CenturionIM

Looking for budget sturdy front and rear racks for my soma saga build. Any color/brand is okay. Thanks!

fietsbob

Tiny Budget? Chinese Blackburn Clones of the ones they made in the 70's~80's..

Buy something good and change Bikes under the racks is another choice .. Long term Investment ..

MAK

Racktime racks are made by Tubus. They are well made, reasonably priced and very sturdy. I have an "Add-It" rear and "Top-It" front on my 520 and I've been very happy with them. I got mine at REI and various touring sites sell them.

veganbikes

I haven't used Racktime racks but I do have a set of Tubus front and rear racks that I am more than happy with, so I assume Racktime is also good stuff.

Velo Orange/Daija Cycleworks does a Cargo Evo clone for around $90 which has always looked nice. I love their stem accessory mount and some of VOs other stuff so I am sure it is another quality product from them.

staehpj1

On my heavy touring bike I used a Blackburn EX-1 on the rear and a Nashbar Blackburn low rider clone on the front and have been happy with both. I have gone coast to coast and done other longish tours with them and found them completely satisfactory. Price was reasonable.

I have since set up lighter and sportier bikes and used an Axiom Streamliner on one of them. I like it very well.

Tourist in MSN

Regarding budget racks, if the welds look like this, keep shopping. There is not much metal at the rack joints and these welds could fail prematurely, most likely when you are at the greatest possible distance from a bike shop. When it comes to cheap racks, the quality of the metal used and the quality of the welds are the two important factors. You can't do a visual inspection of quality metal, but you can inspect the welds.



I use Tubus Logo EVO rear and Tubus Ergo front, but you asked about budget and these are not low budget. I used to use Surly racks which are not low budget either but they are quite heavy which is part of the reason that I replaced them. The photo shows the Logo EVO, Ergo and a cheap Nashbar front rack mounted to the front brake cantilever posts. The Nashbar rack does not hold much weight but it comes in handy to strap small items to, such as in this photo where I strapped my Polartec vest to it.



RackTime racks were mentioned above. The ones I have looked at in the stores looked like good quality, but I have not used them so I do not have first hand experience. I bought a RackTime rack for my foldup bike, but have not installed it yet. The trip I was going to use that bike on did not happen.

djb

I agree with Tourists take on welds and using common sense looking at stuff. I have used reasonably priced alu racks for years and years and umpteen thousands of commuting kilometers with reasonable weights on the racks and have never had an issue.

As mentioned, there are numerous good quality racks out there at a good price that will work well, don't put 50lbs on your rear rack and ride hard over rough roads and they work well.

There are numerous thicker alu racks on the market now, which are probably stronger than the ones I have used for decades.

robert schlatte

Axiom racks are sturdy for a good price. My rear is a stainless steel axiom- unfortunately no longer made. The front is a Jandd lowrider. My soma saga build.

tarwheel 

The Planet Bike KOKO is an excellent rear rack for the money, about $40, and available in black or silver. PB doesn't make a front rack, but Soma has a nice small one for about $30, but I don't think it's designed to carry panniers.

I've got a PB KOKO as well as Tubus Cargo and Evo rear racks. The Tubus racks are nicer and can handle more weight, but cost about 3X more money. If you need a front rack for carrying panniers, options are more limited. I've got a Tubus Tara rack for my front panniers, and it is well designed and constructed and expensive, like all Tubus racks.

The attached photos show my Soma Saga with a black KOKO rack and a silver Tubus Cargo rack.

staehpj1

I have a few of those and use them different ways on different bikes.

I first used it to hold a Nasbar Elite handlebar bag. I removed some of the stiffeners in the bag and the mounting hardware. The rack bag combination wound up being lighter that the bag with the supplied bracket and I liked that it sat lower.The shoulder strap wrapped around the stem held it in place.

