The "Kaddy Rack"

Posted Jan 5, 2014
15,709

Not enough handlebar real estate to hold all of your accessories? Check out the "Kaddy Rack".

What is a “Kaddy-Rack"?

The “Kaddy-Rack" is a bicycle accessory that clamps onto the handlebars and has an adjustable width to fit different handlebar types and diameters.

The “Kaddy Rack” gives the rider more places to attach other accessories than any other product on the market.

Easily attach accessories such as a headlights, bike computers, GPS units, handlebar bag, mp3 player, phone, mini speakers, water bottle cages, bell/horn and just about anything else you can think of.

The final version of “Kaddy Rack” is made of 6061 extruded aluminum. When fully assembled it weighs approximately 20 ounces (1.25 lbs) and is anodized in various colors (see photos).

“Kaddy-Rack" Inspirations

Andrew Higgins of Independence IA came up with the idea of a “Handlebar Bag Bracket” in 2006.

Andrew started cycling started 25+ years ago after RAGBRAI came through his hometown of Independence, IA where he worked at the local Wal-Mart. He was still in high school and worked as a stock clerk and assembled/repaired bikes.

After experiencing this awesome event called RAGBRAI and meeting cyclists and working on their bikes at Wal-mart, he decided that he was going to get a bike and ride RAGBRAI someday. Well that dream didn’t last too long and he hung up the bike and never did ride RAGBRAI. About 11 years ago he got back into cycling and joined a local bike group and started riding party rides and our own little day trips.

After a couple years he finally gave RAGBRAI a try for a few days and had blast. Some of his friends started riding RAGBRAI self contained and of course he had to give it a try as well because it looked like so much fun carrying all that gear. He started with a small rack and pannier bag on the rear of his Trek 1000 and added a medium size handlebar bag while his friend had a B.O.B. trailer.

He found himself attaching more and more stuff on his handlebars and he was running out of room. All this stuff was so cool and he couldn’t get rid of it but he finally realized that he had collected way more stuff than what could fit on his bars. This is when the idea of the “Kaddy Rack” started to grow (circa 2006).

It first started out as a “Handlebar Bag Bracket” that he tested for a couple years on his Trek 1000. He decided to get a new touring bike and the bracket wouldn’t clamp on the larger diameter bars of the Trek 520 so he let the Idea rest.

Andrew just happens to be a tooling designer at a tool and die shop now and the business helps quite a few people with inventions. In the spring of 2012 one of the invention customers had set up a meeting at his shop with a marketing/investor he had met and Andrew decided to show my “Handlebar Bag Bracket” to him. He was really impressed with it and thought Andrew should proceed with it. He then did a little redesign work on it to make the width adjustable and the ability to clamp on different bar diameters using shims. This was the birth of what is now called the “Kaddy Rack”.

How can I get a “Kaddy-Rack"

Andrew will be at the Iowa Bike Expo on Sat, January 25th in Des Moines in booth #19. He will also have T-shirts and coozies available.

You'll be able to order online at KaddyRack.com in late January.

Price will be: tba (we are finding out and will post here soon!)