Rear rack for a long distance euro adventure
10-16-22, 08:29 AM
#26
Newbie
Thread Starter
Seriously? It sounds like you want to buy the Tubus and are really reaching to rationalize it. It is just a rack. If you have a failure buy another rack, any other brand of fairly decent rack that happens to be available where you are and keep riding. If the failed rack is an inexpensive one you could just dispose of it. Otherwise mail/ship it home. Even with a $50 rack it is very unlikely that you will ever need to worry about this.
The thing is that unless you are using a really flimsy rack likelyhood of a failure is pretty low. There are numerous reasonably priced brands/models of racks many under $50 that are highly unlikely to give you any trouble. If you really want the Tubus buy it (joy of ownership?). It is a super nice rack and won't let you down. If you just want a decent rack that does the job reliably without emptying your wallet buy a blackburn, axiom, or similar.
If you were expecting to really push the weight limits of the rack going with the Tubus would gain a bit more merit, but you'd be getting into territory where you'd be carrying enough to make travel pretty joyless IMO.
The thing is that unless you are using a really flimsy rack likelyhood of a failure is pretty low. There are numerous reasonably priced brands/models of racks many under $50 that are highly unlikely to give you any trouble. If you really want the Tubus buy it (joy of ownership?). It is a super nice rack and won't let you down. If you just want a decent rack that does the job reliably without emptying your wallet buy a blackburn, axiom, or similar.
If you were expecting to really push the weight limits of the rack going with the Tubus would gain a bit more merit, but you'd be getting into territory where you'd be carrying enough to make travel pretty joyless IMO.
That said I don't have experience with racks (aside from riding with the Planet Bike rack I have and testing with a bit of weight in my panniers) - particularly in the reliability of rack systems. So as I'm going along that's one thing I'm trying to figure out. The margin of cost difference between the racks is not really that significant from what I'm finding (at least not between ones like the Axiom Journey, Topeak Super Tourist, etc.) I am particularly looking for the racks that get the weight as low as possible - especially through the second lower bar option.
In my experience with other hobbies there have always been two schools of thought - buy cheap and replace or buy quality once. In the long run I've always been bitten by the buy cheap strategy. Now I'm careful here because I don't want to imply that spending less on a rack means it's cheaper. Again as I said above, it's why I came here to ask because I simply don't know. I just don't want to have to fuss with it on a month plus long trip and if that means spending a few extra bucks that's fine. I'm just looking for the best options that fit my "get it low" strategy and so far on the list seem to be the Tubus Logo Evo, the Super Tourist, and maybe the Racktime addit (although it's the heaviest.) Axiom doesn't have a lower pannier bar and Blackburn only seems to have basic rack that would be compatible which doesn't solve for trying to get the weight lower.
Hope this helps clarify. Honestly if I wanted to rationalize anything I probably wouldn't have asked.
10-16-22, 08:34 AM
#27
Newbie
Thread Starter
I am in USA too. I bought one of my Tubus racks and one of my Racktime racks shipped to USA from Europe. And lots of bike parts plus one bike frame from Europe too. If you want a particular rack in USA and do not see it available at the moment, try a European seller. Some of them will have a high shipping fee for the first item, but on a larger order that can quickly be recoverd with lower costs. When they ship to USA they almost always do not include the VAT in your costs.
Some items can't be bought from Europe, too many sellers in USA complained to Ortlieb that they did not like the competition from Europe so Ortlieb told European sellers to stop shipping Ortlieb products to USA. Same with a few other brands, I think Shimano is on that list too. Before Ortlieb did that, I bought all my Ortlieb products from Europe and paid a lot less for them.
But if your credit card charges 3 percent on foreign currency transactions, and many cards do, that can be a surprise when you see your credit card bill.
A few months ago I even bought a bike part on Amazon.de (in Germany) because Amazon in USA did not carry that item. I have a credit card with no foreign currency conversion charges, so I told Amazon to charge my card in Euros to avoid Amazon charging the conversion fee. I paid about $12 in shipping (did not get the Amazon free shipping), but it was worth it.
Some items can't be bought from Europe, too many sellers in USA complained to Ortlieb that they did not like the competition from Europe so Ortlieb told European sellers to stop shipping Ortlieb products to USA. Same with a few other brands, I think Shimano is on that list too. Before Ortlieb did that, I bought all my Ortlieb products from Europe and paid a lot less for them.
But if your credit card charges 3 percent on foreign currency transactions, and many cards do, that can be a surprise when you see your credit card bill.
A few months ago I even bought a bike part on Amazon.de (in Germany) because Amazon in USA did not carry that item. I have a credit card with no foreign currency conversion charges, so I told Amazon to charge my card in Euros to avoid Amazon charging the conversion fee. I paid about $12 in shipping (did not get the Amazon free shipping), but it was worth it.
10-16-22, 02:20 PM
#28
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It's a bit of a shame knowing we get gouged for stuff. But this is a great tip and I will definitely have a look thanks! I actually have family in Germany so if it made sense I could have them ship stuff, or on occasion I know people who work on the military bases there. Appreciate it.
USA sellers that buy in bulk have to pay customs duty to purchase their imported inventory, only rarely does a consumer have to pay it. I had to pay customs duty on an expensive bike frame I ordered from the UK, but only once have I had to pay it. I expected to pay 4 percent, but was charged 6 percent for duty, not sure why I had to pay a higher fee than the standard rate.
Right now the US Dollar is VERY strong against the Euro and British Pound, thus you can get an unusually good deal right now buying from Europe or UK, as you are paying in US Dollars for things that are priced in depreciated currencies.
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