Which Rack?
 

Looking to buy a pair of ortlieb packer plus panniers, I will be putting them on my Jamis, I want a rack that will handle 60 pounds or more, that don't cost over a hundred dollars. I'm also thinking about a thinner rack over a wider one, not sure if there are pros or cons with wide or narrow racks? My frame tubes are tapped, as are my dropouts.

axiom, blackburn, jandd, topeak. There are many brands of good quality racks for under $100. if you want to pay more, go for tubus. Don't know what you mean thinner rack over a wider one?

There are some racks with narrow(er) platforms. Not sure what the advantage would be outside of a small weight savings, assuming a small weight savings can be considered an advantage. :innocent:

you want a rack that to handle in excess of 60 pounds loads all the time, will need to be heavy, itself..

Stick with Tubus

It's easy to over-fill the Packer Plus, they're so big. Personally I'd stick with Tubus if I were planning to carry 60 pounds in the rear. (And strap a box on top so I could mail some of that stuff home after the second day!)

Most of my racks are used for commuting and thus I use rack bags on them. A narrow platform is usually a poor choice for rack bags. I also happen to use the old Ortlieb rack mount system which allows me to put a mount on a Tubus Vega and Tubus Airy rack so that my trunk bags don't go all wobbly.

I couldn't imagine using either of those racks for panniers nor for carrying my tent and sleeping bag on top of the rack (pannier space is too precious to waste on a tent and sleeping bag).

As no rules said, Tubus is way to go. Yes, they can be expensive but they handle what you want to do a whole lot better than just about any rack out there. The Cargo on my touring bike has been used for about 10,000 miles of touring (over 15 years) without issue. The Vega on my commute bike has close to 20,000 miles on it and I expect it to last another 200,000 miles if I ever get to that mileage. It's an investment.

By the way, I would suggest you not put 60 lbs on the back of a bike and go touring. First, 60 lbs is a lot of weight but, more importantly, 60 lbs on the back of a bike will make for a handling nightmare. Cut your load by at least 20 lbs and split it between the front and rear. Put 60% (roughly) of the weight on the front and 40% on the back. The bike will handle a whole lot better.

Exactly cyccommute! Nothing worse that a broken rack if you're touring.

Only in the USA from US retailers...I got my stainless Cosmo from Bike-Components.de for 50% of US retail.


As much as I want to support the local business....$300 for some bent and welded 1CM stainless tubing is almost insane. It is like Tubus doesn't even want to try and sell in the USA, given their pricing.

^ I'm pretty sure it's not Tubus, but US retailers who are marking the price up like crazy. And it's not just Tubus products. There are several others who are also Much cheaper to order from a European site and have shipped to the US.

Ortlieb/Tubus USA is their exclusive distributor this side of the Atlantic AFAIK....and the prices you see on their site are what is normal retail here (plus/minus sales or taxes or S/H). At first I figured it was QBP striking again, but note what brands QBP doesn't distribute; Ortlieb and Tubus don't make their list.


Given they have their own distributor...I'll wager the prices we see in the USA are set by Ortlieb/Tubus themselves.

Yeah. That's what I was getting at without saying it expressly.

Tubus Logo has a very narrow top which makes it a bit stiffer, rated for 40 kg of weight. I use that for touring, great rack. The bars you hang your panniers on are a bit lower, that lowers your center of gravity a bit. For around home, I use a different rack with a wider platform on top, but I switch racks and use the Tubus Logo for touring.

My ortliebs are over a decade old, I do not know if they use the same hooks now or not. I put PVC tubing on the rack bars that the Ortlieb hooks hook onto, the tubing was 3/8 inch ID, 1/2 OD, held on with electrical tape. I did not use the Ortlieb inserts on the hooks, the tubing was the right size. You can see the PVC tubing I am talking about in the photo.

If you get black, black nail polish is a great touch up paint for when you get home.

Second and third photos shows that a narrow platform does not hurt with loading down a bike. Both photos are of the same rear rack and same rear panniers, but a lighter load was used in Florida on a lighter weight bike.

Yes, but... While the prices for Tubus from Germany are very good, the shipping is a problem. I would suspect that a rack would qualify as a "bulky good" and would cost roughly $50 for shipping. I would have suggested going that route but the $70 price of a Cargo Evo rack from Bike-Components plus $22 shipping brings the price up to within a about $20 dollars of the price you can find at US on-line retailers. I have noticed that the price at German on-line retailers has increased significantly recently.

I bought a Tubus Logo last year, works fine with the Ortlieb panniers but all things being equal I'd prefer the wider top which would be a lot easier to lash stuff like sleeping bag or bulky groceries.

I bought the Ibera pakrak.. installed it feels very tough.. I trust it.. and would with 60lbs.. $30

The Bontrager rack that came on my Trek 520 has been solid as a rock and is reasonably priced by itself. I use my bike like others use a pickup truck -- it hauls everything, both on tours and around town. I have put so much weight on it that I ended up bending the rear axle without harming the rack at all. I also have a Soma Porteur front rack that costs almost three times what the Bontrager costs, but is great for evening out heavy loads and is perfect for carrying things that don't fit well in the Wald folding baskets mounted on my back rack. FWIW

Shoulda bought the Cargo. Just sayin'. It's about an inch wider

I use a Logo and the low rails make it easier to use the platform with panniers.

I too have a Tubus Logo, on my Koga WTR... and I got Bruce Gordon's racks 30 years ago ..

it got in the most trips..

I have used tie downs in the panniers to secure the top of the rack, load, cross ways.

& a strap around the rack fore and aft..






...

Best price I found on the tubs logo
Lickbike.com | Tubus Logo rear rack

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'm a fan of Axiom Journeys, especially the non adjustable one. Generally can find them around $35 shipped online, as far as I can tell they are sturdy enough. As others have mentioned, though, 60# on the back is a LOT. I overpack, and generally don't have more than 30-35# back there, and that is noticeable. Unless you were heading for an expedition on a scale where cost should not be a concern of yours I can't see a great reason to need that much weight.

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.

Most racks will do a turn or two.

Personally I'm a fan of buying once and buying right if possible.

Whilst Tubus might initially seem expensive, the money is soon forgotten and so is the need to buy further racks.

Buying based on cost is a false economy but we all have to learn that in our own time.