I then used one as a rear rack on a mountain bike. It carried 1/3 of an ultralight load. Three or four pounds of clothing and cooking and camping gear were on it, three or four pounds were in a bar roll, and three or four pounds were in a backpack. I liked the setup pretty well.

I also modified one to attach with P clamps on the front of a bike with no canti bosses. That ones seems to work OK too, but I have not toured with it.

fietsbob

The weld is on the other side because the Jig that held the parts in alignment for the welder was Upside Down ..

I have friends (Back when Blackburn was a USA Manufacturer) who simply Hired the time of a Local aluminum welder to do the other side ..

They are as they were, because low cost is what sells More Units .. and making more in a shorter time span = greater Profit per Unit.


I got a set of Bruce Gordon's Chromoly Steel tubular racks almost 30 years ago the bargain was Reliability for a very long Time.

escii_35

If you have multiple bikes with low rider eyelets the Jandd basic front rack gets my vote. (no disc)

My first one lasted from 1999 to until 2013. It did not break. One screw hole was expanded due to all the rough use and I needed the space for air travel.

CenturionIM

First thanks all, lots of good info here.
Yeah I was looking at the that front rack and wondering if it was one rack or two separate racks. Can you explain how that lower rack works? I thought front rack is used more or less the same as rear racks but it doesn't seem like the case.

I looked up the tubus racks and they look very nice. 100+$ a piece though. Maybe racktime is the best bet.

djb

I just ordered a Tubus Tara from Wiggle, on sale at $68 Ca. I ordered some other things too so free shipping but will have to wait to see what duty I have to pay---but still, thats a really low price for a Tara, why I jumped on it and hopefully won't have too much duty to pay.

I believe this is a January sale going on.

LlamaBikes

I know Tubus aren't the cheapest, but the 30 year warranty, and 3 year anywhere in the world replacement makes the value pretty good. I was tired of racks rusting, so I got the SS racks, though they are not budget by any means (I think I paid $300 for the set). I've also heard Blackburn racks are a pretty good deal.

Tourist in MSN

Yes, I have two front racks. The top rack is the Nashbar that bolts on the front brake cantilever brakes mounts, it only provides a platform. Then the Tubus Ergo is the low rider that has a hoop over the front wheel, no platform.

Nashbar Front Rack

https://www.tubus.com/product.php?xn=18

Almost all my photos have the front panniers on so I only have a few photos where you can see the racks. The above photo that you commented on was on my Thorn Sherpa, this photo is of the same Tubus racks (black) on my 2004 Surly LHT and I have the Sunlite brand rack (silver) instead of the Nashbar on this bike, both Nashbar and Sunlite racks are almost identical. Maybe it is more clear what is going on in this photo.



Sorry about the angle, the photo was taken on one of the steeper San Fransisco streets when I did part of the Pacific Coast route this year. I had to put an elastic band on both brake levers instead of just one to hold the bike on the hill for the photo.

The US Dollar against the European currencies has been quite strong. Thus Wiggle might have pretty good prices right now if you are in USA. The US Dollar was also strong several years ago when I bought my Ortliebs from two different European sellers, one of those sellers was Wiggle.

I have not been watching the Canadian Dollar, but if it is moving up and down with the US Dollar, then I can see where Wiggle prices would be very good right now.

PolarBear007

A very interesting question and some great answers provided here from some very, very experienced Touring Folks.

One option I've not seen offered that I've encountered on my quest for the same thing (a sturdy front rack at a budget price).

I haven't bought one yet, but I've seen it on a few touring bikes is this one from Minoura of Japan:

https://www.amazon.com/Minoura-MT-400..._cd_al_qh_dp_t

Though it's stated to be designed for shock-fork equipped bicycles, there is a published work-around. It looks to be very well made and definitely in the sturdy category. It may be a bit weighty, but tough to get both sturdy AND light weight.

Another option, though a bit less budget friendly is the Jandd Extreme Front Rack:

Extreme Front Rack

I hope you find the perfect solution for what you're needing at a budget friendly price!