Last week, we came across this custom, one-off stem rack made by August Bicycles and reached out to them for a little backstory and a few photos. They replied with some history of this project, as well as some high res shots, so if you’re tired of squinting at Instagram photos, check out the full story below!

“So basically, the stem rack isn’t a new idea but this is our interpretation of it. A customer in the US commissioned the stem for his Tomii canvas because he wanted the integrated Chris King headset cover (a known feature of our bikes for at least 6 years) whilst in conversation, he said that he wanted a way to secure his bar bag to allow the use of the tops of his handlebars. We mentioned this style of rack-mounted from the bar clamp bolts of the stem, he said let’s do it, so here it is. It’s all 4130 Chromoly with fillet-brazed construction, it’s also deliberately the correct size tubing to work with Voile rack straps. It piggybacks from the paragon stem clamp fasteners. The customer is having a custom bag made to suit the rack but there is clearly scope for him to carry a lot more on this thing.

We have had plenty of enquiries about this so plans are afoot to make a universal version of this setup which should work with most 4 bolt stems.”

While this is a one-off project, with no plans for production, you can keep your eyes peeled on August Bicycles’ Instagram for other badassery.