The Fly works great with panniers. Be aware that some
race bikes have short chainstays. You will want to mount your panniers
well to the rear of the rack to improve heel clearance. I would be
glad to discuss heel clearance issues and make pannier suggestions if you
want to give me a call or email, or check out my Adapters and Fit Solutions
Page -- see link below.
- The tubular chromoly top rails are 10mm in diameter.
-
CLICK HERE to see
Tubus Rack Fitting Solutions for a variety of rack fitting problems, including
mounting front racks on forks without mid-fork rack fittings, disc brakes, heel
clearance problems with panniers due to short chainstay length, and mounting
racks on race bikes or bikes without rack mounting fittings. Mounting the
Fly with the Tubus Quick Release Rack Mounting Kit on my Fitting Solutions
page moves the rack back a bit and helps with heel clearance issues.
-
I now have a great taillight that fits the special 2 bolt light
mounting pattern on the back of this rack. However, be aware the tail
light is a bit wider than the rear of the Fly rack and may interfere with some
panniers.
BELOW are photos of a Tubus Fly Rack installed . . .


Regarding this rack installation . . .
- Mounting a Fly rack to a rear brake can be tricky, so we
are providing photos of a Fly installation to help you see how to install a
Fly rack on your bike.
- The bike in these photos has both upper and lower rack
mounting eyelets, but we ignored the eyelets to show you how to mount a rack
on a bike with no mounting eyelets.
- We attached the rack to the rear axle/quick release
assembly with the
Tubus Quick Release Rack Mounting Kit, and we mounted the upper rack
mounting stay to the rear brake. Many bikes already have lower
mounting eyelets, and don't require the Quick Release Mounting Kit.
- When you bend the upper mounting stay you'll want to bend
only on the round portion. Enlarge photo #6 and you'll see that
there is a barely visible white crack in the aluminum just behind the
attachment bolt – just where the
aluminum mounting stay was pressed flat. Since the round portion of
the stay is significantly stiffer than the flat part, the bending forces are
concentrated where it changes from flat to round, and a crack forms.
This mounting stay was bent in the jaws of a large pair of
channel-lock pliers, and the flat tip was bent inadvertently because it
contacted the back of the pliers. We recommend using a vice, or
inserting the stay in a hole drilled in a board, and using the edge of the
board for leverage. There are endless ways. Just make sure there
is no force applied to the flat tip of the stay.
- The mounting stay is made from an 8mm diameter solid
aluminum rod. It is really just a large diameter piece of aluminum
wire. Tubus makes the upper mounting stay from a solid rod so it will
be easy to bend. If it was made of hollow tubing like the rest of the
rack, the rod could crimp when it is bent. Bending the stays is
actually quite easy. The trick is knowing where to bend. We
recommend making a template first. Get a long straight piece of
smaller diameter wire. A coat hanger or a bicycle spoke might be just
right. Mount the bottom of the rack and tighten the fittings enough to
balance the top of the rack at the angle you want
– usually level. Insert the wire
into the fitting at the top of the rack. Come forward with the wire
and bend it where you need to reach the fitting you have inserted into the
brake. Once you have bent the template wire, you can measure from the
tip to the bend, and then duplicate that bend on the rack mounting stay.
Using this method allows you to try multiple bends on the template until you
get just what you need, so you will only have to do one bend on the final
piece. The stay in the photos above has a gentle curve. You can
use a sharper bend if necessary.
- The stainless steel piece that comes with the rack is
included in the parts kit. For most installations this piece is
adequate. You will need to bend the stainless steel piece to the
correct angle. Since every bike has different frame angles, Tubus
can't pre-bend them for your bike. Some brakes have fancy sculpted
upper brake lever arms that can interfere with this piece. A few of my
customers have had to visit local machine shops to have custom stainless
steel pieces made for attaching the mounting stays to their brakes.
Some got lucky and found pieces at their local hardware stores or bike shops
that worked.
- Note that the Quick Release Mounting Kit will fit several
other Tubus racks such as the Vega, Cargo, Cosmo and Logo. If your
bike has two steel or aluminum seatstays above the brake that are NOT made
of carbon fiber, then one of these other racks may be preferable to the Fly.
Most of my Fly customers are looking for an ultra light weight rack for a
race bike with no eyelets. The Fly is not the only rack that fits that
description. You may want to consider the Tubus Vega as well.
the Vega is still very much a minimalist ultra light design and very similar
to the Fly, but it uses two upper mounting stays. With two upper
mounting stays you can get a stronger two-point upper attachment by
fastening them to the seatstays above the brake. If you don't have the
mounting eyelets, then you can use the Tubus Stay Mounting Clamps from my
Tubus Rack Fitting
Solutions page. The Ultra light Titanium Airy and Carry Racks can
also be fastened to the rear brake with a single mounting stay
– or with two upper mounting stays to mounting
clamps or built-in rack fittings.
- A SAFETY NOTE: The
stainless steel piece that is inserted in the brake stack adds width to the
brake assembly, and reduces the number of turns of thread available to the
brake nut behind the brake bridge. You may need to get a longer brake
nut. Most shops carry them. Any local bike shop can get them,
and you can find them online. This piece adds about three millimeters
of width, so you are losing about three millimeters of threads. The next
longer sized nut you can find may be slightly too long and may bottom out
inside the brake bridge before it is fully tight, in which case you may need
to shorten the new nut a bit by holding it against a grinding wheel, or a
"Dremel" cut-off wheel. Most good bike or automotive shops should have
a tool that can quickly remove a bit of metal from the nut to give you the
length you need to engage enough threads on your brake bolt. If you
can't tell how many threads are engaging the brake, try putting fresh grease
on the brake bolt threads. Insert it into the brake bridge, tight the
nut, remove the nut and examine the brake bolt to see where the grease was
disturbed. You can see whether the nut engaged a lot of threads or
only a few. I don't know how to tell you how many threads the nut
should engage. A little common sense is required, or ask someone you
trust to know better than you. Do pay attention to this safety matter.
If I didn't explain this adequately, ask me about this when you purchase
your rack.
For more Tubus rack choices
Return to Tubus
Home Page.
Questions?
Ready to purchase? CONTACT WAYNE at TheTouringStore.com by Phone . .
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