I just now realized that I ride by my families favorite grocery store to get ready made meals. I currently have no place to stow any type of groceries and thought, "Why not slap a rack on the back and get a soft side cooler with a bungee the I can bring dinner home at night." So, having never even thought of slapping a rack on my bike I am looking for suggestions and things to look out for.

I have a 26" wheel MTB with disk brakes and braze-ons. I have no aspirations for panniers or anything at this time but may consider it in the future.

Thoughts?

TIA

Nada?

lots of nice racks out there, depends on your price range. You probably want one that is made for a mountain bike or has a large adjustment range in the front. Shopping panniers are a nice solution.

Budget is the thing, have been using Tubus racks for the last 4 years, their great quality, but at a price, Old Man Mountain are similar. For a lower budget, Blackburn racks look good, and have a lifetime warranty.

Budget never even crossed my mind. I just assumed they were all in the same general price range. How about $30-$40 range? Perhaps a little higher. I saw some Topeak stuff on Amazon just not sure of quality and such on any brand really. I don't want to spend $40 on junk, ya know?

I've been using a $17 rack I picked up online for over a year, and it's good for groceries, panniers, milk crates, whatever.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014UWMHE/

Get something cheapish and see if you like using a rack. If you do, use the cheap thing till it dies or the flaws annoy you enough to make you by a new one~

This. I have a cheap rack for under $20 because I did not want to pay $100 for a really nice one. The cheap ones may need a little modifying to fit just right. I had to attach my rack with p-clips for lack of mounting holes on the bike.

Is the tab for the brake on the seat stay or the chain stay? Chain stay means you can basically use whatever rack you want. If it is seat stay, mounting a rack can be a bit trickier. There are racks out there designed specifically with disc brakes in mind. This one looks like overkill for your current intended purpose, but it also will allow you to use panniers later on. https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Tourin...ds=topeak+rack

The tab is on the seat stay. Last night I was looking at this version. https://www.amazon.com/Topeak-Explore...ds=topeak+rack

It is similar to the one you posted without the rest of the side rack stuff. Seem alright?

This one is highly regarded, especially if you want to add panniers later. Not able to hold quite as much as the tubus racks, but I believe it can still carry 40 lbs, which is quite a lot, and it's highly versatile. Last week they were on sale for $30 or so and I wish I'd added one to my large order.

Since your primary purpose for now is to just strap a soft side cooler to the top, it should work well for that.

Right. I suppose planning ahead for panniers makes sense for $5 difference or so though.

Yeah, that's kind of my point. I mean you can still put panniers on a rack without the extra side bar, but usually they stick up too much to comfortably use the top as a flat surface AND put panniers on. For me I like to use both when I go grocery shopping because I tend to keep track of the weight my rack can handle and add up the weight of the items as I put them in the cart rather than thinking about the size so I often need as much room as possible and wish I'd gotten a rack with side bars to lower the panniers. I still might at some point, and the one you linked to is interesting.

If its just a utility bike Wald with built in baskets are adequate..

Truth be told, I only linked to that one earlier because it fit within the stated budget. If I had my choice between that one and the Topeak Supertourist w/lower rails, it would be the Topeak.

However, the OP may have difficulty running with panniers, depending on the geometry of his mtb....

I got the Topeak Explorer for $27 last week. Rock solid. I got it to utilize the MTX system.

What should I look for in the geometry if planning for panniers? If I can take some measurements now and realize panniers would NEVER be an option for this bike then I can skip the Supertourist and just go with the Explorer designed for disk brakes. The Explorer that Big Lebowski is referring to is not designed for disc so I would have to do the $40 Explorer setup for the disc.

I love Topeak products, but another $13 for the disc brake version seems unfair. I mean, it's two little adaptors at the bottom. Maybe they figure you disc brake guys are loaded.

Even at $40 it would be worth it to me, since I am relying on the MTX system for daily commuting. Bag snaps in. Done.

Ya I thought it was crazy too but Topeak seems to be the go to brand and if I do go panniers at least I am prepared for it.

Thanks again for the advice.

I don't have specific metrics - but the main thing you'll be looking for is how far the front edge of the pannier will sit from the back of your heel while riding.
You'll want a rack that will sit level and far enough back to prevent heel-strike. I think the main thing to look at is how long are your chainstays? If the front edge of the rear wheel is really close to your bottom bracket and you have long feet you may have problems using large panniers comfortably.

For example, one of my bikes has aprox. 16" chainstays when measure from the back edge of the outer BB shell to the axle... I usually had to fiddle a little to make sure a large pannier didn't brush my heel while riding, and eventually switched to ones that had allowed me to tie them to the seat stay and lift the front edge back a bit to solve the problem. If I had smaller feet, it wouldn't have been a problem naturally.
My other bike, which is a touring bike, has aprox. 17" chainstays measured the same way and I have no problems with clearance at all with that extra inch of space.

OK, so I'll sit on the bike foot on the pedal mark where my foot passes the chain stay in relation to the rear axle and will have an idea then. As I look it does not look like much room. I'll post some measurements in a bit.

I also have a Topeak Explorer and have been very happy with it (only 6 months of use so far).

Yeah, it's the chain stay length that will be the major factor, especially if your mtb is running on 26" wheels.

There are panniers on the market that feature mounting systems that allow you to swivel the upper hooks a bit, in order to tilt the bag to avoid heel strike. But doing so almost guarantees you run into an 'either/or' situation- you can mount either the panniers or a trunk bag, but not both at once, which kinda defeats the purpose of getting a rack with the lower rail to begin with.

14" from the center of the rear axle to the back of the BB. 3" from the rear of the BB to the rear tire. Pretty screwed on panniers in the future, huh?

What's the year make/model of the bike? Maybe it's possible to pull up the specs....

Actually, this thought just popped into my head. You could possibly still use panniers, and possibly your cooler (depending on it's size). Back when I tried panniers and discovered heel strike, I asked for advice and one of the products still sticks to my mind today.

The Nashbar ATB panniers mount a bit higher than most, which would help avoid heel strike. No fancy mounting hardware systems or waterproof, but does have a good reputation. Run two of them and you might be able to 'cradle' your cooler on top between them.