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Adding a platform to a MIK mounted Electra soft side cooler bag

MIK mounts are a great removable bag or basket mounts.  You can easily swap bags, baskets, or other bike attachments.  There are racks with integrated MIK attachment points.  My Electra Townie has a plain rack so I added a MIK adapter . Sagging Soft-Sides on the Rear Rack

I have an Electra Basil soft-sided cooler that is twice the width of my MIK bracket and probably 30% wider than my rear rack.  I load the bag up with drinks, heavy chain bike locks, and other ridiculous items.  These locks tend to slide to the sides of the bag which causes the bag to sag down on the sides.  The MIK bracket acts as a high center on and off the bike because of the thickness of the bag-mounted bracket.

MIK Dimensions

The MIK base on my soft bag had mounting holes 10MM apart in width and 19MM in length.

Adding a cutting board Base to the Cooler

I decided that I wanted to add a base plate between the cooler/bag and the MIK bracket.  I have a drill but didn't want to get involved with cutting a piece of wood.  Our local hardware store had a couple cutting boards that looked close in size so I purchased a couple to try out.

This is the MIK adapter on my bike rack.

The bottom of the bag with the MIK mounting bracket

The bottom of the bat with the bamboo cutting board I used as a base. It is a ChefCraft Bamboo cutting board (approx 7"x14") that is almost the exact size I needed.  

This is the bottom of the bag when I peeled back the velcro attached bottom material. These screws go through the bottom of the bag into the base. I removed the screws for later use and drilled holes through the bag holes and through the bamboo board.  The MIK adapter sticks up into the holes in the bottom of the bag so I used a 1/4" drill bit.  I was able to reuse the original screws by swapping in flat washers in place of the plastic screw mounting points.  This may cause rub marks later so I should probably just buy longer screws.


This is a picture of the bamboo cutting board mounted between the bottom of the bag and the MIK bracket.   The board covers the entire center compartment. There are side pockets on the bag that our outside of the new base. This is by design because most of the weight is in the center compartment.   

The bamboo base extends past the end of the bag. That doesn't bother me.

This is a picture of the bag while mounted on the bike.  It has pretty good bottom coverage.

Measuring the length of the board.

Measuring the width of the board



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