Originally Posted by
DropBarFan
Today I was looking at an old Topeak (I think) rack & was surprised how much wider it was than the Logo, 2-3".
For carrying heavy/bulky stuff on a narrower rack I suppose one could use stong cord & tie things tighter & more extensively however I guess there has to be some limit. I've thought about experimenting with a case of beer, heh.
Also, what about rigging up some sort of platform & bolting it on top of rack? Maybe 2-3 1" strips of billet aluminum mounted cross-wise with holes drilled at the ends for tie-down? Something like that might even help with wider racks. Anyway it seems backwards to make narrow touring racks unless they're specifically designed for credit-card light touring.
I used to use a Surly rear rack, but the Tubus Logo is stiffer and weighs only half as much. But if your goal is a wide platform buy the Surly.
If you look at the 2nd and 3rd photos in post 12 above of two of my bikes, the yellow Ortlieb 31 liter duffle is sitting on top of the panniers instead of on the rack. In the later photo, I used a 16 liter drybag oriented fore and aft, it fit just fine nestled in between the tops of the two rear panniers. The narrow rack really did not hurt at all. If your case of beer did not fit in the 16 liter drybag, it would in the 31 liter duffle.
But as I noted in post 12, I use a different rack for around town usage at home that has a wider platform, only use the Logo for touring with a pair of rear panniers.
Photo below is a better photo of the 31 liter duffel sitting on top of the rear panniers, it is up off of the rack. I really think that the narrow platform on it helps stiffen the rack so I see that as an advantage and not as a detriment.