Originally Posted by
noglider
In 1981, Japanese touring bikes did exist, but I only loved racing bikes at the time. My approach was that ounces count, even when touring. Suffice it to say, I was wrong about that.
That may be a point. Back in the 70's and 80's, there were some pretty low quality town 10-speed bikes, and, some very nice racing bikes, but not much in between. Perhaps a few touring specific bikes, but I never saw them.
Anyway, the steel frame racing bikes could have a rack mounted, and were good for moderate loads.
I'm not sure about racks on CF bikes, but now there are plenty of quality aluminum, titanium, and steel bikes available that perhaps it is best just to get a good general purpose bike rather than adapting a CF bike to do what it isn't built to do.