Blackburn EX1 racks used to come in black or just a raw metal (silver-ish) finish. A few years ago, I saw that one could still buy the raw metal finish racks from shops in England. Now I can't find them (online) even there. Does anyone know of any shop in the USA that still carries or can special order such racks?

Thanks for any help.

Reid

With a little elbow grease you can strip the black coating off the rack. I used Zipstrip, a putty knife, steel wool and sandpaper to strip my Jandd front back. Here it is as black and after stripping.

They make a stainless steel EX-1 which has a silver/grey tone:
EX-1 STAINLESS RACK

Plus it holds more weight which is never a bad thing.

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

Robert - Stripping would get me just what I'm looking for. I'll have to schedule some "elbow grease" time for that operation.

veganbikes - I've seen the stainless steel rack in photos and, in photos, it looks as though it has some kind of clear coating on it. That would probably chip off just as the black does. I'll contact more of the bike shops around here to see if I can take a look at one. That rack is also waaaay expensive, although if it comes down to it, I may just go that route.

Thanks again. Reid

We sell them at my shop and it doesn't look like there is any clear coat on them. I will double check when I go in tomorrow but I am pretty sure they are natural stainless.

You could also go all out and get a Tubus rack which will cost more but will be light, very very strong (around 88 pounds max) and have better mounting for panniers. I know the make Logo in a silver color (though that could be paint) or the Cosmo which is stainless steel.

I would rather get a more high quality rack that is what I want rather than stripping something.

Those EX-1 racks turn up used on EBay all the time. you can probably snag one for 30-50 bucks.