Adding buckets to a mountain bike

Many people have seen threads on how to add buckets to the side of your bike so you can haul groceries and other things. I wanted to be able to easily hook the buckets on to carry things, but I also wanted to have a system where I could remove the buckets if I didn't need them, to put the bike on the car rack, etc. I have a mountain bike with shocks, so it isn't hooked on to the lower frame of the bike. I had to figure out how to hook them on securely given these limitations.

I went to Home Depot and bought some small brackets that would fit right on top of my bike frame bump/ledge. See the closeup.

I first tied the metal clamp to the bump on the rack, but the string kept getting cut. So I also bought a straight bracket Simpson tie that already had some holes in it. I lined them up and bolted them to each side. I only had to drill a little tiny bit. See Home Depot bracket.

TO withstand the weight, only square or rectangular solid shape buckets could be used. I happened to have two that were short enough that I can still straddle over the rack and two buckets with something large. They are not much vertically above the regular metal rack top, in other words, so I can strap something onto the flat space created by the two buckets with the rack in the middle.

The lip of the bracket is flat and big enough to keep the bucket in place tightly, if I wrap a big bungie around each bucket.

I used it today for the first time on both sides and was able to haul books, mushrooms, bread, vegetables, hummus, bottles, and many more items. It works great!

If I'm not hauling stuff, I can take off both buckets and say, go mountain biking!

The brackets are very tiny and don't cause problems biking.
John S
PDX OR

I like the way you have kept the load down low. I often see bikes heavily laden with stuff piled high on front and back. They are more likely to fall over both while in motion or while using a kick stand. Lowering the center of gravity increases safety. My friend hauls fruit and vegetables on a bike. Foam has been placed in the baskets to prevent bruising of the cargo.