I finished the bike rack clamps yesterday. I drilled and tapped the holes that needed threading, and I then took the parts to the buffing wheel where I made them look very shiny. In the end they were really nice.
These are the finished clamps to hold the Pletscher Athlete rack on my Superstrata bicycle.
I had no trouble doing the finish work, except the threading of the holes using some taps I bought from Amazon. These didn't work as well as other taps I have, so I had to use an extraordinary amount of downward force to get the taps to bite into the aluminum. My right palm is still sore today from that activity.
Today I took the part to my garage and mounted them to the bicycle frame. They went on as planned, and I tightened them in place, ready to attach the Pletscher rack. To get that to fit I had to bend the vertical struts a bit, as the rear of the Superstrata is wider than a normal bicycle. Then it was just a matter of tightening all the clamps in place, and adjusting the connecting points to the rack. About an hour later I had the rack on the bike, and a smile on my face.
Here you can see the rack on the back of my Superstrata. It fits nicely, and I can put a significant load on the rack, including my two nylon panier bags. I am confident that this will work well for me and my stuff as I ride.
It's possible to see my aluminum bracket behind the rack plate at the bottom. It is fortunate that Pletscher makes this rack with significant adjustability. Because of that, I was able to mount the rack without difficulty.
This is the front, seat post clamp on the seat post stub. My clamp pinches that post, while the Pletscher rack attaches to the wings of my clamp. This is a very sturdy arrangement.
Thus ends this short-term odyssey. It has been fun and educational, and I saved a lot of money! If I count the hours I spent making these parts and then re-making them, and add the time spent finishing, threading, and installing the brackets and the rack, I probably spent $500 in parts and labor. Considering that my hourly rate is $1.50, I did pretty well!
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