If I may settle in, I point you to the last 2 paragraphs
I bought a <a href="http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/partsaccessories/accessories/86/15066/">giant brand rear rack</a> and got the <a href="http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/partsaccessories/accessories/88/15067/">adapters</a> for it, in a fit of misplaced optimism. In my haste I saw the picture for it and thought 'that looks good, I'll take that', the store I bought it from implied it came with the adapters (it didn't, but they gave me them for free when I complained), however it didn't come with the seatpost clamp for mounting and something tells me I can't get it here without ordering overseas, it fact it looks like the company that supplies my country with giant branded accessories has changed and they didn't actually order anything at the start of the year... I did however figure out that, because of their design, I can mount the two top stays to the one mount point on the cross bar if I buy a longer bolt to go through them, which I did.
So then, on to my problem. The
disc brakes that came with my bike are the ball bearing type with an arm sticking out that gets pulled up and forward by the cable when the lever is pulled. With the current adapters attached to my new rack the bottom stays only clear about one third of the arms reach, about 25mm. I've already looked at the possibility of a new brake adapter, it simply wouldn't be able to move the brake around far enough for the stays to clear before the brake itself is blocked by the frame. On the up side I now understand how my brake works inside and out, but I'm a little fuzzy on the putting-back-together-and-readjusting ;p. (it's ok, I prefer my rear brakes a little less responsive anyway, and I can still squeeze them to a lock in short order if needed)
It seems that besides getting a different rack I have 2 options:
A) find 2 pieces of metal long and strong enough to bolt in 2 or more places to the adapters (adding without the adapters would allow for rotational movement under load)<br />
B) Replace my
brake with something that would provide more clearance, ether a mechanical with a 10mm or less length arm, or a hydraulic. (cannot fit any other style brakes to my frame).
(A) sounds cheaper, (B) sounds safer. I guess my questions are: can I get a mechanical disc brake with such a small actuating arm? are hydraulic brakes worth it on a bike used mainly for commuting/grocery shopping, with the occasional around town blat and even less frequent off road session, when all I really want to do is fit a rack to my bike? Do they function better in the wet? If they do work better in the wet/cold than mechanical, then that could be a plus for me as my bike is my only transport to and from work, coming up to the rainy season. However being more difficult to repair esp. when out and about is a major con for me for the same reason, esp. since I ride solo even when riding recreationally.
Now if you didn't just go 'tl;dr', then I probably owe you a beer, but that's not happening :p.