Broken screw & rear bike rack interferes with brakes

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Got 2 problems at once unfortunately Bought a brand new Giant Roam 2 2013, was using my Park Tool allen keys to tighten the final metal plate under my seat post when the brand new screw (one that came with the bike) suddenly broke in half with very little force! Now half of the screw is stuck in there & has nothing sticking out so pliers won't work. Also when I took a step back from my 75% completed Topeak Super Tourist Tubular Rack I noticed that it was slanted towards my bike seat and was heavily resting on my rear brakes. Gave it a small test ride and besides the rattling from the loose steel bar there was a load screeching noise whenever I applied the brakes. I had the rack set on the lowest screwhole near the cassette and I can only imagine that left/right upper holes around the cassette wouldn't solve the issue though I haven't tried but it seems like I'll have to bend the extension arms maybe

Has anyone dealt with this before? How much would it cost to remove a broken screw?

Cheers

[LG]

For the broken screw, either take it back to the shop, or if you want to get it out yourself you need an 'easy out' extractor tool such as these http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-PC-RIGID-SCR ... 0476499832" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With the rack mount, I'd just bend the extension arms to clear the brakes as you suggest. Racks on my commuting bike are attached to the upper mount hole on the rear dropouts, mudguard stays are attached to the lower. The brake screeching may be more to do with pad alignment than the rack.

[kukamunga]

the brand new screw (one that came with the bike) suddenly broke in half.... Rack I noticed that it was slanted towards my bike seat and was heavily resting on my rear brakes....there was a load screeching noise whenever I applied the brakes. I had the rack set on the lowest screwhole near the cassette and I can only imagine that left/right upper holes around the cassette wouldn't solve the issue though I haven't tried but it seems like I'll have to bend the extension arms maybe

It may be easier to try and screw the remainder of the broken screw inwards with two pointed scribers or something, until it falls into the frame

Racks should be level, not slanted towards the bike, definately not interfering with your brakes, and in a position so that fitted, packed panniers do not clip your heels when pedalling normally

It sounds like you may have a small frame, and the steel fittings are not long enough to reach the mount holes - a common problem. You may have to extend or modify the brackets to not interfere with your rear brake at all. The bracket/s could be interfering with the brake cable or noodle/pipe. It is sometimes difficult to avoid the brake noodle/pipe. You may have to:

-modify the last section of rear brake cable outer to make the angle of the pipe different
-use a different angled pipe
-bend or shape the bracket/s
-use just one modified bracket centrally mounted on rack to a central mount on frame (if one exists)

Sometimes the best solution is to replace the seat clamp with one of the following, which then allows you to mount the brackets to well away from the brakes


Your LBS should easily be able to source these parts for you from BikeCorp or BicyclePartsWholesale

One of my pet hates as a bike mechanic is seeing poorly-mounted, load-bearing rear carrier racks on a bike - especially child seat racks!!!

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Thanks, almost forgot about this thread till AFTER I went to the bike shop today LBS said they wouldn't e able to fix it without sending it back to the factory which could take up to a week of waiting & cost ~$40

Turns out the screws that came with the bike were alloy instead of stainless steel which is why it snapped so easily. Decided to replace the seat clamp with this:

Definitely looks a lot more sturdy than the thin plastic stock one that was provided and the LBS gave me some decent screws too. Cost $13

And I noticed the metal plates on my rear rack were extendable so I won't have to buy a new one and thanks to them only having to reach the seat clamp it'll give a lot more clearance away from the brakes

[MattyK]

FWIW I've run the same rack with only a single forward stay (the left stay interfered with the v-brake noodle).

You are supposed to bend the arms

[kukamunga]

Medium to smaller sloping-top-tube frames using v-brakes are often annoying to fit racks to with rear brake interference and extra long rack to frame reach often being issues

[eeksll]

I have the same issue with my rack and v-brakes.

Initially I ran with a noodle that had a bigger angle ... well I just bent the existing noodle.

Now I just run with a flexible nokon cable