To clarify something on weigh ratings, I learned a few months ago on a different forum (thus the source is not 100 percent reliable, but in this case I trust it) that Germany came out with a new rule requiring a certain weight rating for racks used for child seats. Tubus/Racktime did not want their racks used with child seats, so they lowered the weight rating on them to below the threshold in that new rule. If any of the Germans on this forum can confirm or refute this, I would appreciate it since I never 100 percent trust what I read on forums.

My Tubus Logo EVO is labeled 40 kg. Now they are rated at 26 kg, but I suspect that they have not changed and are still good for 40 kg (or roughly 88 pounds). I am not sure if I exceeded 40 kg or not with my Logo, but I might have in the photo at the bottom of this post where I had over two weeks of food on my bike.

My Racktime Addit rack that I use on my light touring bike is rated at 30 kg (roughly 66 pounds) but they now are rated at 25 kg, below that child seat threshold.

I like the Racktime Addit, but I did not recommend that rack to the OP in this case for one reason, he said he had 55 liter panniers, and he said he lives on his bike. I felt the Logo EVO (or Cargo) which have greater weight capacities might better suit someone with that much gear on the back of a bike that gets a LOT of use. Thus, my previous recommendation for one of those racks.

I originally bought the Surly rear rack (I think they called it Nice). But I really did not like the size, shape, and I found it to be less stiff than I wanted. I bought the Logo EVO to replace the Surly. I still have the Surly, it is on my heavy touring bike for use around town, but for touring I remove it to put the Logo EVO on that bike. The sole reason I use it for around town use is that the wide platform works very well with an older rack top bag I use around town. I had the Surly front rack but donated it to charity over a decade ago.

Axiom has always rated their racks at stratospheric capacities. Initially, I thought the ratings were typos, but after I saw the numbers several times I started to realize that they were not typos. I use one of their front racks on my heavy touring bike, but I added reinforcements because I did not trust it to hold up with some lightly loaded panniers.

Thorn rates their expedition rack at 40 kg when M5 bolts are used, but increase the rating to 60 kg when M6 bolts are used. I have never owned their rack, I cite this because they appear to believe that the M5 bolt is the limiting factor. They also suggest lowering load capacity in rough terrain.


Tubus Logo EVO in back, M6 bolts were used in the photo below. An Axiom rack is used in front but I added reinforcement to it. I did not weigh the bags (I did not want to know what they weighed), but this is the heaviest load I have ever carried. I think I had over 30 pounds of food on the bike in the photo.




I also use Tubus Ergo (discontinued) and Tubus Tara front racks on my medium and light touring bikes, these are front low rider racks.

In the photo above, one of the reasons that I used the Axiom rack in front is that it gave my front panniers several additional inches of ground clearance and I use this bike off road in difficult terrain. I have avoided the other low rider racks for that reason on this bike, but use them on other bikes that are used in more civilized terrain.