[Thomas Gaida]

Hello all,

I just joined and so this is my first post. I bought my first Moulton recently. It is an APB, about 20 years old and apparently never used much. I have now started to apply one or the other change to give it a more personal touch.

One of those changes that might be of common interest is the addition of a small rear carrier made by http://www.urbix-berlin.de

The person behind Urbix designs minimalistic rear carriers preferably for bikes like fixies or racers where a standard carrier simply would not look good. I like the design idea: The rod for the hooks of the bags is slightly curved, and it runs alongside the tyre so it hides a little. This is how the standard Urbix carrier looks on my Stevens fitness bike:

http://prntscr.com/6eqczd

When I purchased it I asked if it is also available for small wheels. I sent some fotos with details of the rear fork and after some coordination, the Urbix for Moulton was built.

Please find some pictures of it here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/130542155@N06/

Ar you can see it has an extra rod welded to the stay for the third lower hook of your bag.

There are several ways to fix a Urbix to a frame but the most common is the drill holes for mudgards as you can see on the photos.

Urbix carriers are not made for heavy luggage. The recommended maximum luggage weight is 8 kg rsp. 15 kg for the two-sided version. I am aware that the rear fork of a Moulton bike is not designed to carry heavy luggage. By now I have had a few rides with a bag attached, and I can say that there is no negative effect on handling and performance if you keep the luggage weight reasonably low.

I think it is a great solution for commuting, shopping and day-trips. The photo shows it with a new VauDe Newport II M shoulder bag. For a day trip, I’d use my old Ortlieb Frontroller Plus. The Urbix weighs about 300g plus 700g for the Frontoller Plus.

Actually, the way luggage is usually transported on a Moulton bike let me hesitate to buy one for many years. I don’t like that you need specially designed bags that only fit onto specially designed Moulton carriers. I’d prefer to use the same bags on a Moulton that I use on my other bikes. And I want to have a bit more choice than the few products that seem to be available for Moulton .

Riding a 20” bike is about saving weight. However, some of the bags available for Moulton may look robust but are they lightweighted? It seems that the Ortlieb “Plus” bags are still state-of-the-art. They are robust, waterproof and lightweighted but is there a way to attach them to a Moulton?

Actually, when I bought my first 20” bike I chose a custom-made Bike Friday – on recommendation by a moultoneer BTW. There, I can attach a titanium Tubus rear carrier, two Ortlieb Backroller Plus, a lightweighted tent on top and off I go to my summer holidays. In my opinion, any solution that needs much more than 2 kg just for carrier and empty bags is second best.

Urbix is a very recommendable alternative for small luggage but I wish some more effort was done to enable standard bags on Moulton bikes.

What’s your opinion?

[fastbike]

Unfortunately it mounts to the rear triangle so the load becomes part of the un-sprung weight. The factory designed racks attach to the main frame so the weight does not affect the suspension.
Otherwise it looks like a neat design, can it be adapted to fit the main frame ?

[Thomas Gaida]

It would be interesting to have an Urbix carrier attached to the main frame. It would have to be designed from scratch. Christian Nitschke who is behind Urbix can provide stirrups, bent and straight rods, and he can mould them together or fix them together with clamps.

If you are interested you should get into contact with him. He is open to any new idea. You should provide a sketch, some photos and some measurements necessary.

My personal idea of an alternative carrier for the main frame would be something lighter and more minimalistic than the standard carriers actually are. Maybe the idea of having the rods “vanish” behind the tires has to be given up for this case.

Fastbike, please let me know your ideas of how such a carrier should look like.

[Thomas Gaida]

Maybe something like this?

http://prntscr.com/7bw08i

http://prntscr.com/7bw0fl

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