Braze ons and Eyelets - What they mean for rack and fender possibilities

We get a fair amount of questions about rack and fender installation and there are a few important things to consider when adding these accessories to your bicycle. Most importantly, your frames attachment point setup.

These points are usually referred to as braze-ons or eyelets and bike models will vary greatly on how many they include.

Let’s start at the rear drop out. This is where you would see attachment points for rear racks and fenders. Our original and coaster bikes will only include an eyelet for rear racks as pictured below.

With this set up you will only be able to use fenders that attach to the brake drill out like our Mini fenders.

Models like our Urban commuter will include rear rack and fender eyelets:

The eyelet on top will be the rack attachment and the eyelet on bottom will be for a fender strut.

The second attachment point for a rear rack will be the seat stay braze ons.

This allows the rear rack struts to attach to the bike. 

Not all bikes will have seat stay braze ons. You can generally solve this issue with P-clamps that create an attachment point. 

The front fork on some bikes will be loaded down with all kinds of attachment points but let’s focus on the same fender and rack attachment points we covered in the rear dropout.

The front eyelet will be for front racks and the rear eyelet will be for fenders. There are also a number of front racks that attach directly to solid axles such as those on our originals. Keep in mind that you will not be able to use these types of racks with quick release axles like the ones on our drop bar road bikes and adventure models.

The top attachment point for front racks will secure between the front of the fork and the brake caliper.

Some front racks upper attachment points may be the handlebars themselves.

Hope this helps in determining mounting possibilities for your bike. Feel free to let us know if you have any questions at help@purecycles.com!