Originally Posted by
Dream Cyclery
Hi,
If you want, you can always get the clip-on accessories there for the hooks(robow's got the right idea). There are many low-riders without the hook attachment because they have side slider(e.g Ortlieb Panniers) in mind when manufactures design low riders.
Also when I said relatively new, I'm comparing this to Tubus racks. Tubus is industry leader in building racks IMO and there is a good reason for it. Time will tell if Outpost will last as long but it is pretty close.
Anyway, good luck.
With regards to the clip-on accessories...if that is how the rack was meant to be used for the 70% of panniers which have a hook to secure the lower part of the bag, then Blackburn failed in all ways as they do not mention this in the instructions, on their website, or via email to customer service. That, to me, is a kludge unless the company provides hooks or at least says they will be needed. When spending $100 for a rack, I expect to not have to kludge together a way for the rack to work. I expect the company to explain how the rack was intended to be used, if it isnt obvious(and it isnt).
Blackburn is missing the market if they require clip ons to use their rack as even though they dont provide said clip ons with the rack, they dont even provide them for sale in addition to the rack! My goodness, what a stupid decision- to sell only 85% of a product and have the consumer go elsewhere to spend money and make the product work. Again, this all assumes Blackburn intended for the rack to use the bottom clips. That may be giving them too much credit.
Here is what happened- I returned the Blackburn, ordered a Jandd Extreme front rack, waited a handful of days, and mounted the Jandd. I had to get a couple of spacers to fit it to my fork for less than $1.
The Jandd also came with 2 sets of different sized Pclamps for mounting, in case the fork didnt have mid or lower mounting points. Its almost as if Blackburn could have included clip on mounting points like Jandd provided Pclamps...or at least mentioned they would be needed.
Anyways, the rack mounted in about 3 minutes and my bags attached perfectly the first time to both the high and lower rails(and has hook stops welded on the bottom rail). Maybe I expect too much out of a $100-120 rack, but after seeing this Jandd, I dont think the issue is unreasonable expectations.
