I recently purchased a Benelli Classica e-bike which my wife uses for commuting.
Like many other e-bikes, its rear rack comes, for some reason, with very thick tubes: in this case, I measured a diameter of about 18mm.
This is well beyond what most common bike pannier brands, using clamps for attachment, can support. The standard limit tends to be around 12mm, with a few options up to 14-16mm.
What are the solutions?
Some pannier systems use straps (eg Thule) rather than clamps. Unfortunately in my case, the rack, more aesthetic than practical, could not fit them well (and hold the bag safely in place).
Changing the rack? Not obvious to me and possibly expensive.
The only solution I found: Ortlieb QL2.1. The standard clamps support up to 16mm tubing, but can be replaced with 20mm clamps (separate accessory #E193).
The Ortlieb QL3 system is limited to 10mm tubing with an accessory (#E195) that can only deal with 14mm tubing.
The Arkel system is limited to 15mm racks.
The Ortlieb 20mm clamps I got are a bit loose but I worked around this problem by applying a few layers of transparent surface guard tape on the rack where my wife hooks the clamps.
I did notify the e-bike maker; they were aware of the issue... Let's hope they stick to say 14mm max for their future products!
Like many other e-bikes, its rear rack comes, for some reason, with very thick tubes: in this case, I measured a diameter of about 18mm.
This is well beyond what most common bike pannier brands, using clamps for attachment, can support. The standard limit tends to be around 12mm, with a few options up to 14-16mm.
What are the solutions?
Some pannier systems use straps (eg Thule) rather than clamps. Unfortunately in my case, the rack, more aesthetic than practical, could not fit them well (and hold the bag safely in place).
Changing the rack? Not obvious to me and possibly expensive.
The only solution I found: Ortlieb QL2.1. The standard clamps support up to 16mm tubing, but can be replaced with 20mm clamps (separate accessory #E193).
The Ortlieb QL3 system is limited to 10mm tubing with an accessory (#E195) that can only deal with 14mm tubing.
The Arkel system is limited to 15mm racks.
The Ortlieb 20mm clamps I got are a bit loose but I worked around this problem by applying a few layers of transparent surface guard tape on the rack where my wife hooks the clamps.
I did notify the e-bike maker; they were aware of the issue... Let's hope they stick to say 14mm max for their future products!
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