Touring - Tubus Cargo vs Logo

After many years of road & some mtn riding I'm setting up my first touring bike & planning an extended self-supported trip to Western & Eastern Europe beginning next April. From this wonderful resource I note the Cargo seems to be the most popular Tubus rear rack. However I note the Logo seems to allow a lower mounting of the pannier while maintaining a similar load capacity. My question is does the lower attachment point result in a significant increase in bike stability/handling? Potential downside of the Logo is an increase in weight and a few more $$.

Second question, I would appreciate suggestions for brands/models of kick stands (or even if it is something I shouldn't use). The bike will have disc brakes--although I don't know if that affects the attachment of the stand.

Thanks to all.

You might want to chat with Wayne at thetouringstore.com about your rack questions, he sells a ton of tubus products and knows a lot about them. Call him on the phone, he's very approachable. Mention that you have disc brakes, I don't know if there are compatibility issues.

I use a Cargo on a 520 and don't have stability/handling issues. I think the big reason for the logo vs. the cargo is heel-clearance, which probably is a non-issue if you have a touring bike, but might be an issue if you are using a road/mtb, or have really big feet.

good luck, have fun on your tour.

:)

Thanks for the thoughts & suggestion. I would never have thought about heel clearance being a possible reason for the design. As you say it probably won't be an issue because the bike will have 45cm chain stays and unfortunately I don't have particularly large feet. I'll call Wayne for his thoughts.

BTW I'm leaving tomorrow for Boulder to visit my daughter during parents weekend @ U of Colo (still don't know why they refer to it as CU) so honk if you see a silver Audi A6 w/ Illinois plates around town.

oh, have fun in boulder! if the weather is good, you can rent bikes a couple of different places. doesn't look like it's gonna be good though.

After many years of road & some mtn riding I'm setting up my first touring bike & planning an extended self-supported trip to Western & Eastern Europe beginning next April. From this wonderful resource I note the Cargo seems to be the most popular Tubus rear rack. However I note the Logo seems to allow a lower mounting of the pannier while maintaining a similar load capacity. My question is does the lower attachment point result in a significant increase in bike stability/handling? Potential downside of the Logo is an increase in weight and a few more $$.

Second question, I would appreciate suggestions for brands/models of kick stands (or even if it is something I shouldn't use). The bike will have disc brakes--although I don't know if that affects the attachment of the stand.

Thanks to all.

Ages and ages ago, Bicycling Magazine (back when it did actual articles and even psuedoscientific testing) did a test of loading a touring bike. They did rear only, front/rear high loading, front low/high rear and low front/rear. Of all the combinations, they found the famous (or infamous) 60% front/40% rear with lowriders in the front worked best. When they used lowriders in the rear, they found it was detrimental to the handling...on a par with rear only loading.

I've never tested it myself but they were spot on about the lowriders.

With regards to your second question; I would recommend a Click-Stand. A Click-Stand contacts your bike above its center of gravity, allowing it to support any loaded touring bike. It is not permanently attached, but rather folds & is carried in one of your bags. Take a look at www.Click-Stand.com

Please disregard my obvious bias :)

Tom

As an update, at Valygrl's suggestion I spoke w/ Wayne at The Touring Store who informed me that disc brakes can indeed interfere with rack attachment depending on where/how the brake mechanism is attached to the frame. At Wayne's recommendation I called Co-Motion and learned that the front disc causes no problem but the rear will unless I used an Old Man Mountain Sherpa rack. Checking OMM's website I found the Sherpa is made from aluminum with a maximum load capacity of 40 lbs--significantly less than the Tubus Cargo's 90lbs (admittedly for significantly less $$). While 40 lbs should be enough, especially if I use the 40/60 front/rear split cyccommute mentions, it doesn't seem to allow much leeway. I keep picturing having to blast down a long descent in the rain where discs should be superior so I'm going with a disc in front & V-brake in the rear.

Thanks again to all.