Welsh brand Sentient Works, you know, the lads who made that sick long cargo bike for Bespoked UK last year and that kooky full suspension cargo bike, just developed a rear rack for the Omnium Nano dubbed the Racsimile ($194) that opens up more cargo and even a storing hack! Read on for Tullen from Sentient’s sales pitch on why, if you have an Omnium Nano, you ought to consider the Racsimile…
The Omnium Nano is with us! It’s a small but mighty addition to Omnium’s lineup that delivers a lot of smiles, and maybe the odd parcel. Our shipment arrived a little bit after the rest of Europe, but we wasted no time opening up and building an Omnium Spec Bottle Green complete bike, to see how good it is right out of the box- and well, it’s amazing. The robust Sram Apex drivetrain gives an ample range of gears, and the Sram Level 2 pot brakes are sufficient to stop the 20″ wheels, even with the bike fully loaded.
It quickly replaced our bigger cargo bikes for running errands. We’ve been fighting over who does the daily post office run- because once you’ve dropped off the packages, you are on a bike that is super fun to ride back on- it’s essentially a geared BMX (or kids bike!), so it’s easy to throw around and get silly with. It’s the smallest model they now offer, which makes it the easiest to stash away when you aren’t riding it – they’ve included the ability to run the tilting rack brackets found on the rest of the lineup, which means you can easily tip the rack over and stow the bike in a tight hallway.
Being tinkerers, we had to make a few changes, of course. We focused on making it more functional rather than just throwing a Chris King headset on it for the gram, and the changes were few. Knobblies went on first. We live in a muddy heaven (or hell, depending on who you ask), so they are a necessity. Some Maxxis Minion tyres fit well enough with some adjustments and work wonderfully, while giving the bike the Tonka Toy aesthetic we enjoy. Next we added a dropper post, we just used the Omnium dropper because the frame doesn’t have routing for a remote dropper, and honestly doesn’t need it. What we felt the bike does need, however, is a rear rack, so we got busy fabricating one.
There is a big void of space over the rear wheel created by shrinking it down to 20,” and ever since we saw the first image of this bike, we knew what needed to happen the instant we got our grubby hands on one. Racsimile is a steel pannier rack that can hold an Omnium Nano platform over the rear wheel, at the same height as the front rack, which doubles your carrying capacity and opens up a whole world of new carrying possibilities. You can sling a paddleboard on the sides for example. No other cargo bike in our possession is capable of carrying a paddleboard sensibly…
It’s super easy to put on or remove as it is held on with just 4 bolts, and it can be used independently of the Nano Platform too, so you could use it as a more traditional pannier rack, or mount your own box or platform to the top. We added a triplet of mounting bolts to the vertical stays on each side so you can add cargo cages of your choosing, giving even more carrying options. There is a rack rear light mounting plate on the back, too, because having lights on a cargo bike at all times just makes sense. We are making the first batch when we get back from Bespoked, expecting to dispatch before May is over. For more information, head to our YouTube to see the review video and the bike in action, or visit our website to check out the Racsimile.
Over ‘ n out